Mamas in Faith

Have you ever wanted to read your Bible for a better understanding without feeling dependent on a devotional to guide your reading?

If this is you are on in the right place!

Lets talk some very basics here:

Observation– This step can feel monototous or confusing when first starting out because it can sometimes be challengeing to decide what to focus on but it is not necessarily somethign that you should be try to hone a focus on. It is merely observering what is infront of you. This can take reading through a section more than one time. You look at the text from a “zoomed out” view to see the whole, then you can move in some and start to see the structures of what you are reading and then you can lean into the text further and see small pieces that when put together make up the whole.

While making observations it can be helpful to write out some initially to guide the next steps.

Interpretation– First, this is not the step you are trying to find meaning for you life in. All to frequently we go to the Bible with the thought of, “What does God have for me today?” If you are reading Scripture in an attempt for understanding God’s word then you should seek the facts that it provides. A couple of questions to ask when looking to interpret Scripture is, “Who is the author speaking to?” , “What was the author trying to convey to his audience?” You can focus on the basics here with your questions without consulting outside sources, who, what, when, where and why.

Getting the answers to those questions can look something like:

• what is your first answer based on the content you have
• search for context- this could be either in surrounding verses or in whole book
• comparisons- Cross references within Scripture and reading more than one translation (finding a version that is word for word, one that is thought for thought and one that is a mix can be helpful. My favorites lately have been CSB as my main then I go to ESV and KJV ) concordances can also be helpful here to find referecnes within Scripture
• secondary sources- now is the time to use commentaries, concordances, atlases, Bible dictionaries, reference books, theology books etc. When thinking on what secondary sources to utilize it is important to use some discernment and know what presuppositions the author could have.
• YOU made it!- now that you have taken the time to dig in you can now state your conclusions based on what you found in the other four steps.

Application

• Know the different areas of your life
• Timeless or universal truths? and how can they apply to your life
• Be open to change
• Meditate on the Scripture you studied
• Put into practice what you have learned

If you are wanting an even deeper dive into studying Scripture within relying on a devotion or someone elses thoughts on scripture I would reccommend reading Unlocking the Scriptures by Hans Finzel (this list above is based on part one of his book)