How to Study the Word of God, Part 1

Scripture:
“For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord.” (Ezra 7:10)

Years ago when I attended Bible College, one of the key things that I learned there, which has been extremely helpful, was how to study the Bible. As our scripture verse today tells us that Ezra devoted himself to the study of the Law of the Lord and to doing what it says.

There are many different ways to study the Bible. One of the most common ways is to simply read it, yet even reading it can take many different forms. For example, you could read the Bible from cover to cover. That is start in Genesis and go to Revelations reading a passage of scripture every day. In this way you would get a perspective of the Bible as a whole. If you read only 30 minutes a day, you could read through the Bible in less then six months. (calculating it would take about 80 hours to read the Bible.)

Another way would be to concentrate on a particular book and read it through multiple times. Like reading a book 20 times, trying to read through the book in one sitting. This would be easy with a book like Jude but more difficult with a book like Genesis. In this way you would saturate yourself with a particular portion of God’s Word. When I studied the Gospel of John in a class called Hermaneutics we had to read through this book multiple times first and then we focused on reading each chapter multiple times.

Then, of course, there is the method of reading what the experts say about the scriptures. There are many good commentaries out there and it also gives one the opportunity to select the theological persuassion they desire to study under. It is probably also good to read a given passage of scripture in conjuction with what a given commentary says about that same passage of Scripture. In addition, now that we have the Internet, there are also a gazillion websites about studying the Scriptures. I have also found that it is helpful for me to listen to a passage of Scripture in .mp3 online while I read that same passage and take notes.

The Bible says that the Scriptures were written by men that “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21) and that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16) If you are to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) I am sure you will agree we need to be spending both time and effort studying the Scriptures so we can “divide the Word” and letting God lead us so that we can do it “rightly”.

Request:
That God would help us diligently spend time in His Word so that we can know Him and His ways.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank you for your Word and for using it to speak to us. Forgive us for letting so much stuff come into our lives and help us eliminate the unnecessary things so that we can do the most necessary thing of spending time with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen