Getting Excited about Bible Study

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"The Precious Word of God"

"Get into the Book" 

"When You Don't Understand the Bible"

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Dannah Gresh: I want you to think for a moment about what you have tucked away somewhere. Maybe it’s in a box under the bed, maybe in a trunk in the attic. It’s with your sentimental things. I’m talking about the love letters you’ve gotten from that special someone in your life.

I have a whole box of them somewhere in the garage from Bob Gresh. These days, he doesn't write me love letters, he texts me every single night before I go to sleep—whether I'm right next to him or in another city—I get a love text.

Did you know God has written us love letters? He has, and we’re going to talk about that today.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh. If you came over to my farm, you and I might go down into the garage and see if we could find that box of love letters. I'd let you see the stack of them. But, I don’t think I would let you read them. They’re too personal. 

Have you thought about the fact that the Bible is like a series of love letters from God to you? It’s an amazing collection of writings that spell out who God is and how He’s wooing us back into relationship with Him. 

A few years ago, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth spoke to a group of Bible college students. She took them to Psalm 119 to help them recapture the wonder of God’s Word. Let’s listen.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I came to know Jesus as a young girl. I’ve been in church all my life, nine months before I was born, to be exact. I attended Christian school, all the way from kindergarten up. I attended Bible college. I’ve had the joy of serving in vocational ministry and teaching God’s Word to others. There have been times when reading and studying God’s Word and listening to preaching was a great delight. But there have been other times when it felt more like a duty, a chore, an obligation. There are times when God’s Word seems so alive and rich to me, but there are other times when reading or listening to the Scripture feels dry and dull and lifeless. And if you’ve not been there, then maybe you haven’t been a Christian for more than a week. I’ve found that the problem in those times is not with the Word of God, but it’s with the condition of my heart, which makes all the difference.

Well, in Psalm 119, we see a man whose relationship with God and His Word is anything but cold and dry. It pulsates with life and passion and joy and warmth. It makes you feel that this is the one book you must read before you die, not just once, but over and over again. The psalmist believed that knowing and obeying God’s Word was not just the right thing to do, it wasn’t just a task to be checked off his to-do list, but it was the source, the spring of great blessing.

In fact, in those first two verses, if you go back to the beginning of Psalm 119, there’s a double blessing. Verse 1: “blessed” (or, in some translations, “how happy”) “are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Verse 2: “blessed [happy] are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.”

Now, there are a lot of people who think living this way would be a recipe for misery. That’s not how the psalmist felt. He believed that reading, and knowing, and meditating on, and keeping God’s Word was a prescription for happiness—for the greatest possible happiness. The psalmist believed that the Word of God was of greater value than any kind of material gain. Listen to these verses: 

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches (v. 14).

The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (v. 72).

Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold” (v. 127).

I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil” (v. 162).

Now, don’t let those words just go over your head; because I find myself pausing as I meditate on these verses. “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces”? “Better than all riches”? Would I rather have God’s Word, read God’s Word, meditate on God’s Word, hear God’s Word preached, be in God’s Word . . . would I rather have that than any amount of money? 

Seriously?

Now what makes God’s Word so incredibly valuable? Well, the psalmist lists at least ten blessings, I’m just going to tick them off really quickly, that I have found in Psalm 119. 

Number one: wisdom and guidance

That’s one of the blessings, the riches, of living in God’s Word. “Your testimonies are my counselors” (v. 24). And verse 105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” It gives me direction. “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (v. 130).

Wisdom, guidance. What’s that worth?

Number two: strength and vitality

“My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” (v. 28). When we’re weak and fainting God’s word gives us strength and vitality. 

Number three: freedom

Verse 45 says, in some translations, “I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts.” Freedom!

Number four: hope

“Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope” (v. 49).

Number five: comfort

“This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life” (v. 50). That’s my comfort, when my eyes are filled with tears, when I’m afflicted, this is what comforts me. It’s Your Word. 

Number six: life

I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life (Ps. 119:93).

We were told, or reminded earlier this week that God created life through the power of His spoken word. And He gives us life through the power of His word. That’s how we gain our life. We cannot live without the Word of God.

Number seven: God’s Word gives us the blessing of deliverance from our enemies. 

