Bible Study

Wednesday night at bible study we took a look at Psalm 37. For me I really felt the Lord impressing upon me the importance of verses 3 through 7: Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him. This spoke to me about my personal walk with God an my need to acknowledge my utter dependence upon Him and act in humble obedience when the time comes, which is specific to my current circumstances.

Pastor Rob taught us that there are four majors themes to look for (or question to ask yourself)

when studying any given passage, keeping the context in mind of course. The examples following the questions are mine.

1) What does the text tell you about God's character? ex. What can you see about His character and our contrary nature that would help us worship Him more truly? Maybe it's something about the way God is spoken about or the way He deals with someone. His wrath, justice, mercy, sovereignty, etc. It may be either explicit (outright and obvious) or implicit (subtle and between the lines).

2) What from this passage can you pray about? ex. Maybe a trait you desire to posses, a particular person you need to pray for, a sin you need to confess, a question about something in the reading you don't understand, an area you could use the Holy Spirit's guidance, or something that you can be thankful for.

3) What sins or behavior does the text tell you to avoid? ex. It could be a particular circumstance or person to be wary of, a struggle that you need to surrender to God, a specific sin that you need to repent of, or a biblical example of failure or ill-gotten gain.

4) Lastly taking you back to the finished work of Jesus the Christ on the cross, what positive behavior should you capitalize on? ex. Is there a mindset or mentality that would be edifying to those around you, an attitude of Christ that would help you be more like Him, a gift or talent that would be edifying to the church, or maybe it's a encouraging word to continue persevering in an area you're unsure about?

Keep in mind that all of the New Testament books from Romans to Jude were epistles, that is they were letters to churches or individuals, and you wouldn't just read the introduction to a letter from your mom, or just memorize the 3rd paragraphs and 16th line would you? In the same manner most of the NT books were meant to be read from beginning to end in one sitting, yes all 16 chapters of Romans and 1 Corinthians. So always read the preceding and following verse and try to keep the historical context in mind, especially with the Psalms.