‘Hiding the Word’ in Your Heart

Do you know your home address? How about your phone number? What about your Social Security number? If you’re a football fan, do you know the star players on your favorite team? Can you recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or sing the words to the Star-Spangled Banner?

I ask those questions because I’ve often heard people say, “Oh, I can’t memorize.” That’s the excuse they use for not trying to memorize passages from the Bible. But the truth is, if something is important enough to us, we can memorize it. A more critical question is, “Does the Word of God mean enough to you to want to try committing some of it to memory?”

More than 30 years ago, I would have counted myself among the “can’t memorize” crowd. The idea of memorizing a verse from the Scriptures seemed daunting. Until I attended a conference at our church and the speaker offered a shortcut.

He asked who in attendance had tried memorizing anything from the Bible, and some hands went up. Then he responded, “Okay, for those of you who didn’t raise your hands, I’m going to show you that you can memorize Scripture.” He proceeded to take us to 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and said, “Here’s your verse: ‘Pray without ceasing.’”

I thought, “That’s it? Three words?” That was it, although the speaker suggested we also commit to memory the “address” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17. That way, if we ever needed to refer to the verse, we could find it in the Bible.

But the speaker wasn’t finished. “Now that you’ve learned that verse – three words – look at the verse preceding it: ‘Rejoice always.’” That was 1 Thessalonians 5:16. So in about a minute’s time, we had two verses in our memory bank, five words in all. Finally, he pointed us to one other verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says, “In everything give thanks.” Much tougher to learn – four words!

That wasn’t so bad. Three consecutive verses, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.” My adventure in committing passages of Scripture to heart had begun.

But why even bother memorizing Bible verses? The goal isn’t to show how “holy” or religious we are. This isn’t about spiritual one-upmanship, showing off for a fellow believer. It’s about doing as King David wrote in Psalm 119:9,11 – “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Remember the ‘WWJD” fad of years ago, “What Would Jesus Do?” Not a bad question to ask in principle, but I often wondered, how can we know what Jesus would do if we’ve not read and memorized from the Bible what Jesus did?

Of course, most of the passages in the Bible are more than two, three or four words long. It takes effort and practice to memorize them, but I’ve found doing so much more rewarding than I could have imagined when I started. About that time I joined a small group Bible study that required memorizing a number of verses. We had built-in accountability, since every week we had to recite to one another the verses we had learned over the past week. 

I can’t tell you how many times this practice has come in handy, whether sharing some truths from the Scriptures with a friend, talking with a non-believer about my faith, or trying to get God’s perspective about an important decision I needed to make.

For instance, a longer passage I learned became my “life verse,” one I reflect on often: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Recently a friend who is dealing with an advanced stage of cancer shared this verse, explaining how it comforts her as she faces an uncertain future.

A similar passage, Isaiah 26:3, affirms the confidence we can have as followers of Jesus: “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.” Like a handyman being able to turn and instantly grab the right tool from the toolbox, having verses like this safely stored in our memory bank is a great source of comfort and assurance. 

Even if there’s not a Bible readily available – as is often the case – we can have the Word of God accessible for our use in the proverbial “blink of an eye.” So the next time you come across a verse or passage that seems particularly meaningful to you, why not try memorizing it? You might need it again sometime.

Hiding the Truth Where You Can Find It

How good are you at remembering things? Many people are quick to complain, “I have such a terrible memory.” But in many cases, our memories aren’t nearly as bad as we claim. For instance, do you know your home address? Social Security number? Your phone number, or those of friends, close family members, or where you work? How about lines from movies, or lyrics of favorite songs or hymns?

Virtually all of us succeed at memorizing information that’s important to us. Maybe we can’t recite the Declaration of Independence verbatim or the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, but we usually can manage committing to memory those things dear to our hearts.

Meeting with men I’m mentoring or discipling, I often suggest they try memorizing key verses of Scripture. If they reply, “Oh, I can’t memorize things,” I’m apt to raise a skeptical eyebrow. I sometimes tell them point-blank, “You can if you want to.”

But why bother? What’s the big deal about memorizing some verses from the Bible? We’re not trying to win a contest at church, or show off during a Sunday school class, are we? Not at all. In the Scriptures, however, God makes it clear He desires for us to make His inspired Word integral to our lives. The Bible shouldn’t be some reference book we consult every once in a while.

A profound statement about this is found in Psalm 119:9-11. King David wrote, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word…. Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You.” The NIV translates it, “I have hidden in my heart.”

Both terms convey a strong commitment to embracing God’s truth, appreciating its great value for everyday living. The apostle Paul affirmed this in writing to Timothy, whom he had been discipling: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

This tells us the Lord inspired men to put into writing His truth for everyday application. It’s not to be confined to a worship center’s sanctified halls.

An example is Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, a ministry that has made Scripture memory an important part of its discipling strategies. Trotman traveled all around the world, and often didn’t have a Bible readily available. But, having been diligent to memorize and meditate on the Scriptures, he could always access them from memory whenever needed.

How do we go about “treasuring” or “hiding” the Word of God in our hearts? There’s not just one way, but I’ve learned a few helpful tips over the years.

Years ago, my wife and I were attending a marriage conference when the speaker suggested making a commitment to memorize verses from the Bible. I had learned the 23^rd Psalm from hearing it repeated when I was in grade school. (The supposed total “separation of church and state” hadn’t been discovered yet. How scandalous was that?) But I’d never thought of making a conscious effort to commit to memory passages from the Bible.

The speaker suggested starting with a verse that’s easy to remember, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Only three words? That would be easy enough. Then he added, “If that seems too difficult, try the verse that precedes it: 1 Thessalonians 5:16, ‘Rejoice always.””

Wow! Suddenly I had two Bible verses committed to my “remembery.” Later I discovered other short verses, most notably John 11:35, which states, “Jesus wept.” Eventually, however, I realized the key for effective Scripture memory was not picking out simple passages, but finding ones that had special meaning or importance. Those are the ones most easily hidden or treasured in our hearts.

Before long I took on a little more ambitious challenge and memorized Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

This passage became my life verse that to this day serves as a foundation for my faith and trust in God, no matter what circumstances I face. Looking over the course of my life, I’ve been able to see that even when I didn’t understand what was happening, I could trust Him – and He truly has directed my paths.

At times, I’ve tried to learn a new verse that seemed too difficult. The solution was not only to try learning the words and their context, but also put the passage into use. One of those was 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

I was trying to learn it unsuccessfully until I decided to share it with a friend as we were riding in his car to a meeting. He wasn’t a follower of Christ, but I asked if he’d mind if I recited the verse since I was trying to learn it, and he didn’t object.

Without realizing it at the time, I was applying the principle from another verse, James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Soon I had “hidden” the verse in my heart – and many times, when confronted by temptation, I’ve brought it to mind for help in making the right decisions. I guess it’s okay to hide the Word of God – as long as you know where to find it.