Category: Bible Basics

Simple strategies for navigating scripture

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Christmas might be all packed away, but the search for ornaments on the tree may offer some strategies for navigating scripture.

Have you ever wondered how the Bible all fits together or how to find anything in it? Like locating each ornament on the tree, I’m all about understanding where to find content in the Bible. I think one of the biggest obstacles I faced when first trying to read it was how much time it took to find anything. Then when I did open it, many times the information felt a bit random. I didn’t know how it connected to the rest of the Bible.

As I was putting away Christmas ornaments, I saw similarities to scripture navigation which could prove useful.

All you have to do is find it

Most of the ornaments on our tree don’t have specific boxes they go in. Much of packing up Christmas is about making a space to store all of the holiday decorations. But some do have a specific box they go in, and a handful of those boxes have a picture of the ornament on the front so you know what’s supposed to go inside. Truth be told, those are the easiest ornaments to put away, because a particular ornament goes into a specific box – all you have to do is find the ornament on the tree.

Search becomes a treasure hunt

With the picture on the front of the box, you know what you’re looking for. Now the fun begins as the search becomes a treasure hunt.

I’ve seen that before

Next comes, “I know I’ve seen that somewhere before,” and you try to remember where on the tree you recall having seen the ornament nestled in among the fir branches, lights, and garland.

Sometimes I’ll remember I saw it when I was sitting on the couch looking at the tree, which helps narrow the search area.

How I find it

During the search one of several things generally happens:

I find the ornament right away.

I realize when and approximately where on the tree I remembered catching a glimpse of it.

I do a grand sweep of the whole tree (which rarely unearths the sought-after object).

My husband finds it, but that’s only if I let him know what I’m searching for.

I momentarily stop looking and find a box for another ornament. Eventually the one I was looking for appears.

The process

This year while engrossed in this process, which in some ways is like a game, I noted the similarities to navigating scripture, whether looking for Jesus or another connecting point in the Bible.

Sometimes Jesus’ presence in scripture is obvious, like in the Gospels when He’s with His disciples, and all those red letters highlighting what Jesus said if your Bible references Jesus’ words in red.

Other times His appearance or what I’m looking for isn’t obvious, but I’ll remember that it’s somewhere in the vicinity of or related to another story or passage I’m familiar with.

In other instances, I think about where and when I saw a particular scripture reference last.

What else was I reading at the time?

What other aspect of a passage of scripture do I remember?

Storyline

For example, the book of 1 Samuel begins with Samuel’s mother Hannah, hoping desperately for a child. Her fervent prayers are answered in her son Samuel who grows up to be a servant of God. He anoints the people’s king, Saul and eventually God’s choice for king, David. If we remember Samuel’s role in God appointing a ruler, we have clues to place people like Saul and David in the line up to help us find their stories in the Bible.

Other times I’ll release the search, keeping the concept I’m looking for in the back of my mind, knowing the Holy Spirit will catch my attention at the right time.

Name recognition

Genesis is another great place to establish some name recognition. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are a multigenerational trio that shows up throughout the Bible. Their storylines start in Genesis, but they continue to be mentioned from Exodus into the New Testament. Remembering these three goes a long way to keep us in the know as we read and see them reappear in various places in scripture.

Also, when we see something like “city of David” we can remember that’s connected to the David mentioned in the book of Samuel.

Connecting concepts

Leviticus holds some of the biggest treasure in the Bible, but for now, we’ll just focus on the offerings. In this third book of the Bible, we read about several different types of offerings. Just remembering the reference to these offerings in Leviticus goes a long way toward connecting other concepts in scripture.

Grand sweep

The grand sweep. This works well if you have a Bible with subheadings. It’s also helpful if you’re getting your bearings. You can skim the contents of a few books of the Bible, like all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, located at the front of the New Testament. A skim of the beginning of these four books of the Bible helped me find the missing manger. I also began to notice the similarities and differences between the Gospels, noting which stories and aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry are covered in each.

A quick view of the Bible

Another way to get your bearings is with a quick overview of the entire Bible. If you’re not sure how to go about approaching the Bible, I have a handy quick view of the Bible. It’s a tri-fold brochure that doubles as a bookmark, offering a quick overview of the whole Bible.