I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts (v. 94).

Deliverance from our enemies.

Number eight: peace

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble (v. 165).

Number nine: When we face opposition or evil, as we will and do, God’s Word gives us perseverance and help. 

Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law (v. 61).

The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts (v. 69).

The insolent have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts” (v. 78).

When the psalmist was falsely accused, God’s Word helped him keep his bearings. 

Number ten: protection from sin 

Not just the sins of others, but from our own sin. 

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (v. 11).

Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me (v. 133).

The greatest antidote for sin, especially those sins that hold onto us so tightly . . . What’s the greatest antidote? It’s passion and affection for Jesus and for His Word. As we delight in Him, the delights of sin seem to be something we don’t have to have. Something we can gladly live without.

Dannah: Wow! Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been helping us recapture the wonder of the precious Word of God. You can hear more of that message when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and select today’s episode.

When you first got a love letter from your significant other, did you just read it once and toss it in the garbage? NO WAY! You poured over it. You studied every phrase. You wondered what was meant by this phrase or that word. Your heart beat faster as you realized the one you loved was opening up to you and sharing details they might not have ever told anyone else before. 

That same kind of study and care and attention to God’s love letter to us, the Bible, is something Kay Arthur is well known for. 

Nancy sat down with Kay to ask her more about how to study God’s Word. Kay and her husband, Jack, founded the ministry Precept to help people do that. Here’s Nancy, talking to Kay Arthur.

Nancy: Your mission is establishing people in the Word of God.

Kay Arthur: Right, so they can discover truth for themselves. Precious one, if you feel there has to be more to know about the Word of God . . . So many people have told me, “I was crying out to God, and then He led me to Precept.” We have Bible studies at all different levels. We even have forty minute Bible studies where you don't do any homework, but you are brought face to face to God.

But our whole passion, and it’s Nancy’s passion too, is a Bible study that will not draw you to a personality but to the Word of God yourselves, so that you can say with the Psalmist, “I have not turned aside from Your [commandments], for You Yourself have taught me” (Psalm 119:102). God Himself has taught you.

The search is over. Just contact Revive Our Hearts, and they will tell you how to find out about the inductive Bible studies.

Nancy: Okay, you’ve used this word a few times, studying the Word inductively. What does that mean?

Kay: Inductively means you go straight to the book you’re studying. In other words, you don’t look at the commentaries.

You can look at them later, but you don’t look at the commentaries to find out what other people think or discovered. Rather, you go to the Word of God yourself.

When you go to the Word of God yourself, it basically involves three things that intertwine with one another. It’s not first and then second and then third.

You observe the text; you discover, “What does it say?” Most of our error in handling the Word of God comes because we really don’t know what it says, or we don’t examine it in its context and its setting in that particular chapter, in that particular book, or in light of the whole counsel of God.

Nancy: You have a big Bible sitting in front of you. Is this a Kay Arthur Study Bible?

Kay: No, it’s not a Kay Arthur Study Bible, but it’s called The New Inductive Study Bible. It’s open to 1 Corinthians 15 right now.

Nancy: So if we were going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 15 . . . you wouldn’t start with chapter 15 if you were studying 1 Corinthians.

Kay: You’d have studied the whole book.

Nancy: But you’ve come to chapter 15. What kind of questions would you ask about the text as you’re looking at it?

Kay: When you observe the text, the first thing you want to ask . . .

You want to interrogate it. I was using this in Eurasia. There were Russians there. There were Romanians there who lived under Communism. I reached over (I'm teaching) and grabbed a guy by the shirt collar and said, "Who are you? What are you doing here? When did you get here?" Who, want, when, where, why, how. I just grabbed him.

Then I looked at him and we both began to laugh, because he had been interrogated by the secret police.

Nancy: So you made him a little nervous.

Kay: We all broke down and laughed. Because what you do with the text is you get a hold of it. You ask the questions, “Who, what, when, where, why, and how?”

• Who is this about?
• Who are the main characters?
• Who is speaking?
• To whom are they speaking?

You start with the most obvious when you’re studying inductively. You look for the easiest to see. People are the easiest to see.

If you walk into a room and there’s a person there, you may not see all the pictures on the wall, but you see the person. So you look at who.

