"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." - Psalm 119:9-11
Hiding scripture in our heart, or keeping it stashed and ready for use in our memory, greatly helps in our walk with God. When we have God's word stored in our hearts, we easily find comfort in times of suffering, encouragement for when we feel weary, and joy for when we are tested. Indeed, memorizing Scripture is a great thing.
Many of us, however, find memorizing Scripture a difficult thing to do. We hear preachers spontaneously quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 and we're amazed. We hear a pastor give sound Biblical counsel from Ecclesiastes 3 right after hearing a young man open his heart up to reveal some issues and we feel envy: "I wish I could quote Scripture like that!"
Truth is, friends, Scripture memorization need not be a difficult thing. Neither does it have to be just a dream or an ambition.
Memorizing God's word
Are you looking for help in memorizing Scripture? Here are a few ways you can memorize Scripture better.
1) Keep reading even if you don't understand it
If we want to memorize Scripture, we've got to read Scripture. Quotes from a preacher or Facebook posts aren't enough; we've got to develop the discipline of personal Bible reading.
Some of us quit reading because we find God's word hard to understand. Well, if we quit for that reason, we won't have anything of God's word to think about and memorize. We've got to continue reading God's word even if we find it difficult to understand. And there are plenty of resources to help you, like online Bible commentaries and devotionals, audio sermons and YouTube videos.
2) Let the Holy Spirit help you
Next, we must remember that we have the Spirit of God living in us. He is the Spirit of truth who will guide us into all truth, and will remind us of what God said in His word.
The Lord Jesus said about Him in John 16:13-15,
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
If we read God's word, the Spirit will help us understand it and will remind us of what it says. He will help us.
3) Obey it
One of the most effective ways to memorize God's word is to obey it. When we obey God's word, we engrave it in our minds and hearts, especially after seeing a promise fulfilled. James 1:22-25 tells us,
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
