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The Joy of Bible Study

The Bible is just another old book; so why spend any more time in Bible Study than in enjoying a good mystery novel? Thankfully, I have never had to answer this question for myself. Salvation brought with it a thirst for the Bible that has never been slaked. There is no scientific explanation for this. I can't explain it; I just know I have to be immersed in Bible Study every day.

The journey began by my simply reading the Bible. That didn't last very long. It was clearly an amazing book, like none other with which I had ever come in contact. Nevertheless, reading it was leaving me unsatisfied. Bible Study was the answer. Every word seemed important and I wanted to know why that word was there. Had the English translators just picked a pleasant sounding word for that spot in the verse? And, why is that verb in that particular tense? And, where else does this phrase appear? And, who is being addressed in this passage? All kinds of questions that can't be answered meaningfully without personal Bible study.

So, I started to collect study tools, dictionaries, concordances, lexicons, commentaries. Initially, these were all paper resources. Big, heavy, unwieldy books; Bible Study was building muscles. Now, the computer and the internet has replaced all this paraphernalia. But, what to do with all these tools? In 2000 years, many ideas have come to the fore regarding how to do a Bible study. I personally use the approach advocated by Precept Ministries. However, the main point for me is that the individual has to do it for himself/herself. Bible study is one activity that can not be delegated; not even to the pastor.

The actual encounter that one has with God through Bible study has power like nothing else. How many times I stop in the midst of a Bible study to talk to God! Only when one is immersed in the text can he/she truly grasp that this is literally the Word of God. No other explanation (except fraud) can explain the amazing unity of this work of many individuals over the span of many centuries. It is not fashionable to state it; but, the Holy Spirit wrote it and we just have to study it to know God.

Submitted by David Weiner