While my salvation story occurred during a “good ole revival” in my small West Texas town’s First Baptist Church, and I was baptized (fully dunked) around the age of 8, my relationship “walk” with the Lord did not begin until I was 41.
In the early years, my family did not read or consult the Bible in any regular way – in fact, I don’t remember it being discussed much at all. Yep, I got my little white cover Bible from my uncle as a present – name engraved and all. But I only carried it on Sundays and to the Girls Auxiliary meetings (which I did love) during elementary and junior high years.
Of course, it was a King James version and though I memorized the required scriptures in GA’s, I was not real sure what they meant. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 was my first verse to memorize. I had no idea what “going astray” meant but envisioned sheep wandering around the grassy hills. Absolutely no idea what “iniquity” could have meant and who was this “him” they are talking about? But I could recite it and get my approval from the teacher.
It was not until I was married, birthed two boys and then divorced and completed law school as a single mom that residual “Baptist guilt” drove me to seek out attending church again. (OK, I attended a church pre-divorce, but no emphasis on the Bible or God’s word in those years penetrated my life – just scandal as the pastor ran away with the TV newscaster leaving behind his wife and 2 children).
During law school, I turned 40, and one of my part-time jobs was throwing a newspaper route so that eliminated any possibility of going to church on Sundays. Saturday night services were not known at that time. As I graduated law school and passed the Bar, I was able to give up the newspaper route. I found a big church whose pastor really drew me in – but he said the church was too big and we all needed to be in small groups. I followed his direction and signed up for one.
Of course, I only had a King James version Bible (a larger size than my little white one but still very “unused”). The Lord placed me in a wonderful group of women with some truly spiritually mature Christians whose understanding and love blessed me hugely – they helped me start down that path to a personal relationship with the Lord. That was the beginning of what I call my “walk” with the Lord.
Somewhere along the way I learned I should have a “devotional” time with the Lord every morning. Of course, there are tons of “devotional” books and over the years, I have spent time in different ones. Not long time – my life was busy, after all.
A good “read-through” of a devotional made me feel righteous. I would finish, close the devotional book and think “that was good/interesting/nice” and my mind would close along with the book and I would launch into my busy day. No real impact.
Then another pastor along the way introduced “read through the Bible in a year” as a recommended morning activity. I followed his schedule and it was “VERRRY” interesting/enlightening/educational to see the Old Testament passage line up with the New Testament passage plus a bit of Psalms and a bit of Proverbs. Over the next years, I think I followed this plan at least 5-6 times so I have “read through” the full Bible multiple times.
That was an excellent experience. BUT – I found myself hustling through the reading because it was lengthy, especially in the Old Testament, and I needed to get on with my day. So I was not really absorbing all of it – just checking off the list.
So, what’s next?
If you have been on my blog a while, you know how much I have loved Henry Blackaby’s Devotional Experiencing God Day by Day. He really made me think with his pithy devotional and I made it a practice to go to the scripture highlighted in his discourse so I could read, see the study notes, and even write insights in my Bible. Oh yes, I got an NIV study bible early on as I “walked” with my Christian sisters in that small group. Wow, so much easier to understand!
And then, just recently, I found myself truly enjoying the book Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen. Keller was one of my favorite pastors and authors – he truly communicated spiritual truths so clearly and powerfully. The book has done a powerful job of showing the huge number of influences on Keller, the depth of his study and reading and thought as well as interaction with amazing spiritual leaders.
One of those “influencers” on him occurred at Bucknell University as he was a student there before going to Gordon Conwell Seminary. Barbara Boyd, a professor, had a major impact on him at a formative stage and I loved her 9 steps to an inductive Bible study. As I learned more about her, and thought through the steps, I realized this was something I wanted to try. And yes, I was willing to say I will spend the necessary time to do it.
So I did. And it was powerful. I took a passage that I knew I wanted to dig into – Matthew 6:25-34. Originally, I was looking at v. 33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
But Boyd says to select the “passage” so I realized v. 25-34 were all part of the passage. I followed her steps. Yes, it was the “do not worry” in v. 34 that was a key issue for me. She helped me focus, think deeper into the why; made me paraphrase and put it in my own words; then drew me deeper into how the truth of the scripture changes or impacts me as God intends. She drew me down into the bigger recognition I needed (my controller nature leaks into everything) and guided me through a powerful time of introspection.
I am convinced I will now “study” scripture more deeply as God leads with a greater impact than I have experienced before. I especially will not skip through her questions in #9 because answering each one was powerful.
Don’t know if this resonates with you, but I will share her steps to an inductive Bible study with you. I printed them, pasted it inside the front of a spiral notebook, and am writing away each morning! Thank you, Barbara Boyd!
- Read passage twice (at least). Slow down and observe what is in the passage.
- Identify who is involved & what is happening, where & when. How & why may also apply.
- Note words that are repeated or words of contrast or words of cause & effect.
- Paraphrase the passage.
- Note any questions you have about the passage — see if there are answers within the passage. If this involves historical context or meaning of words, other resources can be used.
- Determine the overall theme.
- Outline the passage showing the movement of ideas & noting connectors or contrast between sections looking at words such as “and, but, so, therefore, then, etc.”
- Move to interpretation to see how the mechanics of the passage illuminate what the passage is about. Reword the theme if needed.
- Finally, in light of all you have seen in the passage, what does the passage mean? How does it apply to you? What thinking or actions do you need to change? What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about God? What are the implications of this truth?
May you be blessed as I was by this opportunity.
