I have enjoyed the excitement and challenge of a good puzzle and can recall doing a few over the years. While they can be enjoyable, they can also be very frustrating to get them all to fit together the way the photo displays that they should. The title of this article introduces you to the challenge you face when approaching bible study. What does 31102 represent? This is the number of verses found in the bible.
The Bible can feel overwhelming at first glance. Sixty-six books, 1,189 chapters, 31102 verses and thousands of years of history, poetry, prophecy, and letters. all bound into a single work with 40 or more authors. For many people, opening the Bible feels like dumping a 5,000-piece puzzle onto a table: beautiful but intimidating; meaningful but initially chaotic.
Yet just like a puzzle, the Bible becomes manageable when broken into smaller, meaningful sections. Rather than attempting to understand everything at once, learning to study the Bible begins with dividing, summarizing, memorizing, and later tracing themes that run throughout Scripture. Dividing the whole of scripture into manageable pieces is nothing new to modern times. Chapter heading came first then verses and by the time of the printing press these divisions were becoming standard and first presented in full in the Geneva bible.
1. Beginning With Books
The first step to reducing the sense of overwhelm is to remember that the Bible is not one long book—it is a collection of many books written in different times, places, and circumstances. Each book contributes a piece of the larger picture while also containing a meaningful story on its own.
For example, studying Philippians as a whole before diving into individual verses helps you understand it as a whole letter with a few primary themes running throughout. This is what you might call a 10,000-foot level. Perhaps you have heard of the expression to “see the forest before the trees.” This means summarizing the book’s major movements, themes, and message before diving into individual chapters. Allow yourself the opportunity to read or listen to the entire book and not get bound by the restraints of chapter and verse but instead listen for the meaning of the author who wrote is one document with only a few primary points of focus.
Beginning with the book allows you to see the author’s message without rushing ahead. You can put your focus on this one section without the pressure of the entire bible looming overhead. When you get a clear picture on the pieces it allows you to see the whole of God’s picture with more clarity as you continue to examine piece after piece. Your confidence will increase with each book you study and in time your retention and the connecting themes of God’s revelation come into focus. In addition, you are far less likely to err in misinterpretation from taking passages out of their context.
2. