I began committing the Bible to memory just a few weeks after my conversion to Christ during my junior year in college in 1982, so I have now been memorizing Scripture for more than forty years. I can easily say this has been the most beneficial spiritual discipline in my life.

Day after day, Scripture memory keeps my mind on the glories and details of God’s perfect words rather than on the muck that the world, the flesh, and the devil would have me wallow in. Since I have been so lavishly blessed by this practice, I regularly advocate it to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Almost without exception, they genuinely want to memorize Scripture. They see the obvious blessings. Even still, many also confess to a regular pattern of making excuses for not beginning (or continuing) the practice. And we shouldn’t be surprised, for Satan wages war against everything the Spirit leads us to do in our journey toward Christlikeness — and all the more if that work is so threatening to his dark empire.

So, what kinds of excuses have you raised against Bible memory? Let me list some I’ve heard (and fought personally) again and again, and then attempt to help you over each one. My desire is to fill your arsenal with weapons of righteousness that have the power to demolish Satan’s strongholds against this beautiful labor of Scripture memorization so that you will be equipped to take every rebellious thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3–5).

1. “I don’t have a very good memory.”

The human brain is perhaps the most complex and astonishing physical creation God has made. It has as many neural interconnections as there are leaves in the Amazon rainforest!

Part of that amazing creation is our memory — the ability to recall the past so we can live well in the present. If you are able to read this article and understand it, you have a good enough mind to memorize Scripture. While you may not have a world-class memory (or even a memory as good as some of your friends’ memories), you have a much better memory than you think you have.

Consider that you have countless facts committed to memory: the vast vocabulary your parents taught you, the words to countless songs stuck in your head (even songs you hate), people’s names, their birthdays, capital cities, street names, and so on. If your mind can hold all of that information, sometimes over decades, it has the power and capacity to begin storing up the words of God. And beyond the capacities of your mind, Christ can right now open your mind so that you will understand and remember more of his word. Ask the Lord to do this for you!

What’s more, your memory ability will grow the more you invest in this discipline. No matter where you are now, you will be better a year from now if you put in the effort.

2. “It will take too much time.”

God has entrusted time to us as a stewardship. “This is the day that the Lord has made” (Psalm 118:24). God wrote all the days he has ordained for us in his book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). On judgment day, we will give an account to him for how we spent the moments of our lives. So, the excuse that Scripture memorization will take too much time is really just an admission of bad priorities. We haven’t ordered our lives or our schedules wisely — that is, around what’s truly most important.

We often say we’re too busy, but we’re busy doing what we’ve chosen to do. Even if we’re compelled by circumstances beyond our control (for instance, working at multiple jobs to support our family), we still have plenty of time to pause and commit something God has said to memory. Then, the more Scripture begins to transform our priorities, the more we will want to invest our time, energy, and resources in those things that most glorify God. And immersing our minds in biblical truth is one of those mosts. Memorizing Scripture is blue-chip stock, promising dividends both in this life and in eternity.

3. “I’ve tried it before, and it didn’t work.”

I understand that Scripture memory is hard, and many of you have made attempts (maybe many attempts) in the past. I’ve said for years, though, that the enemy of Scripture memorization is giving up. Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow so that his disciples would “always . . . pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). I would exhort similar tenacity when it comes to memorizing the Bible.

The words in these pages are not idle words for you; they are your life (Deuteronomy 32:47). “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This practice will feed your soul for the rest of your life — if you don’t give up.

4. “I read the Bible every day. Why should I memorize it?”

This is a good question. I do not look at Scripture memorization as a replacement for daily Bible reading, but rather as a supplement. In addition to slowly memorizing books of the Bible, I read through the entire Bible once a year. The two habits together provide knowledge in breadth and in depth. What Scripture memory adds is deep meditation on passages and the ability to recall them with accuracy in vital moments — in temptation, evangelism, counseling, teaching, prayer times, and so on. Whereas regular Bible reading shapes the overall landscape of our minds, memorization cultivates richness and precision.

5. “I might become prideful.”

Some time ago, I made this painful discovery about myself: I am already deeply prone to pride. You may have made a similar discovery about yourself. There’s some pride in nearly every decision we make and every action we take. The powerful working of the Holy Spirit alone can make us truly humble in Christ — and how does the Spirit work? He uses the words of God. No doubt, if we make good progress in memorizing Scripture, we will be tempted to boast about it. To combat that temptation, I recommend memorizing a few key verses to help keep such sinful pride in check, verses like James 4:6, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

My dear friend, I am so grateful that God has led you to consider this marvelous discipline. The benefits are endless, but I’ve focused instead on the obstacles. I’ve sought to help you overcome excuses that the devil will put in front of you to hinder you. If you trust Jesus and stick with it, I promise that God will bless your hard work for his glory, your own joy in him, and the souls of others.

“So, you’re a trauma surgeon! Tell me, what was your best case?”

Suddenly, the studio lights glared uncomfortably bright. Undoubtedly, the interviewer wanted me to offer him a flashy, adrenaline-fueled scene worthy of TV docudramas, a story stuffed to the brim with clickbait. But for those of us who toil in the wages of sin over the long years, rarely do these heart-pumping rescues linger at the forefront of our minds.

Rather, my first thoughts were the horrors: The young man who shouted, “Help me!” before he fell unconscious and died in the CT scanner. The woman, broken with grief, who crawled into her dying daughter’s ICU bed to hold her one last time. The paraplegic father whose anguish over the sudden death of his son so wrecked him that he howled and pitched forward out of his wheelchair onto the floor.

