There’s an old saying we’ve all heard, “wherever your heart is, there is your treasure…” There’s a lot of wisdom in that statement because we do spend more time doing the things we love. David, a man after God’s own heart, desired to know God’s will and sought out God’s advice, and although he only had fragments of what we now have and know as the Bible, he was still able to write, But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night (Psalms 1:2) and I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word (Psalms 119:16). The only way David could have ever achieved this is the same way we must approach the Bible – and that is through studying the Bible in a meaningful and purposeful plan. Simply picking up the Bible and reading it the way most of us read novels will never gain us the familiarity that David sought and achieved.
Studying the Bible on purpose
My graduate housing apartment at SIU (’04-06)
Within the book of Proverbs there’s this verse: I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me (Proverbs 8:17) and again, we see another promise made by the Lord – if we seek Him early, we shall find Him. One of the things that happens in the life of every Christian is there will come a point when we want a stronger relationship with the Lord. That’s where I found myself in 2006, not realizing that I wasn’t even truly saved. I remember clearly sitting in the living room/dining room/kitchen of my apartment at Southern Illinois University and wondering what would happen if I read the Bible and actually studied it as I read and studied the writings of John Adams, George Washington, Voltaire, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes. Soon, my morning routine included thirty minutes of studying the Bible. I started in Psalms and using only two concordances, a pen, and a spiral bound notebook, began to honestly study the Bible. I was seeking the Lord, as David had written. What the Lord began to do in my life was not only unexpected, but was exactly what I hungered after.
Since that day, my life has forever changed. I began to doubt in the salvation experience I had in 1988. I began to see how the Lord actually did care what I was going through and even began to realize He wanted to give me what I needed and that I had to be willing to accept His guidance and His will for my life. My faith has been strengthened by the daily reading of His word and I’m able to call upon Him to help me resist the temptations I face as I recall the verses that are there to reassure us He will never leave us or forsake us. I have learned the daily reading of the Bible is as important to my spiritual health as taking a vitamin daily or watching what I eat helps me stay healthy.
Do you want to release the power of the Lord in your life? Study the Bible! Do you want to increase your faith and strengthen your ability to resist sin? Study the Bible! Want to see the Lord begin to mold your life in ways you’ve never dreamed? Study the Bible!
