Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you contemplate Bible study?

While I’m no authority on the subject of studying God’s Word, I do enjoy the process of digging deeper.  I have practiced many approaches to Bible study, some that stuck and some that didn’t.  Employing different methods is often necessary depending on the type of passage and these are all well and good, but they are just tools to aid me in thinking more deeply about what I am reading. After all, God’s Word is alive and active.  I can read the same passage year after year, and something new will stand out to me.  That’s because the Holy Spirit knows what I need to hear at any given time.  He is there to teach us as we look to God’s Word.

As I said, I am no expert and my Bible study would definitely not be considered scholarly. That’s okay…God has gifted teachers and preachers and pastors to share those things with us. I’m spending time with God and that’s what’s important.  One thing I always try to keep in mind though is like the real estate mantra of ‘location, location, location’. Only in this case: ‘context, context, context’. Hopefully, I’m gonna do my love proud here…exegesis versus eisegesis.  Exegesis looks to the text to guide us in our interpretation, according to context (who, what, where, when, why, how…I like to use these journalism questions a lot). Eisegesis, on the other hand, is more like “reading into” the passage, interpreting with our own presuppositions or looking to confirm a stand. My love is so dedicated to exegetical teaching that I got him this tee from Out of Context (sadly it seems they are no longer in business).

A typical study time for me these days doesn’t really rely on a particular method, but rather a system I tend to employ (more like guidelines…said in a gravelly Captain Barbossa tone, of course). To be clear, I do not do this every time I open my Bible (or Bible app).  Sometimes I just read.  And that’s okay, too! Most of all, I desire to make spending time with God a priority in my life.  

Here is my overall approach (again, I will not always do all of these things):

• I pray
• I read the passage–if I’ve forgotten what happened in the preceding verses, I go ahead and review that (my techie boy introduced me to the Bible Project overviews years ago and they have been a great resource!)
• I read the passage again, highlighting with a colour-coded system, noting the who, when, where, what and how
• I look for and mark repeating words or phrases, group verses into categories or give ‘titles’ to certain sections to sum up their main thought
• I look up words that intrigue me or are unknown or unclear to me in a dictionary, concordance, lexicon or in other Bible versions, perhaps looking to see in what context these words have been used in other passages
• I may focus on one or two verses, or I may concentrate on a particular theme or thought
• I may consult a commentary, Bible encyclopedia, maps, charts or other Bible reference material (I have used eSword, Accordance, Blue Letter Bible and Bible Hub for this)
• I may look up other verses that come to mind or verses that are cross-referenced
• I may journal, doodle or look up lyrics or listen to a song I’m reminded of
• I consider the passage in a personal way: what does it tell me about God, what does it tell me about myself or mankind, is there something in my life that requires attention, what do I need to thank or praise God for
• I may need to take some time to pray about or take some action according to what I’ve been shown 

Our Women’s Bible Study group just finished up The Bible in a Year by Kandi Gallaty (it was so good to go through the Bible chronologically!).  In this study, she suggests using the HEART method to meditate on what we’ve read.  Some of the sweet ladies in our group were finding this distracting and difficult.  I encouraged them to remember that Bible study methods are just tools–not rules.  The purpose of reading, meditating and studying the Bible is to draw near to God and to grow as Christians.  We are not ‘filling a bucket’ with knowledge, we are ‘lighting a fire’ of transformation! We never need to follow our methods slavishly.   I remember a friend once said she gave up on a ‘reading through the Bible in 90 days’ challenge (or something like that) because it was interfering with her quiet time with the Lord.  She was so driven to keep up that she felt she was missing out on quality time with God and time to just meditate on what she read.

One evening that I facilitated our women’s Bible study, I put together the slideshow below to show how to approach HEART in a practical, step-by-step way (click on right side to proceed through the slides). We were going through Joshua at that time, so I used examples from that week’s homework.

I hope this encourages you to envelop yourself in God’s Word today. Let His truth set you free and give you wings to live like Jesus.

Find more encouragement here:
https://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/
https://www.joanneviola.com/2024/05/he-is-the-light-lets-have-coffee/
https://www.embracingtheunexpected.com/how-to-conquer-worry-in-unexpected-circumstances/