Testimonial from Colin Pyle

The reason why I decided to write a testimony on the importance of teaching our children to memorise Scripture is because I can look back over my life and see how memorised Scripture greatly influenced my life. This was especially true in the formative years of my life.

How learning Scripture early on impacted his life

When I was a child, the Sunday School we attended had exams at the end of the year. Preparation for the exam entailed the memorisation of whole chapters of the Bible. I disliked these exams and having to memorise Scripture. One year I memorised Psalm 34 and another year I memorised Proverbs chapter 3. It was not until years later, that I realized what an incredible blessing these Scriptures had been in my life.

One day when I was in my early teens, I was having a Quiet Time and Isaiah 40:30,31 really struck me as wonderful verses, so I decided to memorise them.

The three Scriptures that greatly impacted my life

1) Proverbs 3

In my formative teenage years, Proverbs chapter 3 was especially powerful in my life. I remember having a struggle to honour the Lord by giving financially to His work. I would often think of the words in verse 9 which says, "Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your increase." I eventually came to the conviction that I should give God the first portion of my income and not spend it on my own pleasures.

Verses 5 & 6 were also powerful in my life. They say, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." I often thought about how I needed to trust the Lord with all my heart and not do what I thought was best. I came to the conclusion that if I acknowledged the Lord in my life and sought His counsel, He would direct my life.

I often thought about the verses that say, "Wisdom is more profitable than silver, the gain thereof much fine gold." I came to the conclusion that God's wisdom was more important than becoming wealthy.

2) Isaiah 40:30,31

Isaiah 40:30-31 was also very influential in my life because of the constant struggle I had to make time to have Quiet Times.

Verses 30 and 31 say, "Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." There were many times when I was tired and weary and I was tempted to not bother spending time with God. Often when I felt like this, these verses would come to my mind and I would have a Q.T. I discovered that when I spent time in God's presence, I would be refreshed and the Lord seemed to work in whatever situation I was in at the time.

3) Psalm 34

Psalm 34, without doubt, has been the most influential Scripture in causing me to hear from God on a regular basis. I would pray and ask God to speak to me and often verses from this Psalm would come to my mind. Other Scriptures would also come to mind and sometimes verses from a hymn, but verses from Psalm 34 were the most predominant.

Initially, when I prayed, asking God to speak to me, I thought it was coincidence and not God speaking to me, when Scriptures and verses from hymns came to my mind. What came to my mind, however, was so relevant to the situation I was going through, that I became convinced that I was hearing God speak to me in a personal way like this.

Below are some verses from Psalm 34 that have been powerful in my life:

Verse 1 "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips." The Lord's praise was not always on my lips and this verse was a challenge to me.

Verse 4 "I sought the Lord and He answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." I had many fears in my life and when I prayed, this verse sometimes came to my mind. As a result, I would often be delivered from what I feared. If what I feared came upon me, it no longer seemed to matter.

Verse 5 "Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." Sometimes I was tempted to compromise my convictions because of the fear of man. When praying about difficult situations, the words of verse 5 often came to my mind. When they did, I took courage, knowing that my face would never be covered with shame if I did what was right.

Verse 7 "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." This verse was especially powerful in my life after I was married to Kathy and had children. Often when our children were sick and we were quite fearful, we would pray, asking for God's help, and the words of verse 7 would often come to my mind and those words would give us courage to be more trusting of God.

Verse 8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." This Scripture encouraged me to keep tasting of the Lord - to keep spending time in His presence.

Verse 10 "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." The words of this verse also encouraged me to keep seeking the Lord.

Verse 12,13 "Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies." These verses have been a challenge to me to not gossip about people.

Verse 16 "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth." It has given me confidence knowing that evil men will not ultimately prevail.

Conclusion

The words of every verse in Psalm 34 have been a blessing in my life. My one regret is that I did not memorise many more Scriptures while I was young. It was not until I was 45 (I am now 58) that I began to make Scripture memory part of my life.

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