The Sword of Scripture Memorization


When I was first coming to faith, Allison mentioned the idea of memorizing Scripture. It speaks to my immaturity of faith at the time when my first response was, "Isn't that like brainwashing?" Luckily for me, God "gives more grace," and I've been lucky and able to memorize portions of His Word. I've found it to be one of my favorite ways to connect to God and to meditate on His will for my life.

In the book Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines, pastor and author David Mathis says, "When we learn the Scriptures by heart, we're not just memorizing ancient, enduringly relevant texts, but we're listening to and learning the voice of our Creator and Redeemer himself. When we memorize lines from the Bible, we are shaping our minds in the moment to mimic the structure and mind-set of the mind of God. (p.68)

We have the great example of the Temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 to demonstrate to us the power of Scripture memorization to conform our minds to the mind of God. In Matthew 4, Satan takes three opportunities to test Jesus, but because Jesus has God's Word stored up in his heart he is able to resist the devil and his schemes.

1.  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

 “‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
(Matthew 4:1-4 ESV)

First, we see that Jesus was hungry. Jesus is fully man and fully God. As a man, he felt serious hunger after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. Satan tempts him to use his divine power to turn the stones into bread to eat. However, Jesus refuses to use his divine power to curb his fleshly hunger by defending himself with Scripture. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus arms himself with the word of God and responds that "man shall not live by bread alone," resisting Satan's temptation. The fact that Jesus had these words memorized enabled his humility and obedience to the Father's will. Jesus is showing that He will do the Father's will and be united with us fully in his flesh as a man.

2. Next, Satan tries to misapply God's word to test Jesus. He uses Psalm 91 to test Jesus, (and Satan knows the Scripture, by the way). He tempts Jesus to act in a way to gain glory for himself:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
 “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
(Matthew 4:5-7 ESV)

If Jesus were to fall from the temple and be held up by God's angels, this act would gain him an enthusiastic following, but the action would be outside of God's plan for how Jesus was to be revealed as the Messiah. Christ cites Deuteronomy 6:16 and reveals again that he will walk only in God's plan for his life. Christ's memorization of this passage enables his humble obedience of God. The knowledge Jesus had of God's word helped him to test and discern the comments of Satan, which even though they are Scripture, are motivated by deceit.

3. Lastly, Satan tempts Christ with the offer to rule all kingdoms:
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

 “‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
(Matthew 4:8-10 ESV)

Christ rebukes Satan, citing Deuteronomy 6:13, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." Satan offers Christ the rule of the world without the pain and separation of the cross. All he has to do is bow down and worship him. This is a lie however, because we know that God, and not Satan has sovereign control of the world. Jesus uses this memorized Scripture to defend himself against the lies of the devil. And the best thing happens, "then the devil left him." The devil flees from Christ when he is thwarted by God's word.

How does this apply to us?

When we follow Christ's example and let the word dwell richly in our hearts through Scripture memorization, we are shaping our minds to seek God's will and better know God's mind in the moment by moment stresses and temptations of life. 

First, we are enabled to resist the temptation to disobey God's will, just as Christ refused to turn the stones into bread. Second, we are the sheep of Christ who hear his voice and follow him. Storing up God's word in our hearts helps us to know the voice of Christ and therefore we are protected from "empty words," and false teachers. When we meditate often on the word of God, we are aware of the times when Scripture is twisted or misapplied (even by our own hearts), just as Jesus knew that Satan was twisting God's words from Psalm 91 to serve his evil schemes. Lastly, storing up God's word defends us from deceitful words and lies, just as Christ defended himself against Satan's lie of ruling all kingdoms. When we arm ourselves with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17) the devil will flee from us, just as he fled from Christ. Memorizing and quoting God's word as we have it stored up in our hearts helps us resist the devil and sends him fleeing! As James says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7 ESV)

 Scripture memorization is a great blessing and means of grace given by God, as it is written,

"Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night."
(Psalm 1:1-2 ESV)

Do you delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking in Wisdom

Image
Augustine of Hippo is famously quoted as saying to God, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you." We have to consider this: If God really is our Creator, and the Bible really is His inspired word, God's words and instructions for us are life. He is our Maker and he knows how we are made. Therefore, when we are reading the Bible, we are looking into the truth about ourselves. We are grasping onto the truth of how we are wired to operate, which means we can be learning true wisdom. Let's think about wisdom in a few contexts from the Scriptures, and we can weigh for ourselves the authority we think they deserve. A Pure Heart: Wisdom in Conduct From the New Testament James 3:13–18 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is ...
Read more

32 For 32

Image
Each year around my birthday (for the past three years), I like to share my thoughts from the previous year. These are keen and not so keen observations, musings, and the like. Feel free to read and disagree, silently judge, or even criticize these -- I'll probably never know that you did that! Those little nose pimples that you get on the inside of your nostril from time to time are the worst.  Life is really, really hard. We aren't meant to go it alone. We need community. I've lived most of my life thinking the opposite, but I'm realizing I need people more and more as I get older.  Social media lives are not reality. Who are you trying to impress? Who am  I  trying to impress? Fear is perhaps our strongest motivator. Beware of any person who tries to influence you based on your fears. Has craft beer jumped the shark? I will neither confirm, nor deny. But you know what will never jump the shark. A nice cold domestic. Also, I recently learned that Bud Ligh...
Read more

Go On Up To The Mountain Every Day (Part 2)

Image
Always wear Packers gear when you know you'll be standing on top of a mountain.  In part 1 of this 2 part blogstravaganza we looked at the depth of our need for a Savior. We saw that because of our sin, we find ourselves separated from the holy God and we are helpless to save ourselves by works of the law. The greatness of the gospel of God's grace to sinners is that while we are sinners, He redeems us and reconciles us to Himself through the blood of Jesus.  This post will look at 2 more reasons why we should preach ourselves the gospel every day.  2) The gospel magnifies God's grace in provision by bringing us in awe to the foot of the cross. We have rebelled and ruined our relationship with God on account of our sin. We cannot obey the law or any other religious practices to purify ourselves in order that we may draw near to the holy God. It doesn't work! But that isn't the end of our story! God takes us from hopeless sinners to hopeful sons! Fo...
Read more

A Prayer For 2019

Image
2019 is here, people! Out of the abundant favor of God, we are here in Nebraska as I write this, staying at a lovely AirBnB as a family, celebrating the holiday and enjoying time together. Last night, we were studying Ephesians 3 as we prepared for the New Year, and it seemed like such a fitting and beautiful prayer to ring in 2019, that I wanted to pass it along. Here is the prayer that I am joining with the Apostle Paul almost 2000 years ago in praying for myself and others, and for you and for those you love. Prayer for Spiritual Strength 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and ...
Read more

The Boy Who Walked Away Alive

Image
Have you heard about the boy who died? There is a scene in Acts chapter 20 where Luke records something miraculous that occurs in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Late one night in a well lit upper room, Paul is sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God with a group of disciples in Troas. As night wears on, a young listener named Eutychus is overwhelmed by sleepiness and tragically falls out of a window to his death. Paul descends the stairs of the building and hovers over the boy. In the same way that Jesus assured the ruler whose young daughter had died, so Paul issues forth comfort in his speech, saying, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him” (Acts 20:10 ESV). This calls to mind life-giving resurrections told of in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha as well. The miraculous happens again, and they took away the boy alive. How can this be? How can the dead be made alive? Who invests this resurrection power to defeat this solemn and universal enemy? Truly this is t...
Read more