And then what:

• What is this about?
• What is it saying?
• What is the subject? 
• What is this person doing? 
• What is this event?

So you look at who and then what.

Then when is this happening? When is something that we usually miss if we’re not careful; especially if you’re studying prophecy, you can get your prophecy all messed up.

So you want to find out,

• When is this happening?
• When is it going to take place?

So it’s who, what, when. Then where.

• Where is this happening?

I put a green circle around every when. Then I double underline in green and find out the where. Where did this happen? Where is this land that he’s talking about? Where is Christ coming from? Where is He coming to? So you ask the where.

Every word of God is God-breathed, so every word is important, and I want to pay attention to it. So it’s who, what, when, where, and then why.

• Why did he say this?
• Why is this happening?

You want to ask that question. Then how.

• Does He tell us how?

For instance, in Philippians 4:6 He tells us, “Be anxious for nothing.” Then He tells us how. Literally in the Greek it’s, “Stop being anxious,” and then He tells us how.

Well, we’re in 1 Corinthians 15 because that’s where my Bible was open. So we start reading:

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain (vv. 1–2).

He’s talking about the gospel. So what we do (and they would find this out from reading 1 Corinthians) is mark key words.

Remember, the Bible is an oral book. It wasn’t until the 1400s A.D. that we had our own copies of the Bible. Up until then every copy of the Bible was copied by hand.

So they heard. Well, if you want somebody to get what you’re hearing, you repeat it. You use the same word.

So we would have them mark gospel, and they would see gospel as they go through the text. I mark it in a distinctive way. I color code it.

Then, from observation (discovering what does it say?) to interpretation (what does it mean?).

But the more you observe, the more you meditate on the Scriptures, precious one (and you know this), the more you’ll know the interpretation, because God is perspicuous. This means He wants to be understood.

Like you said in that testimony you just read, that gal said she was “a common woman.” This is what people all over the world are discovering. People that have had no education and people that have been to seminary and people that have PhDs. The head of our German ministry has his PhD. He is a brain. His doctoral thesis is in the British museum. But it is inductive study that changed his life.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been. Honey, I don’t have a college degree. I've got an honorary doctorate, but I don't have a college degree. I'm a slow learner. I'm not naturally intelligent, yet I know the Word of God because I study it inductively.

So you go from observation (what does it say?) to interpretation (what does it mean?), and then application. Now, application is not, “Tell us, what does this passage mean to you?” It’s not, "What does it mean to you?" You’ve already discovered what it says.

Application is, “How are you going to change your thinking to line up with what the Word of God says? How are you going to order your life so that you walk the walk you talk?”

In other words, application is not, “What does this mean to you?” Application is, “This is what it says. I have to change my mind about that,” which is repentance. “This is what it says, and I have to change my behavior to match up with the Word of God.”

Dannah: Ah, that is classic Kay Arthur, describing briefly how to go about studying the Bible inductively. There’s more of that conversation she had with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, linked at ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend. Click or tap where you see “Getting Excited about Bible Study.” Also, Kay is going to be one of our guest speakers in a live online event hosted by Revive Our Hearts in about a month. I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. 

But another of our guest speakers, and another woman who loves God’s Word, is pastor’s wife, mom, author, and Bible teacher, Kelly Needham. 

I want to play something for you that we recently had on our daily program, Revive Our Hearts. Nancy and I were talking to Kelly about loving and studying God’s Word, and I asked her this.

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Kelly, how do we handle it when we come to one of those places where we feel confused, and we’re not quite sure how to move forward?

Kelly: Well, I think the first thing to remember is that’s very normal. When that happens it’s not the right thought to go, “Well, I just can’t understand this!” or “I’m just clearly not a Bible person!” That happens to me still! I know we’ve talked about it. It happens to you guys as well. And so to know, that’s a normal experience. 

To read something in the Scriptures that is confusing, it doesn’t make sense, it might be alarming, it might be something that you read and feel a little shocked by, that God would say something like that or do something like that.

Some examples of that in my own life have been reading different parts of the Old Testament, where that happens a lot. Maybe it’s the book of Leviticus that has all sorts of laws about menstruation and purity laws and cleansings. You read it and go, “Well . . . this is . . . [confused sigh], I don’t know what to do with this!”

