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Are you a “let me figure it out” kind of person, or a “show me how to do it” girl?
I like to inspect all the details, try to fit the puzzle together, do some research, and try to come to some type of configuration first. Then, once I have a decent grasp on what I’m looking at or trying to accomplish and solve, I am better equipped for an expert to show me.
Maybe you like to start with a clean slate, no prior knowledge, and with a buddy at the starting point. The expert or teacher comes alongside you and shows you step-by-step the process or explains the intricate details. Show-and-tell is really your language. Then you run with that and work to understand it more by walking through the process on your own.
Thinking through this idea of preferred learning style, where do you land when it comes to bible study?
This morning, I skimmed over the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s been quite a while since I’ve read through it. What I remember of it is this – it is a book of lament; seemingly at the onset, maybe even hopelessness. It speaks to the hum-drum nature of life and the meaninglessness that can trap us. It’s the book of the “there’s a time for______, and there’s a time for _______.” You know: a time to laugh and cry and plant and do all the things. I do remember of all that Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, he summed the end up this way – “The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.”
I want to study it, instead of only reading it. Since my time was hindered this morning, my first thought was to look up a sermon, a talk, a podcast episode, a video summary or commentary over this book that was written by Solomon.
But I didn’t. As a mostly “let me figure it out first” kind-of-girl as I mentioned, I want an opportunity to read through it with fresh eyes first. I didn’t want any spoilers! I didn’t want to hear about some treasure from Solomon’s words that someone else excavated, before I had a chance to find it for myself. Fresh and anew, it’s like a gift that I open first all on my own.
I like to form an opinion or interpret a message prior to walking into scripture with a bias. That isn’t always possible. Many of us bible learners have built-in bias from years of being under others’ teaching. Denominational preference toward certain bible passages or themes versus other denominations’ lean also plays into the ideas we’ve formed about what we believe and why we believe it. Knowing the general plot of many bible accounts prior to reading them again can cause blind spots if we run through them too quickly. If we assume we know all that’s being said before we read or if we rely on others opinions solely, then our tendency may be that we miss important details.
So, that leads me to this…
Reading through scripture fresh and anew on your own after some time away from a certain book, psalm, letter or prophecy is valuable. But if you lean toward being a “show and tell” girl and need a person to break it down and journey through it with you, that’s okay too.
The gift of bible study is that all forms of taking in God’s word are valuable and help us to know our God more deeply.
There have been times in my walk with Jesus that I read through a notable account in the bible, and that particular time some tiny, inconsequential detail suddenly hits me as incredibly powerful! It’s as if I’ve never seen it before. The Holy Spirit illuminates that puzzle piece in a way that my mind can see like it’s the very first time. God uses it to impact my walk with him in a way that I need in that exact moment or season of my life.
There have also been equal times of being under a talk from a bible teacher or pastor when an account is explained in a way that I had never before considered – maybe not in quite that way. I walk away with a fresh perspective on a story I haven’t read through in some time, and it drives me to want to look at it deeper. Then I dig into the text, cross reference and search it out – all because a teacher has helped to illuminate the text in a different way.
What other book on the planet have you ever read that impacted you this way?! It is the only book whose plot never runs dry, whose characters never become dull to our senses, and whose message never quits reviving us spiritually. No other work of literature has this power, because no other work of literature is living and active.
No matter how you study, the importance is to study. If his word is a lamp, if it is a light to our path, if it gives wisdom, we know it is valuable. If in its pages are hidden the mysteries of the God of the universe – the TRUE and LIVING and HOLY God – then every bit that we ingest is profitable to us. It shows us how to know him; to really know him and find him in the quiet place. That literally blows my mind, but also convicts me for not reading it more often and more feverishly!
Here are some of my tips for tackling the overwhelm of reading a book that seems impossible at times to dissect. This has helped me after years of being a bible learner:
I challenge you to both ways of studying God’s word. Definitely use resources. Listen to good sermons from people you trust. Read books from authors you trust (or who come recommended by people you trust who have that kind of spiritual wisdom). But Sister or Brother, if you’ve never read the bible without a commentary or a supplemental study guiding you along the way, I would say give it a try! Choose a book in the bible, and read it out loud. That way you are seeing the words, speaking them and hearing them all at once.
If at first you don’t follow what the passage is saying, look at the cross references that are at the bottom of the page of your bible (in most bibles, there will be a small letter or number next to a phrase or word in the text; that letter or number gives a corresponding verse(s) at the bottom of the page). Flip to those passages and read them also; not only single verses, but instead, read the text before the reference and after to give a macro view of the context. And then, read it again. You don’t have move through it at any particular speed. Pray before and as you read, asking the Holy Spirit to give you understanding, clarity and a deeper knowledge of our Father.
The more you approach the bible this way, the better theologian you will become (in basic terms, theology = study of God). I have found this approach also creates a dependence on Him to speak and move in sweet and direct ways specifically to my mind and heart. When it’s just me and nothing but the words on the page, asking Him for guidance, it’s a quiet, knowing kind of communion.
What do I mean exactly?
Well, when God speaks something directly to you through his words and they all of a sudden jump off the page and hit you square about something only he knows about – about something you’ve only spoken to him in the quiet place; in the desperate and prayerful kind-of-place – you find a soul rest in knowing that he knows you, that he sees and hears you. Your God is answering and inviting you into communion with Him. There is nothing like it!
If we only ever read others’ examination of the bible and never try to decipher for ourselves, we can miss that beautiful part of being a child of God.
Of course, after your intentional try at reading and understanding what you’ve read, go back to other study aids. The bible can be overwhelming, so no shame in uncovering it with help! As a friend, as a sister on the journey with you, I don’t want you to miss any of it. After all, the whole duty of (wo)man is to fear God and keep his commandments. We can only do that if we know him and know them.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”
John 8:31 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.8.31.ESV
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
John 14:21, 23 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.14.21-23.ESV
Mining Beneath the Ordinary 