I know a lot of people cringe at the thought of memorizing scripture. “It’s hard.” “It’s boring”. “I have access to my Bible on my phone 24/7, so what’s the point?” But hear me out.

Yes, Bible memory takes work. You have to put in the time to repeat verses to yourself over, and over, and over, and over. But the beauty of Bible memorization is found in that continual repetition.

Consider what is written in Psalm 1:

Blessed is the man,
Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1-3

Rather than filling his mind with the unwholesome thoughts of ungodly people, the blessed man meditates God’s law “day and night.”

When you repeat scripture to yourself, there’s a good chance that you will notice something during the 20th repetition that you missed during the 3rd or 4th repetitions.

When you repeat scripture to yourself, it literally fills your mind with those scriptures, which in turn can to transform your mind (Rom. 12:2).

When you repeat scripture to yourself, it makes it easier to recall those scriptures during times when they are helpful, such as times of temptation (Mt. 4:1-11), times of teaching (Mt. 12:3-7), and times of prayer (Mt. 27:46).

Don’t settle for just memorizing a verse here or there. My three year old can do that. Easy Bible memory is boring Bible memory. Do something more challenging. Memorize a whole paragraph. Memorize a whole chapter. Memorized a whole section. Memorize a whole book. The bigger the section is, the longer it will take you to memorize it, and the more you will have to repeat it to yourself. Plus, you will end up grasping the context better, which will make the process far more interesting and beneficial.

Still cringe at the idea of Bible memory? Do you think “I’m just not good at memorization”? Here’s an alternative suggestion that can yield many of the same results. Pick a book of the Bible and read it cover to cover thirty times in a row. Yes, thirty times. Chances are, by the time you finish, you will feel like you are pretty close to having it memorized. You will still get the benefits of meditation, repetition, and you will become far more familiar with the book.

Yes, it will take some time, but all good Bible study takes effort. Having a Bible app conveniently on your phone is helpful, but having scripture engrained into your mind is even better.

The Bible is not just a normal book. It is the collection of God’s inspired writings. It is the authoritative source for the truths we hold and shows us which errors we should deny.

And yet the world is filled with people who oppose the Bible, criticize the Bible, and try to undermine it’s reliability. These Bible critics often raise hard questions. “Why does God command genocide of the Canaanites? How can we say that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, when the book of Genesis tells of things that happened long before his birth, and the book of Deuteronomy tells of things that happened after his death? Did the author of Genesis actually intend to write historical facts, or did he intend it to be understood as allegory? Did Isaiah really write the whole book of Isaiah? Did Daniel really write Daniel? Did Paul really write the letters we traditionally ascribe to him? Why do the four gospels seem to contradict themselves at several points? Didn’t the Biblical authors simply reflect the values of their cultures? Why should we view their writings as authoritative? How did we end up with these specific 66 books? How do we know these books are inspired, and others aren’t? How do we know the Bible hasn’t been corrupted over time? Why do different manuscripts read differently from each other?”

The questions go on and on. Of course some questions are easier to respond to than others. But sometimes, we come across some really good questions. Sometimes WE might even be the ones who think of the hard questions.

In a world filled with Bible deniers and Bible critics, sometimes hard questions can make us flinch. Is it okay to question the Bible? What if I find a hard question, and I can’t find a satisfactory answer? What if my question causes me to stumble in my faith?

When we start to question the process of asking questions, we need to remember something very important: questioning the Bible is not wrong. If there is a problem with questioning the Bible, the problem lies not in the questioning, but in the attitude of the questioner.

God welcomes sincere questions. Gideon asked an angel, “If the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us?” (Judg. 6:13). Mary, the mother of Jesus, asked how it would be possible for her to give birth to a child since she was a virgin (Lk. 1.34). Good questions deserve to be asked.

When Paul entered the Jewish synagogues, he “reasoned” with the people from the scriptures (Acts 17:2). Reasoning includes honest dialogue with people who ask hard questions. The Christians in Berea were praised because they were eagerly “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). That means they were going to the scriptures with questions.

The Bible has been fulfilling its role as God’s inspired word for thousands of years. The Bible has faced numerous critics who have asked the most difficult questions man can think of. And yet the Bible is still here. It hasn’t gone away. Truth is not going away. Truth is truth. Truth isn’t afraid of questions. Those who love truth should embrace the process of asking questions.

Of course it can be possible to question the Bible in an unhealthy way. Sometimes questions are asked, not because the questioners are honestly seeking to learn truth, but rather because they have the goal of undermining God’s authority. This is what Satan did with his question when he asked Eve “Did God really say that?” (Gen. 3:1). Sometimes questions are asked simply because people love stirring up controversy. That’s also an unhealthy approach to questions (1 Tim. 6:3-4). But the problem in unhealthy questions is not in the questions themselves, but rather in the attitude of the questioner.

The Bible is God’s word. There is no reason for us to embrace irrational beliefs. Rational faith necessitates honest questions and rational answers. Approaching Scripture without asking the hard questions does not lead to a rational understanding of scripture. Intellectual laziness is not a virtue. So go ahead. Ask hard questions. The Bible can take it.

Every word of God proves true;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Proverbs 30:5