The benefits of memorising Scripture (and a tool to help)

How well do you know Scripture? How would your life and love for God be different if you knew it better? 

In Deuteronomy 11, God’s people are urged to love the Lord their God, to serve him with all their heart and soul, and to steer clear of idols. What is the key to this single-minded devotion to God? 

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth”. – Deuteronomy 11:16-21

The exhortation goes beyond ‘listen’ and ‘read’ (two ways we commonly think of absorbing God’s word) to ‘fix’, ‘tie’, ‘bind’, ‘teach’, ‘talk’ and ‘write’.

It’s a call for God’s word to flood their lives – to be a constant and inescapable presence, guiding their every step.

In recent weeks, I’ve been challenged to fix God’s word to my heart and mind. You don’t need anything other than a Bible to memorise Scripture, but I’ve found the ‘Fighter Verses’ iPhone app a valuable tool for committing Scripture to memory.

You can find out more here.

The benefits of memorising Scripture are numerous. Here’s a couple:

• Remind yourself of truth when you are struggling or tempted.
• Speak God’s counsel (rather than things you ‘think’ are in the Bible!) into the lives of others.
• Pray prayers soaked in eternal truth.
• See the rich connections and in passages throughout the Bible.

May we be a people who love God’s word, and have a daily hunger for it.

Steve Kryger
(Media and Communications Pastor)