Meditating on God’s Word: Write It

Journaling isn’t for everyone. I’m a writer and I don’t journal very often. At least I don’t often write in a journal that I keep for that purpose. However, I frequently write things out as a way of processing information. Afterwards I throw it away or hit delete.

Sometimes I struggle or grapple with what I’m learning and writing helps me think about it. Sometimes I’m just feeling introspective and use writing as a way to reflect on what I’m learning from the Bible.

Writing is another way of meditating on God’s Word and it can take a variety of forms. So don’t let the idea of journaling keep you away from the benefits of writing about what you learn.

If pages of handwritten text don’t appeal to you, you can keep a journal on your computer. Even blogging can be a form of journaling about what you learn and experience in God’s Word over time.

Maybe you’re more poetic. Writing poetry is a wonderful way to process what you learn from your study of the Bible.

Poetry makes it personal. It attaches significance and emotion to truth. It frames the truth in a beautiful way that allows you to examine it from different angles. Sometimes, poetry will simply punch you in the gut with the impact of the truth when seen in a new way or a new context that really gets inside you.

Haiku is very popular (especially on Twitter) and many people will meditate on a verse of the Bible by thinking about it until they can condense it down to a pithy poem: five syllables on the first line; seven syllables on the second line; and five syllables on the third line.

Haiku is a marvelous example of meditating on God’s Word because it captures the core meaning of a verse and paraphrases it in a concise and memorable way. It engages the mind in a way that makes the truth personal. If you are talented in this way (I’m not), then you are engaging the text beyond mere study and coming closer to experiencing it deeply and personally.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.

 

Christy’s IDEA Method for Bible Study

For those of you who prefer a casual but structured approach to things, I have a simple but effective plan for you to follow. I call my approach IDEA. When you want to get the main idea of a passage: Identify, Define, Explore, and Apply.

Identify. Look at what the passage says—not what you think it says or what you’ve heard it says. Look at what it actually says. Also, make note of what it doesn’t say (we tend to fill in other ideas as we read).

Define. In order to understand a text, you need to be sure you understand what it is saying. Start with good old Webster’s Dictionary and look up words—even if you think you know what they mean. You can often gain surprising new insights from this habit without even investing in other Bible reference books. Then expand your query by looking up people, places, and other nouns in a Bible dictionary. This is the best way to gain biblical background and context for any passage. A Bible dictionary contains a wealth of information.

Explore. Take those people and places and explore them more thoroughly. Look up places on a map or Bible atlas. Look up people and cultural information in other reference books to gather a broader understanding. In short, follow your curiosity.

Apply. What good is it to study the Bible if we don’t intend to do what it says? James addresses this issue when he writes, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves” (James 1:22). Consider whether there is an action to take, a warning to heed, or an example to follow. Keep a journal, if you like. Write down a specific action you can take, even if it is as simple as “I will reflect on this verse today.”

Studying the Bible doesn’t have to be a complicated process. You can do this. Just follow your curiosity, whether you follow specific steps or not.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.