Bible Study: Lace up your tennies

Guys, I hate exercise.  Everything about it is terrible.  Racerback tanks, sports bras, sweat, cramps, burpees.  Bleh.  I’d honestly rather clean the bathroom than lace up my tennies.

My entire life I got away with this attitude and could still zip my jeans and rock a sleeveless dress.  Then I had a baby.  (She’s worth it, but she rearranged some things on her way.)  Arm jiggle and muffin top forced me into a new chapter of habitual exercise.  And you know what?  It’s not the worst.  I’m no longer feeling weak and ineffective.  In fact, I’ve never felt stronger or more physically capable.  Anticipating doing something difficult was the biggest hurdle.  Working out was such a foreign concept to me that it felt completely unapproachable to figure out on my own.  What I needed was clear direction and guidance on healthy, varied exercise (nothing can fix burpees though).

Ignoring a worthwhile endeavor because I don’t want to learn it is absurd.  Some of my favorite activities started out this way: gardening, blogging, Bible study.  Anybody else think they don’t like Quiet Time because it’s intimidating and you don’t know where to start?  Shake it off because Quiet Time Matters.  It’s important work and the results make you strong.  In our family, church attendance started in utero, so I’ve participated in all different types of studies.  Here’s a review of four popular Bible study methods.  Hopefully this will help you narrow down which one best fits you in this season of your life.

Guided Study

This is a follow along, fill-in-the blank approach.  An author or pastor has done the work ahead of time and mapped out notes for you.  These can be completed individually or as part of a group, and often have components for both.  Lifeway authors like Beth Moore, Kelly Minter, Priscilla Shirer have produced phenomenal guided studies.

Pros: Great for topical and character studies, easy to look back on your notes, interesting details are provided along the way, extremely useful homework helps develop a habit of daily study.

Cons: Expensive to buy on your own (designed for group use), lots of handholding which makes the lessons easy to forget, doesn’t require much personal digging.

Fan Favorite: David by Beth Moore.  Studying a person across multipes books of the Bible would be overwhelming on my own, but Beth lays out David’s life and the implications beautifully.

Timed Study

Read through a portion of the Bible in a certain amount of time.  For example, the most popular version of this is Read through the Bible in a Year.

Pros: See the big picture in broad strokes, daily devotions already laid out so there’s no more “what do I read today?” angst.

Cons: Easy to get behind, large sections of text require shallow study, no time for details.

Fan Favorite: Any NIV or NASB study Bible and a reading plan like this one.

Inductive Study

The Inductive Study Method is research-like and focuses on three main questions: What does this text say?  What does it mean?  How does it apply to my life?  To answer those questions, there are series of sub-questions in each category.

Pros:  Thorough independent study, facilitates interaction with the text, aids memory with detailed note taking, fantastic for the inquisitive mind.  (Devotions for Nancy Drew!)

Cons: Can be overly academic (at least for me), focusing on the intricacies of observation and interpretation sometimes leads me to miss the heart of application, slow going- the book of Matthew took me 18 months.

Fan Favorite: Covenant: God’s Enduring Promises by Kay Arthur.  This is a study of God’s promises to humanity from Genesis to Revelation.  If you’re just asking questions about faith, are new in your relationship with Jesus, or you’ve been reading the Bible for decades, this is earth shattering.  Absolutely do it.

Selah Study

“Selah (a Hebrew musical term meaning Pause and Listen) is a framework and a plan to systematically interact with Scripture by incorporating daily time of study, meditation and application of God’s Word.”

Pros: Absorbing personal study, builds a daily reading habit, extremely interactive, can be used individually or in a group, addresses both the academic and spiritual elements of devotions.

Cons: Slow (but this is intentional: you read the same section of the Bible 5 days in a row), genealogies get a little tedious.

Fan Favorite: Selah Ruth by Shelley Noonan.  This book is a great way to dip your toes into the Selah method.  I truly didn’t expect to learn much from of a story I’ve known since 1^st grade Sunday School.  Slowing down and soaking in each passage not only brought forth new elements of the story itself, but highlighted the character of God for me in ways I’d always missed before.

Other tools I like:

• The New Inductive Study Bible
• How to Study Your Bible: The Lasting Rewards of the Inductive Method
• Congregational Selah
• Strong’s Concordance app
• Bible Gateway app

I’m currently doing Selah Psalm 119, and I love it.  Each week I’m immersed in Scripture that talks about how valuable and life-altering God’s Word is.  I’m seeing God’s compassion, grace, and faithfulness in a different light even though I’ve read this chapter multiple times before.  Before this, I did inductive studies of Matthew and Genesis.  There are a couple girlfriends I hope to do a guided study with this summer.  No matter what method you choose, God promises that His words will accomplish their purpose.  You will never waste your time studying the Bible.  So girl, lace up those tennies.  It’s worth it.