Meditate and Memorize
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11
There are around one thousand quotes, references, and allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament. When New Testament writers wrote their Gospels and letters, they might have had Old Testament scrolls with which to check their quotations and references. But what about when Jesus and the apostles quoted the Old Testament “on the fly”—during the course of their ministry? In those cases they were quoting from memory, not from a scroll. They took the Old Covenant admonition seriously to know God’s Word by heart.
Such was the case when Jesus responded to Satan’s three temptations in the wilderness—He quoted three verses from Deuteronomy from memory (Matthew 4:1-11). If we are going to defeat Satan’s lies and temptations with the truth of God, we must store up the Word of God in our heart like the psalmist—“that [we] might not sin against [God].”
While in the midst of temptation is not the time to begin your search for Scriptures. Begin today to be prepared—to commit God’s Word to memory. (Psalm 119:11 is a good place to begin.)
Meditate on the word in the Word. John Owen
Treasured in My Heart (Psalm 119:11)