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Why study the Bible?

Four reasons to study

 

What I do want to do is to give you some reasons to try to get into it even more.

 

Be a growing Christian

Many people who call themselves Christians—even many who go to church regularly—do not study the Bible as a matter of habit. Some read it now and again, some even read it frequently and I don’t want to discourage this at all if this is where you are at. What I do want to do is to give you some reasons to try to get into it even more.

As you click your way round this web site I hope that more than anything you will see that my greatest hope is to build you up and move you on—not to knock what you are able to do at present. In the same way that a child’s growth yesterday made them who they are today so it is with growing Christians. The way that you matured in your faith yesterday makes you the Christian you are today. But with a growing child we do not want them to stop there—we want them to grow more today and through the many tomorrows until they are adult. So it is with the Christian faith—keep on growing—keep on going.

So once again I want to encourage you and here I want to look at some reasons for studying the Bible over and above reading it.

An expert's dedication

I once heard an expert on Shakespeare enthusing on the radio about that playwright's work. She gushed about the nuances of every word they discussed and had dedicated her working life to the minutiae of the poems and plays.

I am not averse to a little Shakespeare now and then but it struck me what an ultimately futile exercise she was pursuing. Enjoyable as it obviously is to her now, her work and knowledge will not pass into eternity. What a shame. Wouldn’t it be better to have such dedication to something that would have an effect for ever? What she made me see was that this level of passion was needed in my study of the Bible. Every word of Scripture is life-giving and “God breathed” and deserves this level of exploration. Every word of the Bible is a communication from God and we must try not to miss anything. But like this woman with her Shakespeare the study of the Testaments will be a lifetime work.

The author of Psalm 119 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” What a wonderful statement if we can make it our own.

So what are the benefits of studying Scripture?

 

Wouldn’t it be better to have such dedication to something that would have an effect for ever? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Study reveals to us that what God does, is who God is.

 

 

The Bible was written a long time ago by people in and of a different culture to us today. By only reading and not studying we will miss so much because we don’t understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In just about every passage there are hidden things to find out.

1. We get to know God’s character through what he has done

If you look through the Bible at the many names attributed to God it quickly becomes apparent the God is not just a Being but He is a Doing. People have given these names to Him to describe what He does. He protects us so He is called “Protector” etc.

Study reveals to us that what God does, is who God is. As we study more we come to know some of the things that God has done and we get to know more of what God is like through that knowledge. This leads to our own faith increasing as we know that God can do these things and has done these things that we have read about. In turn this affects our everyday life because we can now know that God acts in the lives of ordinary people. He did it in the past and he does it today. Your faith and life will be changed by studying the Bible and getting to know God better.

Can’t we know these things by just reading the passage rather than studying it in detail? We can know some of the things that way but the reality is that the Bible was written a long time ago by people in and of a different culture to us today. By only reading and not studying we will miss so much because we don’t understand. Let me give you an example.

Something I love to think about when I am praying is what an all powerful God my God is. He can do all things because He is conqueror over all other powers. Isaiah tells us that when he saw a vision of God (recounted in Isaiah 6 v1) he was “seated on a throne” and “the train of His robe filled the temple.” Well the throne suggests to me in my reading of it that He is a king and the train is quite impressive in size so he is an important king. I found out something a while ago which has added to my understanding of it which I could never have got from just reading it. In that culture of Isaiah’s time when kings went to battle the winning king would cut off the train from the losing king as add it on to the end of his own—making it longer and signifying what a great conqueror he is. Well what does this mean for our reading? It means that God has overcome so many other powers and taken their trains that His train is now so long that it fills the temple! This little bit of knowledge has added so much to my thinking about God. He is all powerful and He has got the longest train to prove it! It makes me smile and my heart fill with joy when I think about that image. I hope you like that thought too. I got this from studying over and above just reading and meditating on the Bible. In just about every passage there are hidden things to find out.

If we neglect to read and study the Bible we cut off an important way that God wants to use to communicate with us and to build an ever stronger and richer relationship with us.

 

2. God communicates with us

To have a good relationship with someone we need to have good knowledge of them and good communication with them. There are four main ways that God communicates with us. The first is through providence—God opens and closes doors in our lives to guide us.

Second we may hear God speak to us in loud voices or in our heads—most Christians report that they do not hear God speak to them in this way. It is by no means rare though and is certainly available to all Christians because this is one of the things Jesus won at the cross; before that the believers needed prophets.

Third, God may speak to us through other believers, particularly those with some responsibility over us.

Forth, God often speaks through His Living Word that is the Bible.

If we neglect to read and study the Bible we cut off an important way that God wants to use to communicate with us and to build an ever stronger and richer relationship with us.

 

Finding out things can change our lives.

3. Studying the Bible changes us

Finding out things can change our lives. This is an activity of our minds and yet it can change us in deep ways. It is important to use our minds in our Christian lives just as much as it is important to ‘be a nice person.’ Paul says in Romans 12 v2 that we should be renewed by the transforming of our mind.

God has made us thinking beings and we need to train our minds in God’s ways. Jesus said “if you hold to my teaching...you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”. We are quite keen on being free but we try to leave out the knowledge bit very often. One comes with the other.

 

 

 

Let me make some demands on behalf of the Bible today.

 

4. God’s Word is a weapon

We read in Ephesians chapter 6 that the word of God is a sword in the spiritual battle that we are engaged in with the spiritual world—those principalities and powers spoken of in the same chapter. A sword. I don’t know about you but I can’t use a sword effectively at present. My best guess is that with some skilled teachers and some dedicated training it might be possible for me to learn to be effective at wielding this weapon—but not just now. So it with learning to use the Bible. Yes it is good to know passages for our comfort in times of need etc. but the Word of God is more than that—we need to understand the Devil’s tactics and Gods tactics and that comes with study and understanding. We need to learn to apply what we have come to know.

We make time for walking the dog because the dog demands it. Let me make some demands on behalf of the Bible today. This needs doing and we must not put it off.

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This article © Linda Faber 2006-2009.