Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Putting Some Sense Into Your Bible Study


I don't know about you, but I love reading Psalms: I especially love Psalm 119. For those who may not be as familiar with Psalm 119 it is not only the longest Psalm but is also the longest chapter in the Bible; it is arranged as an 'acrostic' where the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are the heading of sections of 8 verses each where each line begins with that letter; it has 176 verses of which 172 are about the Word of God! And that is why I love this Psalm: it gives glory to God by lifting up his word.

Doesn't it seem that this says something to the importance of God's word? If the longest chapter in the Bible is based on the importance of God's word and how it leads us into a deeper walk with Him, how can we neglect it or read it without digesting it like 'food for the soul'? We shouldn't! And it was with this in mind that I was reading this morning from Psalm 119 and came across a verse that I had read many times before, I'm sure, but had never 'digested' it as I did today. Here it is:

You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
PSALM 119:73  NLT

So, why did it all of a sudden have more meaning? It could have been the version I was reading- most of the versions say 'understanding' and not 'sense'. So I looked up the meaning of the word Hebrew word for 'sense' and here is what I found out: it can very definitely be translated sense or even 'common sense'! The Hebrew here is the word as defined in Strong's:
bene: A primitive root; to separate mentally (or distinguish), that is, (generally) understand: - attend, consider, be cunning, diligently, direct, discern, eloquent, feel, inform, instruct, have intelligence, know, look well to, mark, perceive, be prudent,..
Now, it may be my pre-disposition to like the word 'common sense'; however, when I read the definition of the word 'bene' it sounds like common sense! Notice that the word encompasses many different aspects of meaning including, be cunning; direct; discern; feel; have intelligence; look well into; be prudent. So, doesn't this sound like someone who isn't just an, "It says it so I believe it" kind of person? I mean, we should believe the Bible; however, we need to be careful to not believe what we want the Bible to say, or what someone else says about the Bible without checking into it, right? We need to use 'common sense' when it comes to the word of God. And that leads me to my main thoughts of the verse while I was reading it today.
You see, as I was reading this today I began to think about how people seem to have lost 'common sense'. I don't know why, but it just seems that people are willing to 'believe someone' about the Bible than to actually read and study the Bible for themselves. I think that maybe, just maybe this is why the 'Study Bible' has become so popular. When someone reads a study Bible they don't have to actually study the Bible for themselves they can just read the notes at the bottom of the page and there it is! They have found the truth...or have they? Now, don't get me wrong, I think study material- Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, etc. - all have there place but they should in no way take the place of actually digging into the scripture ourselves and seeing what the Bible is teaching us. Remember, God wrote the Bible without study notes! When you read the Bible use your sense, your common sense. See if it is teaching you something new, but not out of line with the rest of His word- He wouldn't do that, it isn't common sense that I would tell you the truth here but change it there. You see, if you bring your common sense to Bible study, you can read and study the Bible without fearing that you will get into some 'strange doctrine', because if it is a 'strange doctrine' then common sense would tell you it must be false. God gave you, created, a mind and the capacity to know him.
There is a verse in the New Testament book of 1John that speaks to this as well:
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true--it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
1Jn 2:27 NLT

You see, there it is: the Holy Spirit is our teacher- he lives within us and teaches us what is true. It even emphasizes the fact that what he is teaching us "is not a lie"! This was being taught by John to those he was writing to because there were a lot of false teachers beginning to bring in all kinds of false doctrine to the church towards the end of John's life about 50 or 60 years after the death of Jesus. John was telling these believers that they didn't need to fear being led astray because they had the Holy Spirit living in them to let them know what the truth was- in a sense, the Holy Spirit within us is who gives us our 'common sense' when it comes to the things concerning the spirit and the Word of God. Now don't overlook the last part of the verse where he says 'remain in fellowship with Christ." This is an important aspect of our common sense approach to Bible study: stay in fellowship with Christ, don't go out on your own thinking that you have a 'new' truth or some 'new' doctrine that is special to you and not in keeping with the rest of His Word- stay in fellowship with Christ!

Hopefully this 'common sense' approach to studying the Bible will take hold in a few of us and then begin to spread. God's Word is powerful, He didn't dedicate the longest chapter in the Bible to his word only to have it ignored, or taught to us by another. Take a look though Psalm 119 and see if the learning of God's Word is something we are to passively learn or something to actively do and I think you will see that we (you and I) are to actively be studying and learning God's Word. May God begin to give us this 'common sense' today as we read His Word!


Randy

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