Bible quick view

What’s important is to simply start the process of looking. You’d be amazed at what you’ll find.

So next time you open your Bible, begin your search.

The trouble of reading the Bible and one possible reason we don’t

Piano books and Bible books – an easy way to learn

Two things that kept me from reading the Bible – and what changed my tune

Are you thirsty? Find refreshment in the Word

Are you thirsty and in need of refreshment? Is the hot sun or are the details of the day beating down on you? Have you been working hard or just been so busy you haven’t stopped to hydrate?

I can tell if I’ve gone too long without stopping for a sip of water. I don’t do it on purpose. When I move from one activity to the next, I don’t notice the need until my system cries out in protest craving something to refresh. Does that happen to you?

Does a simple glass satisfy or do you find yourself in search of something to stay with you to quench a deeper thirst?

When parched

If I’m really thirsty, a glass of water just won’t cut it. A piece of fruit satisfies and refreshes more fully when I’m parched. How about you?

Satisfy thirst more deeply

When I was a kid, I used to eat grapefruit a lot. I even have one of those spoons that thinks it’s a knife with the serrated edge to cut the citrusy goodness out of the confines of the shell. It’s a lot of work to eat a grapefruit that way, painstakingly cutting around each individual section to loosen the pulp and free it from the three walls that hold it in place. But each juicy bite that emerges tastes tart and fresh, satisfying thirst more deeply than a simple glass of water or fruit juice could.

Sometimes I enjoy grapefruit in a fruit salad someone else has prepared, whole segments accessed simply by spooning them into my bowl. But there’s something about extracting the sections of grapefruit yourself. And afterward, once each bite has been cut free, squeezing each half to release the remaining juice into a bowl to drink up the last of the nourishing offering.

When spiritually thirsty

As I enjoyed a grapefruit this morning, a much-needed dose of hydration after a walk in the sun, I reflected on the similarity to reading my Bible. When I open my Bible, I often look at one small section. The process to get something nourishing out of it can feel painfully slow, especially if I am spiritually thirsty. What do I mean by that? It’s those times when I know I’ve disconnected from any sort of quiet time with Jesus where I can gain a healthy perspective on my life or circumstances. When I can tell I’m caught up in and distracted by challenges or situations that drain my sense of peace.

Dig deep for thirst-quenching refreshment

When we’re parched, it might be easier to let someone else do the heavy lifting. We could listen to someone else teach on what’s in the Bible or could read a devotion and see what someone else has learned from reading the Bible. Those are both really good activities to engage in. But don’t let that be where we stop. The fulfilling reward comes from digging deep for the thirst-quenching refreshment ourselves. What we discover and internalize takes deeper root in our own lives.

What we discover and internalize takes deeper root in our own lives.

It’s one thing to hear about someone else’s experience. It’s another to encounter our own.

Here’s one benefit to digging deeper ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’m lousy at memorizing Scripture. I discovered however that I internalize it. When I take the time to focus on a small passage of Scripture, something stays with me even if I don’t realize it in the moment. Has that ever happened to you?

Anchor ourselves in the Word

When we reflect on a few short phrases of Scripture, we anchor ourselves in the Word. That simple phrase may come back to us later in the day or sometime during the week. By pausing long enough to grab hold of a morsel of what’s in the Bible, we nourish our spiritual life one small step at a time.

We nourish our spiritual life one small step at a time.

Do you want to give it a try?

Even if we’re sporadic at best with our Bible reading, whenever we take a moment to focus on a section of Scripture, we grab hold of something to stay with us longer than if we relied on someone else’s study time. What do I mean by that? Devotions are the result of someone else’s personal time with Jesus. My goal here is to help us find a foothold into our own experience.

Don’t worry, we’ll start with a short segment of Scripture. Here’s a portion of Psalm 143.

Psalm 143

“I spread out my hands to you;
    I thirst for you like a parched land.

  Answer me quickly, Lord;
    my spirit fails.
 Do not hide your face from me
    or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
 Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:6-8 NIV

A word or phrase that caught your attention

Take a moment to read this passage and see if any words or phrases stand out to you, for whatever reason. Do the words you noticed speak to your situation? Describe how you’re feeling? Remind you of something good about God? Whatever the reason, focus on the phrase that caught your attention.

Invite Jesus to speak

Does it feel like a prayer or plea to God? A conviction to invite more of Jesus into your life? This is the cool part. Invite Jesus to show you what He wants you to know about the phrase you selected. Ask Him to speak into your life through the highlighted phrase.

Listen for a response

Then pause. Listen. Wait a moment for a response to come into your heart. You might even decide to write down what you hear. Not sure you heard anything? That’s okay too. Writing down the phrase you noticed or repeating it a few times to yourself may help create a space in your heart for God to show you something later. Sometimes the verse itself is the blessing that stays with us throughout the day.

Whatever your experience, let this be a first step toward satisfying a deeper thirst.

No time to open your Bible? Try this:

Don’t open your Bible, at least not yet

Which word or phrase caught your attention? Share in the comments.

The benefits of hearing different Bible translations

We tend to favor a particular Bible translation, the one that resonates with us. What happens when a group of people reads from different Bible translations together?

Hearing Scripture

I led a group of people through the Bible. We met once a week and read out loud from the Word (another term for what’s in the Bible). Hearing Scripture (the words in the Bible) read aloud allows you to take in and notice things that might be overlooked if just reading on your own. We each had a different Bible translation.

Here’s a little information on Bible translations:

What to look for when choosing a Bible

Now you might think this would be confusing, and it can be, if you’re following along in your Bible while listening to a different wording being spoken aloud. But we noticed something that really added to our time together.

Different versions

When we took turns reading, we would experience the Bible passage in different versions. Depending on who was reading we might hear the verses in the New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), or the Message (MSG), just to name a few. Sometimes we would take the time to read the passage from all of the Bible translations represented. This gave us a fuller picture of what we were experiencing. Sometimes a phrase or a word in someone else’s Bible was the one that really spoke to us.

23rd Psalm

For instance, here’s the first line of the 23rd Psalm in the King James Version:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1 KJV

Most familiar

Something fun about this example is that the King James or New King James Version is probably the most familiar one because of how often it has been quoted or referenced. In fact, because of the cadence, this one can bring the most comfort to a person.

Receive the words

But if we look at the New Living Translation, we see the wording allows us to experience this passage in a different way. Maybe instead of a familiar feel, we now receive the words of this verse as a guiding reminder.

“The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.” Psalm 23:1 NLT

Connect with Jesus

See what I mean? Just by stopping to read this passage in a different version, we can rest in the truth of who Jesus is in our lives. And isn’t that one of the reasons we read the Bible, to connect with Jesus?

Sharing

Another benefit of this group study was that we each had a preferred translation, the one we favored and most understood. When we each read from the Bible we had brought with us, we were sharing what was important to us. We were sharing from the one that spoke to us. (Well except when someone forgot their Bible. Then they were trying to read the tiny print from the Bible in the church entryway, which introduced another perspective – just trying to figure out what it said).

Listen

But when we read from the one that mattered to us, we shared something of ourselves. And when we took the time to listen to someone else’s perspective, we learned something more about Jesus. Sometimes the fact that we weren’t as familiar with the translation being read meant leaning in a little closer to listen so that we might better understand.

Benefit

One of the people in our group loved the King James Version, the one with Thee and Thou throughout. He liked it because it reads like Shakespeare, which incidentally was the same reason another person didn’t like the KJV. They couldn’t understand it because it read like Shakespeare.

See the benefit of bringing different perspectives together?

Perspective

Experiencing the Bible in different translations was one of the gifts of this group. Reading on our own, we would have only been exposed to the version of the Bible we had chosen. Listening in the group gave us a perspective we would have otherwise missed.

Jesus loves me this I know, or do I?

Jesus loves me.

I was thinking about this song recently, “Jesus Loves Me.” I learned it as a child. It speaks of knowing Jesus loves me, that it’s in the Bible.

But do I know this? Do I believe it to be true?

Reflect

I asked a group recently to take a few minutes to write down what they love about Jesus. They reflected and wrote. The exercise went smoothly. Everyone seemed to accomplish this with relative ease.

Then I asked them to write down what Jesus loves about them.

Some wrote a little. Others hesitated. Which camp would you fall into?

Some days I write a little. Other days I hesitate.

I know what I think of myself.

