The Need for Memorizing Scripture

How can your children live a life pleasing to God in this wicked generation?

One day, children will leave your embrace and live in this harsh world. When they are young, they are within your reach, but quickly leave your arms. Even if they are still in the home, your influence diminishes. In their young lives, children are exposed to friends, peers, and teachers. They are also surrounded by the ideas and values of this evil world and become accustomed to and trained by them. Can you be confident your children will live as disciples of Christ—valuing what you value, relying on God, and devoting themselves to fulfil the Great Commission even after you leave this world?

God gave an important task to the Israelite parents. In the book of Deuteronomy we read, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:6-7). Parents should take every opportunity to teach God’s Word to their children so Scripture will be in their hearts. God gave this command in Deuteronomy more frequently and with greater intensity than He spoke of the conquest of Canaan. But the Israelites neglected God’s important command and eventually their children’s minds were taken captive by the culture and ways of the world. When the children grew up, instead of following God they worshiped idols, which ultimately led to the destruction of their nation.

There is much evidence that there are benefits for children who love the Word of God and keep Scripture in their hearts. First Samuel 2:30 records these words of the Lord, “. . . for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

If you raise your children to fear God, He will be responsible for them all the days of their lives. We read in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God’s Word is like a lamp and light that keeps you from stumbling as you take each day’s steps. What a wonderful promise! The Bible says, “Blessed is the man . . . his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). Before the ideas and values of the world take hold of children’s tender minds, the Word of God must first be established in their thoughts. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Diligently teach your children to memorize the Word of God.

The Word of God never stops working. He says, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God’s Word will work in the hearts of our children even after we are gone. The Word of God spoken by parents and memorized reaches deep into children’s hearts and has the power to turn them back to God, even if they go astray.

John Newton was the son of a wealthy sea captain. His mother read the Bible to young John as he sat on her lap. She died when he was only seven years old. Later, John became the captain of a slave ship. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean on his return to London from Africa with a cargo of slaves, John encountered a terrible ten-day storm off the coast of Newfoundland. Late one night, John struggled to scoop water from the rocking ship in the storm that threatened to sink the vessel. In his exhaustion, John remembered the words of Scripture he heard on his mother’s knee from Luke 11:13, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” John fell to his knees and prayed, “Lord, have mercy on us.” He confessed his ugly sins and turned to God. The Word of God, which John heard and memorized as a child, was the foundation of his life’s redirection to Christ.

How can you and I help our children memorize God’s Word?

1. Choose a verse from the Bible to read to your children daily and post it in your child’s room. You may let your children choose a verse to memorize. At the dinner table read the verse together and explain its meaning. Make memorization fun by covering up important words or doing an activity.
2. At the end of the month, have the children recite the verse together and reward them. When announced in advance, a reward can be an incentive to memorize the Scripture. The next month, have them memorize a new verse while also reviewing the one they memorized the previous month.
3. At the end of the year, recite the verses memorized throughout the year as a family and give a special prize to each one who memorized all 12 verses. Help the children have fun without putting too much pressure on them.

Let God’s Word rule the lives of our children while they are young, before it is too late, so that our dear children will fear God and live for Him throughout their lives.