Bible illiteracy--ignorance of what the Bible says and what it has to do with life--is a disgrace around the world today. In America hundreds of thousands have Bibles, but they neglect them. These Bible Minutes are written to help you get to know God's Word better and apply its lessons to your life.
Reading God's Word with understanding begins with knowing some very basic facts about the Bible itself. Pick up your Bible and let's look at some of those things today.
Receive
First, look at two statements from Psalm 119. This is a wonderful psalm. It is the longest chapter in the Bible and nearly every verse says something about God's Word.
Psalm 119:89 (ESV)
"Forever, O LORD, your word
is firmly fixed in the heavens."
What does this verse tell you about God's Word?
Psalm 119:160 (ESV)
"The sum of your word is truth,
and every one of your righteous rules endures forever."
What insight into God's Word does this verse give you?
Reflect
With the kind of book described in Psalm 119 in your hands, you'll want to understand it as completely as possible. Your most important responsibility is to read it. As you read it, ask God to give you understanding and life-changing insights.
Many resources are available to help you better understand your Bible. Here are some suggestions. It will help you to consult a trusted pastor or Christian leader about which books are good, since there are also some bad ones out there.
- A Bible dictionary. You may look up names, places and unfamiliar words. It will also give you brief outlines of each book of the Bible and biographical information on each person.
- A concordance. Some Bibles have this included. A concordance is a list of Bible words with the verse references where they are found. Be sure your concordance is for the Bible version you use since Greek and Hebrew words are not always translated exactly the same way in every version.
- A Bible commentary. Start with a one-or two-volume commentary. Commentaries cover each book of the Bible in order and shed some light on each section. There are also separate commentaries by trustworthy scholars that deal with individual Bible books.
- If your budget is too tight to obtain these study helps, one of your best starter purchases would be a good study Bible. These Bibles contain many notes and helps that are found in commentaries or dictionaries. They usually contain a reasonably good concordance.
- In our day, there are many Bible study resources on the Internet such as this one, but be careful! Cults and false teachers also use the Internet.
Respond
Today's Bible Minute study is a bit different because we want to help you dig deeper into God's Word and learn how to apply it to your life. We pray for you to be one of the "biblically literate.″
Dr. Woodrow Kroll says, "God only wrote one Book. And in that one Book, He reveals to us what's on His heart and what's on His mind. Now, if we don't care enough about God to read what He said to us, why would we think that God would be eager to answer our prayers?"
Now, take some time to investigate God's marvelous Book and look up the following verses in Psalm 119. Write down what each of the verses says God's Word will do for you.
- Psalm 119:105
- Psalm 119:9
- Psalm 119:11
- Psalm 119:42
- Psalm 119:169
- Psalm 119:16
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