Really Study God’s Word: Learning how to study methodically to gain confidence in understanding Scripture
Written by Mary Busby
Honestly, for most of my life, I’ve had no earthly idea what the Old Testament was about. Or most of the New Testament, for that matter (but it’s always seemed easier to read). Growing up in church, I remember the flannel graph stories and my beloved purple children’s picture Bible! I remember some of the teen Bible studies I read…kind of.
Going to college, I realized that I didn’t really know a whole lot about the Bible (besides Jesus is the one and only way to heaven – praise the Lord for knowing that, at least!), I got married and started going to my husband’s church. It was there that I started learning all kinds of things about God and the Christian life that were essential to my knowing God and understanding the faith I said I claimed.
I see getting involved in that church as one of God’s biggest gifts to me – He brought me there, through some obstacles, to teach me about Himself and His Word in ways that I had never experienced. Because of God’s sovereign direction, my faith has grown by leaps and bounds over the last nine years!
But what is really important to note, and it underlies my desire to write the upcoming blog series, is that it wasn’t merely listening to a good Bible teacher that changed my knowledge and my faith.
What increased my knowledge and faith was learning the skills I needed in order to learn from the Bible itself.
Those flannel graphs of my childhood and the trendy teen Bible studies didn’t teach me how to read the Bible. So my aimless flipping through the New Testament to complete my “daily devotions” was haphazard and disconnected from its context, as well as the context of the entire Bible.
That kind of Bible reading translated to me having very little knowledge of the majority of the Bible because I had never read it, or because I had only heard versions of those stories taught as cute children’s lessons. And that haphazard method with the passages that I did feel comfortable with (like, Philippians 4) produced misunderstandings about what I did read.
Because I knew how to read (thank you, Mrs. Whitecage), I took it for granted that I knew how to read the various texts of Scripture. Unlike when I learned how to sound out a string of letters and recognize them as words, no one in my life had taught me how to actually study the text of Scripture, until God brought me to my husband’s church.
But, I have learned how, and I continue to learn, to really study the Bible from someone who knows how. Now, I want to help other women (really, anyone!) to learn as well because I know it has made all the difference to living out my Christian life with greater confidence and understanding.
The truth from God’s Word, planted deep in me by my own intentional study, built up over the course of time, has produced joy and excitement about God and the Bible, and it helps me to stay rooted and steady in life’s storms. I know that’s one thing we long for: for our faith in God to be strong during trials. We want a solid foundation to stand on and a rock to cling to.
Understanding our Bible will make the difference in our ability to know Jesus, to love Him, and to cling to Him.
Last year, I wrote a workbook for women introducing the inductive Bible study method, with the editing of the teaching elder of my church. It’s available for download here.
It teaches the three necessary steps of legitimate Bible study, and what those steps practically look like, so that you can begin (or get back to) confidently studying Scripture on your own. May God bless you as you learn His Word!
If you have any questions about the workbook, you can email me at ladytheologian@gmail.com
Next time: an introduction to reading the narrative portions of the Old Testament through the canonical method.