Or even in some of the historical books like Joshua, where God has told Joshua to go into these cities and kill every man, woman, and child! There should be a right moment of going, “Lord, what’s happening here!? I don’t understand!”

In that moment, I think one of the most valuable things that we can do is not leave the moment, but to embrace the tension. I think the great temptation is to say, “That was weird, I don’t understand,” close our Bibles and walk away and just not come back to it. 

But to stay there and to read our Bibles relationally, to talk to God, to say, “Lord, this is what’s confusing to me, this is what’s alarming. Help me understand!” We’ve been given the Holy Spirit. If we are in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit. One of His jobs it says in the book of John is to lead us into all truth. And, to just stay in that tension.

Sometimes for me, that has been days of coming back to that same passage and rereading it and asking God, “Help me see, help me understand!” And I’ll be honest, I don’t always leave feeling like every bow has been tied and it all just makes perfect sense and I can explain it nicely and comfortably.

But the Lord has met me in those moments and has oftentimes shown me things that I haven’t seen. Sometimes it’s years later that those passages that were confusing make more sense. When I’ve read, maybe, a book a few months or even years later. 

Nancy: I’m thinking about a couple who came to know Jesus about thirty years ago now, when he was building my home.

He was a building contractor, and God brought Terry and Susan to faith during that season. It was a beautiful thing! They were “churched,” but hadn’t known Jesus. One of the first things that happened was, they got this huge hunger for God’s Word.

I can remember, particularly Terry, was ravenous for God’s Word! We got him a Bible, and he wore that thing out. For quite a few months, the better part of a year, there was one night a week when they would have me over to their home for dinner. 

Then he would sit and pummel me with questions: “What does this mean? Why does God say this? What does this mean?” And to be honest, I was a little—no, a lot!—intimidated by all those questions, because they weren’t the kinds of questions that were troubling me or that I stopped to think about or answer.

I felt ill-equipped: “I don’t have a seminary degree.” I didn’t really know how to answer those questions, but I love God’s Word, and I wanted to dig in with him. So the three of us did. We would sit in their home for a whole evening—week after week after week—as I let him throw those questions my way. 

I said, “I’m not the answer woman here. But we can grow and learn together as we’re acknowledging, “I don’t know all these answers!” (Because if we knew all the answers, we’d be God, right?) “But I’m growing with you, and I’m in a process of digging in and learning for myself what this means.” 

And realizing, too, some of the answers we may not have, this side of heaven. But the more you know the Author of the Book, the more you trust His heart and His character, the more you can be content to live with tensions and mystery that are not fully resolved.

Kelly: Yes, I think we have to be okay with mystery, and be willing to just let it linger. And that doesn’t mean stop seeking understanding, but I think some of that mystery will always be there when we’re first starting out reading our Bibles. 

Nancy: It’s going to take some time and effort. When it comes to the Word of God, it is so worth it to be a student of the Word, and feel that in time this all becomes more familiar!

Dannah: I have a hard question. Do you know what is running through my head? I’m thinking of those Bible studies I’ve attended. I’ve been a believer since I was a very small girl, so this isn’t recent. But I’ve been to those studies where we all read it and we all say, “I think it means this.” “I think it means that.” “I think it means this.”

And none of us have really rolled up our sleeves to really do the hard work of knowing for sure. Are there some tools or some things that we should be using when we’re studying the Bible?

Kelly: Yes, I think that it’s important to get some of those tools in our belt, so that we don’t do that—we just don’t take it that, “I think it means this.” It’s a good reminder to us that we wouldn’t want anyone to do that with our words either. 

I’m not going to go, “I’m going to read your article or what you wrote,” and go, “Well, I think it means this!” and not take the time to try and really understand it. How do we actually come to understand what these things mean? One of my favorite tools that people often are surprised by, is an English dictionary!

Just download the dictionary app on your phone, and you would be amazed at how much insight that gives you! Because the people who translated our Bibles, they did their homework! They worked really hard to study those original Greek and Hebrew words and find the best English word that they could.

When you read words like, “propitiation,” or “supplication,” and you don’t really know what that means, looking it up in an English dictionary will immediately give a lot of insight. I actually did that this morning in my reading for a word that I was familiar with already.