When I offered the interviewer the truth, his enthusiasm fizzled before my eyes, and he changed the subject. I forced a smile, swallowed down the tightness in my throat, and struggled against the tide of grief that’s become as familiar and worn as a tattered coat. It’s a mantle common to many who walk beside the hurting — the heaviness that presses upon the heart when we’ve witnessed others’ suffering over and over and over.

Burden of Caregiving

In whatever avenue they serve — in chaplaincy, military service, health care, counseling, or simply loving friendship — Christian caregivers often share a similar heart, viewing mercy as fundamental to following Jesus. What more poignant way to fulfill the call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God than to come alongside others during their darkest hours (Micah 6:8)? How better to love a neighbor as ourselves than to dedicate the work of our hands to uplifting the downtrodden and afflicted (Matthew 22:39)?

Yet when we “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), our tears can linger long after our work at the bedside or on the battlefield has finished. When we bear another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) in the hospital, overseas, or in a dying loved one’s home, our shoulders can ache long after our service has ended. Suffering leaves a mark, and in ministry that uniquely seeks to love the hurting, we bear those marks repeatedly.

In fact, when we have a front-row seat to the wages of sin, we can start to question God’s goodness and sovereignty. Is he really in control when so many suffer? Does he really love us? How do we carry on when the suffering we witness steals all hope and breath? How do we lavish others with the healing word of Christ when our own wounds still sting?

Four Truths to Guard Your Heart

When ministering to the hurting, harboring God’s word in your heart is essential. The following four reminders from Scripture can equip caregivers to face repeated suffering with grace and perseverance so they might continue to show the love of Christ when their own hearts ache with weariness.

1. You are not alone.

Just as my interviewer couldn’t comprehend the tragedies I’d seen, so also few fully understand the suffering caregivers witness in their day-to-day ministry. In Moral Warriors, Moral Wounds, retired Navy chaplain Wollom Jensen reflects upon this phenomenon: “I know what it is to live with fear; to be appalled by the loss of human life; to be shamed by the experience of participating in war; and the feeling of having lost one’s youth in ways that those who have not been to war will never be able to understand” (2).

And yet, as isolated as we may feel in our experiences of suffering, the truth is that in Christ we are never alone. Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He bore our afflictions and carried our sufferings (Isaiah 53:3–4). As the author of Hebrews writes, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

“Revel in the joy, the hope, the assurance we have in Christ that, when he returns, death shall be no more.”

God’s one and only Son — the Word who was with the Father when he stirred the heavens into existence — took on flesh, dwelt among us, and endured the same agonies and wounds that so trouble us. Most magnificent of all, Christ bore such suffering for us (Isaiah 53:4–5). He bore our burdens, knows our tears, and has journeyed through the shadowy valley. Astonishingly, he walks with us even now. “Behold,” he has promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

2. God works through suffering.

The Bible overflows with examples of God working through our trials to bring about what is beautiful, good, and right (Romans 8:28). Remember Joseph, who endured assault, enslavement, and exile at the hands of his treacherous brothers, but who saw God at work in it all. “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50:20).

Consider John 11, when Jesus delayed in going to the bedside of his dying friend Lazarus. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha lamented (John 11:21). And yet, his delay served a stunning purpose: to draw dozens of the lost to himself (John 11:42, 45).

Most of all, consider the cross. God worked through his Son’s agony and death to accomplish the greatest feat in all of history — the redemption of fallen sinners and the restoration of God’s people to himself as his adopted children (John 3:16; 1 John 3:1).

If God could work good through sorrows as deep as these, then surely he can do the same in our own sorrows — however piercing, however confusing, however long-lasting.

3. God invites you into his rest.

When working in the fields of heartbreak, the grave responsibility of caregiving can overwhelm us. In such moments, opening our hands to Jesus brings relief. Remember, we are not saviors. We are laborers in the harvest, but salvation comes through Christ alone, and any good we effect is through his will, not our own (Ephesians 2:10).

God is the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, worthy of all praise; we, on the other hand, are fallen, finite, and weak. We are not enough. When we acknowledge our frailty and confess our failings before God, his grace increases all the more: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Turn over your grief to the Lord. Come to him earnestly in heartfelt prayer. “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Remember Jesus’s invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

4. Death is swallowed up in victory.

A dear friend and sister in Christ, for whom I served as caregiver for five years, recently fell asleep in Jesus. As I held her hand, felt her pulse become thready, and watched her breathing slow as her earthly life waned, a thought recurred in my mind: this is precisely why Jesus came. To liberate us from these shackles. To save us, in stunning grace, from the wages of our sins (Romans 6:23).

The gospel shatters death’s hold on us. Jesus has swallowed up death in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54). He endured the cross so we might endure our own death. He rose from the tomb so that we, too, will rise. Death shall be no more. In this fallen, broken world, trials will afflict us, but Christ has overcome (John 16:33).

When Death Is Done

“So we do not lose heart,” Paul writes, reflecting upon the gospel.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

My brothers and sisters, when you sit beside the dying and come alongside the grieving, when you seek to share the gospel in dark places, allow the light of Christ to embolden and guide you. The things that are seen and transient wither before the blinding Light of the world. Let that light illuminate your mind. Let his word guide your path. Revel in the joy, the hope, the assurance we have in Christ that, when he returns, “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,” for the former things will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

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