Studying God’s Word – Part VII
2Tim. 2:15, James 1:25, Prov. 4:20
Searching the Scriptures
Acts 17:10-12
10 Now the brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea; and when they arrived, they entered the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these [Jews] were better disposed and more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they were entirely ready and accepted and welcomed the message [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] with inclination of mind and eagerness, searching and examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore became believers, together with not a few prominent Greeks, women as well as men. (Acts 17:10-12, AMP)
The way to the heart of the Scriptures is to search. So the question to ask is, how do you search? To search is to look for something, to look thoroughly, to probe and examine, to seek for and comb a thing in expectation of finding out something. We search when we are looking for something, especially something precious to us. And that very much applies to the Bible. When we study the Bible, we should start with something in our heart that we are looking for; it may be to understand the will of God about a particular matter or subject. For instance, you may do a study or search on the subject of Love or Faith, Purity or Forgiveness. It all depends on you, what you are looking for and how God is leading you. You may not be studying a subject; it may be a character in the Bible; or a portion of the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ.
To do an effective search, we should first decide on what is it we are looking for, and once that is settled, you locate the scriptures to study that address the focus in your heart. If you are studying a book of the Bible, take it bit by bit and read; taking note of facts and the revelations God is giving you.
If you are looking at the biblical accounts of a person’s life, do well to locate all scriptures about that person. You can use a Bible reference and using a concordance will be of greater help. If it is a theme/topic/subject, you do well to gather scriptures on that theme or topic and read through the scriptures one by one, noting what each of the scriptures say about the subject. Taking the scriptures one by one, and later as a whole will shed light or give wholesome understanding as to what the stand of God is about that matter.
