Bible Reading + Study.
Bible Reading + Study.
People tell me the Bible is boring. That is something you can only say if you’ve never read it. The Bible is the story of God’s creating man for relationship, man’s “fall” from relationship, and God, throughout the ages of time, through unfolding events and human drama, “setting the stage” to redeem man back to Himself. The Bible is one story with many “scenes.” As you read it, you will find the golden threads of REDEMPTION, RESTORATION, and RELATIONSHIP woven through every black and white page. (You will also find unicorns, rainbows, and giants…but that’s another story!!) The Bible is definitely not boring!
When I first began to study the Bible, I heard Max Lucado say, “Read the Bible until something jumps off the page at you. Stop there, write that verse in a journal, and think about that verse throughout the day.” That is how my own habit of Bible reading and study began, and it is the way I often recommend for beginners to get started. There is something powerful about “paying attention” to the Word as you read it—stopping to take note when it speaks to you. (This is important, because the Bible is not JUST literature. It is alive and active and minsters very personally when we slow down with it!) This is also a great way to “save” the times that God ministers to you through His Word. Also, writing the Word reinforces it’s truth in you heart and mind. This is a great, simple way to begin habits of Bible reading, Bible study, and journaling.
Often people ask, “Where do I begin reading?” Anywhere is great! It is all alive and powerful, but if I had to recommend a few starting points, I’d say…
1. The Psalms. They are (mostly) the prayers, songs, and “journals” of Israel’s second king—David. He is the only person in Scripture referred to as a “man after God’s own heart,” (Acts 13:22) and the Psalms are beautiful glimpses into his soul. They are also some of the most vulnerable literature of all time. Most of them will fuel YOUR prayers, because you will find the words written with David’s pen echo the words in your heart, too! Grief and glory both flow in David’s poetry and prose.
2. The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John!! The Gospels are eyewitness accounts of the time Jesus spent walking the dusty paths of our world. He is our Savior, and the stories and accounts on the pages of the Gospels give insight into His heart, His love for humanity, His disdain for self-righteousness, and His instructions for the formation of the Church. There is not a dull moment in the Gospels. (After reading the Gospels, continue on to Acts! It is the only book of the Bible where we see the birth and history of the early church. It is FULL of miracles, salvation, and a little drama!)
3. Start in Genesis, “The Book of Beginnings,” and read all the way to Revelation, the prophetic book that depicts the end of all things.
4. Anywhere you choose to begin is great! There really is not wrong place to start reading the Bible!
Another question people ask is “What version do I read?” There are a lot of different opinions on this. I personally enjoy the King James Version, and believe it to be the most accurate translation from the original text. (The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Chaldean. The New Testament was written in Greek.) Without getting into any deep, scholarly arguments, I do believe the KJV to be the best for doctrine formation. (Doctrine is your belief system about God, salvation, etc.) However, not everyone can read Ye Olde English every day. Reading the NKJV, NLT, or NIV alongside the KJV can be a great way to read the Bible! Ultimately, it is the Word of God…the best seller of all time…God’s Book about Himself, and I trust that He has preserved it and will minister to you through any of those translations. Read the version that helps you establish the habit! There is enough inspiration in any translation for God to get ahold of your heart!!! Choose a version that will facilitate you falling in love with His Word!!
A few study tools I enjoy, I enjoy to help “study” the Bible:
1. A concordance. This is an amazing tool that helps you locate any verse in the Bible knowing only one word in it. Once you search that word, you’ll see a list of every time that word is in the Bible with references. You will find each verse labelled with a number that can be used to trace back to the Hebrew or Greek. This makes things interesting, because you will find that one English word may have 2, 3 or more meanings in the original text. A concordance is a handy tool that helps peel back the “layers” of the text.
2. A good Bible Lexicon.
3. Matthew Henry commentaries. (There are other commentaries, and Matthew Henry is OLD SCHOOL, but I have been ministered to by his insights so many times, that he’s my favorite.)
4. In addition, I will sometimes read a bunch of articles on particular topics that will help me better understand culture at the time the Bible was written or for deeper understanding on a topic. For example, I have recently studied: gold, perfume manufacturing, the history of the Assyrian King, Sennacherib, the role of a “kinsmen redeemer” in Bible times, cell-division and how the human body works and moves. This helps shed a lot of light on things written in the Scriptures.
In Bible reading/study, I believe study tools are like …
A steak knife…they help you enjoy the “meat” of the Word in small, digestible pieces with less frustration.
A flashlight…they illuminate the “nooks and crannies” of the Bible that you would’ve otherwise overlooked.
A pickax…they help dig the diamond out of the mine.
God’s Word is FULL of sustenance, secrets, and treasures, and the right tools to search them out.
I don’t share these tools to overcomplicate Bible reading. Read to feed!! The Bible is food for your soul! (You don’t have to “understand it all!” Just like your body does not need to understand everything in broccoli to be nourished by it.) These are shared so that as your Bible reading prompts questions, you have some potentially helpful tools available.
One final note. The more you read the Bible, the more you will love it. You will fall in love with your Bible.