I was reading about God and how He is a jealous God, in Exodus. He says that is His Name. And I thought, I’m just going to read what the English dictionary says about that. And of course, we have a few different definitions, but the one that applies to this context and this usage, it says, “to be intolerant of unfaithfulness or rivalry.”

And just remember, that’s what God is saying when He’s saying, “I’m jealous for you! I am intolerant of any rival that would rise up and be “god” in your life and not Me.” And so, the English dictionary is one of my favorite tools.

And then, a good study Bible is a great help. I actually prefer reading without study notes so I have more margins for my own note-taking, but we love the ESV Study Bible. I know there are a lot of other great ones. When we hit those moments of, “I don’t understand,” to just look at the notes that are in that Bible.

Look at the charts, the maps. Sometimes there are genealogies written out for you and really helpful things on those pages to just fill in the gaps for you. So those are a couple of really great helps that have been consistently used in my life.

Nancy: Kelly, I know sometime ago I saw one of your Instagram stories where you did this wonderful tutorial of a resource that’s been a help and a blessing to you. Tell us a little bit about it, and then we’re going to link to a video tutorial of you telling more about it.

Kelly: Yes, it’s the New Inductive Study Bible; that’s the name of the particular study Bible, and you can get it in the ESV translation or the NASB translation. It’s been put together by Precept Ministries. 

It has no commentary in it, but what it does have are a lot of helpful tools to help you work through the Scripture for yourself. And it gave me something to do through my Bible reading that was incredibly helpful! It gave me a few handles to not get totally lost and confused, but still gave me room to work through it myself.

Nancy: And let me just say, this doesn’t have to be complicated. There’s an entry level. There are some simple ways to start. I’ve had friends who have spent much time just actually writing out the Scripture! There are resources today that are fun ones and beautiful ones to help you do that.

But just actually writing out Scripture . . . The exercise of doing that will make you think about what you’re reading in a way that you might not do if you were reading without a pen in your hand, especially for those of us who spend our lives on computers today. Sometimes just writing out the Scripture by hand can be a really helpful tool for meditation.

Summarizing the passage, the chapter. “What is this chapter about?” Again, it just makes you think about it. 

Otherwise, sometimes, if I don’t have my pen in my hand or a journal or a laptop, something to make notes on, I will often read through a page or a chapter of Scripture—or pages!—and I realize at the end, I have no clue what I just read!

Kelly: I think you’re right, too, Nancy, to point out we all have different places we need to start out with this. If you’re listening, it’s like, “That’s so much. I can’t do it!” Then whatever will get you into the Word of God in a way that your mind is engaged, that’s what you should do. If it’s not doing that, then change.

I think, at a bare minimum, you can read it and keep a journal and write all your questions. I don’t know anybody who reads the Bible and doesn’t leave with some questions, something that feels unanswered. That even will keep you engaged.

So just read it, and every question you have, write it down in a journal or write down what you learn about God in that passage. But something that will keep you engaged, but feels manageable. If you set too big of a goal, you just won’t do it. It becomes not worth it, because our hope is to be meeting God in the Word.

Dannah: Okay, that conversation I had with Kelly Needham and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is getting me excited about pulling out my own Bible and colored pencils and working my way through a passage! 

How about you?

The joy of digging into God’s Word is something Kelly and Kay Arthur and others are going to be talking about in our next online event, a month from now. You’re invited to join us for “Loving and Living God’s Word.” It’s Tuesday evening, September 10. It’s the second installment of our series of online events we’re calling “Biblical Help for Real Life.” 

Erin Davis will host it. Kay Arthur will be there. Kelly Needham will be there, and Katie McCoy will be there. I hope you are able to sign up for this rich time as we learn from each other how to value the Word of God more highly and how to mine it for rich treasure.

For all the details about this online event “Loving and Living God’s Word,” go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and click on the link you see there.

Next time on Revive Our Hearts Weekend, we’re going to look at the fascinating topic of literary genres we find in the Bible. Kristie Anyabwile and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will help us do that.

Thanks for listening today. I hope you’ll spend time in your day, every day, poring over God’s love letter to you. His Word.

I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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