The Greatest Treasure
John Bunyan was a nonconformist pastor in 1600s England, best known for writing the book: The Pilgrim’s Progress. As readers follow the journey of a pilgrim named Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, they find references to Scripture hidden like gems along the way. Through his writing, Bunyan paints verbal pictures that draw the mind’s eye to the Bible.
The reason why his book is full of Scripture is because John Bunyan was full of Scripture. Charles Spurgeon, another famous English preacher, later said of Bunyan, “Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.” I want to be a Christian like that, and I hope you do, too.
How do we become such a person? I think back to my childhood years in AWANA at my church. Scripture memorization is a key element of AWANA, and one of the verses I remember most is Psalm 119:11: “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (NASB). The strategy the Bible gives us for becoming a person with Bibline blood is to treasure God’s Word in our heart.
Like many others, I have reflected on Psalm 119:11 for a number of years trying to discern the reasons, the motivations, the results, and the benefits of hiding God’s Word in our hearts through Scripture memorization. On October 31, 1875, Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon in which he quoted another pastor’s divisions for a sermon on this very Psalm. He said, “Here we have the best thing: ‘your word’; in the best place: ‘have I hid in my heart’; for the best of purposes ‘that I might not sin against you.’” I have personally found this to be an ample way to frame my own reflection on this verse.
The Best Thing—“Your word I have treasured . . .”
Our world is full of things that demand our attention, distract us, and make us happy. They burrow their way into our hearts, often without notice. Some are beneficial; others are not. For example, we can all likely remember the words to long-forgotten songs from our childhood as soon as we hear the tune. But are we convinced that Scripture is the best thing we could possibly internalize?
We all know the siren calls of lesser desires that distract us from what is best. And, if we’re honest, we don’t always want to prioritize Scripture over the other content we consume. When I was in college, my friend introduced me to the TV show, 24—the one where Jack Bauer has only twenty-four hours to prevent a catastrophic event. I’ll be honest, I was hooked. I even stayed up an entire night watching half of the season (it was season four, if you’re curious). The next day, as I sat in class at a Christian college fighting the urge to nod off, I remember being convicted about how easily I spent most of the night watching a TV show when I sometimes struggled to read the Bible for longer than twenty minutes without being distracted.
When I was young, I would hide my most valuable toys from my brothers. A squirrel hides its food for the winter, burying its edible treasure to help it survive the winter. In both cases, the most valuable items are the ones kept hidden. If God’s Word is indeed our treasure—the best thing we can put in our minds—we should seek to hide it in our hearts by incorporating Scripture memorization into the spiritual rhythms of our life.
The Best Place—“In my heart . . .”
The treasure of Oak Island has long fascinated treasure hunters like the Lagina brothers. Despite searching the area for years and creating much anticipation in the process, they have not yet discovered it. When they approach a new area in which to dig, they send a drill down to collect a core sample and examine the contents to determine if the location is a good one. Similarly, if you were to take a core sample of your heart, what would come out? The reality is, we don’t need a core sample to uncover what is in our hearts; we can just look at our lives and listen to our words. Scripture tells us much about the heart, the center of who we are. I think this is why the heart is the best place to store up God’s Word—it affects the entirety of our being.
Regardless, the task of memorizing Scripture is not easy. My wife and I love the book of Proverbs. When you look at the pages of my closed Bible, you can identify Proverbs by the well-worn and discolored edges of the pages. We have many of them memorized, but we often don’t remember the reference or the exact wording. At times I can’t recall the reference to the Proverb, “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (15:1 NIV). Yet, it still shapes our marriage, parenting, and ministry as it comes to mind by the help of the Spirit in particular situations.
Memorizing Scripture continues to affect us long after we have forgotten the specific details of the verse. How does this happen? Unlike memorizing facts for a history test, internalizing a Scripture means integrating it with our life—leaving ourselves open to its conviction and comfort. Treasuring Scripture in our hearts puts the living and active word of God at the core of our life. The promise of the Word is that it cuts to the core of who we are and changes us. Like fertilizer put into the soil changes the makeup of the soil for better fruit production, paired with the working of the Holy Spirit, Scripture transforms our heart to embody the truth of the Bible long after the specific parts of it dissolve from memory.
The Best Purpose—“That I might not sin . . .”
The psalmist moves next to the hoped-for result of treasuring God’s Word in the heart—preventing personal sin. In other words, the work of memorizing Scripture is a preemptive attempt to avoid falling into sin. Scripture memorization is an activity of the humble—those who know they are weak, poor in spirit, and in need of divine help to pursue righteousness. But don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t memorize Scripture for it to function only as a means of condemning sin. The Word of God is not merely Law, but it is grace to those who love him. We don’t memorize Scripture at the feet of Mt. Sinai; we memorize Scripture at the foot of the cross and at the empty tomb, with eyes set on the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Looking to him, full of his Word, we throw off the weight of sin freely and joyfully.
When we face moments of sickness, struggle, and weakness, our guard is down and sin often has the opportunity to rear its head. The Scripture we memorize can have a profound protective effect on our hearts during these moments. Our hearts were broken on the journey home from the hospital after being told we had experienced a miscarriage. Our minds and hearts could have gone in a million directions; in sadness, we could have been tempted to many sinful thoughts and attitudes toward God. Yet, the Holy Spirit brought to mind a treasure hidden in our hearts, Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is near to the broken hearted, and saves the crushed in Spirit.” The nearness of God, and that particular Scripture, became an anchor for the difficult days and weeks that followed.
The Best Person—“Against You.”
If I could add only one thing to the preacher’s masterful outline, it would be: The Best Person, “God himself.” The most important person in this text is not me or you, but the Triune God himself.
Why do we go to such lengths to internalize God’s Word so that we will not sin? The reason we take time to memorize the Word, put sticky-note Scriptures on our steering wheels, hang favorite verses in our homes, and write Bible verses on our mirrors is because we cherish something more than merely “not sinning.” We do not want to sin against our God. We treasure and cherish the God of the gospel, the riches of his grace that he has shown us in Christ, and the hope we have in Christ of life with God eternal in the Celestial City.
Scripture memorization is not easy, but it is worth it. When we are moved not by mere duty, nor by mere discipline, but by our delight in the God of the gospel, we will find the motivation to internalize his sweet and sacred words in our hearts. God’s Word is a treasure greater than gold, sweeter than honey, and a balm for our souls. Yet, all of these must be tried and tested personally. When you do, you will discover that every word of God proves true.
Jesse Welliver is the Pastor of LifeGroups and Adult Discipleship at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. He has a Ph.D. in Preaching from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also teaches adjunctly at Luther Rice College and Seminary and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary extension center in North Georgia. Jesse is married to Rachel, and they have four daughters.