For Saturday January 7, 2023

Psalm 119:11
Your word I have hidden in my heart.

Michael Billester visited eastern Poland during the late 1930s and gave a Bible to one of the villagers while there. The villager read it, was converted, and passed the book to two hundred others, who were all saved by reading it. When Billester returned in 1940, the group gathered for a worship service, and he suggested they all recite a few Bible verses they had memorized. A man stood up and said, “Perhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?” Billester was astonished to learn that the people had memorized whole chapters of the Bible. In fact, together, the two hundred villagers knew almost the entire Bible by heart.

We need to view committing Scripture to memory to be as important as the Polish villagers did. Value its power and effectiveness in our lives as much as Jesus did when He used it to defend Himself against Satan’s temptations.

Remember the true purpose for memorizing Scripture—“that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11)—and make it a priority to spend some time etching the Word of God into your heart and mind.

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.
C. H. SPURGEON

David Jeremiah, Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions (Tyndale, 2014)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.