I’ve been reminded the last couple of weeks of the importance of studying the Word of God and to gulp it down like a starved man. I really feel that God wants us to take up this discipline with renewed vigour, and not let it become a drag and a law. So I want to encourage all of us to look for God between the pages of the Bible and to find Him there. Not just looking but actually finding Him.
In the Word of God we get to know Who God is. How He thinks, what His plans are. With this said, we need both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to come and reveal to us what God is saying and to seal the Word of God. The Spirit will remind us of what the Word of God says whatever the situation.
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
2Ti 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2Ti 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
I was stirred by what Heinz said the other Sunday about having opinions versus speaking truth from the Bible. How often are we quick to voice our opinions, instead of speaking the truths of God which is given in His Word? And how are we to speak His truth if we don’t know the Word? And how are we to know the Word if we don’t study it? If we study the Bible daily, we will be ready in season and out of season to preach the Word, to speak truth, to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort. God has been challenging me to actually speak up and speak the truth that He is giving in the Bible – not withholding in fear of offending the other party. The absolute truth, not relative truth. And even if it sounds harsh, to have the courage to speak it in love. The world is desperate for absolute truth, and we have it in Scripture. Eph 4:25 says we should speak the truth, putting away all falsehood. And that we must do in love.
Collin said something the other day, some of you may have heard it, but it was quite profound. If you spend a 1000 hours on a specific subject, you will be recognised as being knowledgeable in that subject. If however you spend 10000 hours studying a subject, you will be able to instruct others also. You will have an impact in generations to come. May we be those who spend countless hours studying the Word such that it will flow naturally from our hearts. By doing this, we will be equipped for every good work which God has prepared for us.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
On a practical side, how do we study Scripture? There are various aspects to studying Scripture, the most basic of them all is just to actually read the Bible on a daily basis. There are some excellent reading plans available that takes you through the Bible in a year. By reading through the Bible you get a whole Bible theology, not just a bit here, a bit there, but a complete view. I can testify how it has changed my life. It’s not a law that you put on yourself, but a basic Godly discipline to get to know the Creator of the universe, the Sustainer of everything, the Ruler of the world, the magnificent God, the Lover of our souls.
Another example of how we can study Scripture is to take one book and read the whole book (or big chunks thereof in the case of longer books) every day for a whole month. The first week or two might feel like plodding on, but there will come a day when everything just makes sense. When you get the train of thought of the writer and you understand what he is saying. When you are soaked with Scripture and you remember the verses and you start quoting it because it is alive. I made a couple of calculations, the geeky engineer that I am ;), and if I study a whole book everyday for a month, and I do it with all 66 books, it will take me 5.5 years to go through the whole Bible. And that is going through the Bible that way only once. If I live until I am 70, I’ll roughly go through the Bible 7 times in great detail. And I don’t think that is enough. Why not start now?
Many Bible teachers have developed guidelines on how to interpret the Bible. The study of these principles is called hermeneutics, and the actual application of the principles is called exegesis. So when you take a piece of Scripture and start examining it and explaining it using a specific set of principles, you are doing exegesis. This helps us to understand Scripture better, so that we can internalise it and have the ability to explain it to others. Very much what you would do if you start writing down what God is revealing to you after the third week of reading through 2 Peter.
In closing, I want to encourage all of us to go deeper in our studying of the Word. That can be different for each one of us, but let us be those who tremble at His word, having a sensitive longing to obey. Ready for the good works He has prepared for us. Equipped to take possession of our inheritance, while living on this earth.