Some days I’m not sure if I want to know what Jesus thinks of me.

Can He just think of me on good days when I have my act together? When patience and kindness rule my heart and only loving words come out of my mouth?

Can Jesus just look the other way on other days until I think I have everything figured out?

Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that. Any of it.

Jesus knows what’s on my heart and still loves me.  (Psalm 139:1-4)

You have searched me, Lord,
  and you know me. Psalm 139:1 NIV

Jesus loves me. Rest in that truth. Take a deep breath. Remember this:

Jesus loves me.

Think of it as a three step process:

Jesus loves me.

Come back to these three simple words at different times throughout the day. Pause. Remember. Reflect. Jesus loves me.

This I know.

The more I remind myself, the more I believe it. This moves from being something I have to remember, to something I already know. Something I’ve internalized.

For the Bible tells me so.

Here’s the fun part. Open your Bible. The more I look in my Bible, the more I discover. Through these discoveries I recognize more of the depth of God’s love for His children.

I don’t read the Bible so that Jesus will love me more. I read the Bible to discover how much He already does.

Time spent with Jesus shows us how deeply He loves us. It’s hard to know how much someone loves us if we don’t spend time with them.

Notice I didn’t say how much they love us is dependent on how much time we spend with them. I said we don’t realize how much they love us, how much they already love us, until we spend time with them.

So spend time with Jesus. Not so that He will love you more, but so you will more fully know how much He already loves you.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 NIV

We don’t read the Bible so Jesus will love us more. We read the Bible to see how much more Jesus loves us than we believe.

Are you just getting started with your Bible?

You’ve come to the right place. Let’s learn what’s in it together.

This song, “Hello, My Name Is,” by Matthew West, reminds me of this love of Jesus. Maybe it will speak to you too.

Beginning with the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The last two posts focused on the song “Is He Worthy?” which references Scripture from the Book of Revelation. So what is Revelation and how do I read it?

If Revelation is the first book of the Bible you’ve looked at, then congratulations! I’m thrilled you jumped right in. If Revelation is a book you’ve avoided reading for any number of reasons, and yet, you opened your Bible to take a look at what’s in it, then good for you! I’m so glad you took that step.

Perspective

Now that we’ve seen some of what’s in it, how about a little perspective? I’m not going to tell you how to interpret this image-filled book of the Bible, but I will give you some information that will hopefully help you approach it with a bit of curiosity.

Gospel of John

Revelation is the last book of the Bible and was written by the same person who wrote the Gospel of John.

The New Testament begins with the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The Gospel of John, also filled with imagery, refers to Jesus as the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Vine, and the Word, which introduces chapter one:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 NIV

In the beginning

If you’ve opened your Bible at the front before, do you recognize similar wording?

From Genesis, the first book of the Bible:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

John’s Gospel harkens back to the beginning of the Bible, the Old Testament, with familiar words from the first chapter of Genesis.

 “In the beginning,” bridges the Old and New Testament, and weaves a beautiful connection to this gospel writer who penned the last book of the Bible.

A revelation

The Book of Revelation is exactly that, a revelation, a vision that God gave to John while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. (Revelation 1:9-10)

Read Genesis

When my Bible study read through Genesis, we had no idea how much it would help us with Revelation.

If you aren’t sure how to even start reading Revelation, then first try reading Genesis. You can find some helpful tips on how to read Genesis here.

Correlation between Genesis and Revelation

See if you can find correlation between Genesis and Revelation, landmarks where something comes up again, is connected or includes related content.

Here are some that I noticed:

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life comes up in Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7 NIV

Genesis 2 and 3 provide the origin of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

Read Revelation chapter 22 for additional insight.

Lamb

The Lamb is mentioned throughout Revelation, including chapters 5, 6, and 7.

From John’s Gospel, we see John the Baptist proclaiming the Lamb:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 NIV

This post on the song “Is He Worthy?” provides additional insight.

Tribes of Israel

Tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8) is a reference to the sons of Jacob (Genesis 35:23-26).

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. Genesis 35:10 NIV

Revelation

Whether this is your first time opening your Bible or glancing at the Book of Revelation, may you find connection in the Scriptures to our God who is worthy.

 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.” Revelation 4:11 NIV

Amen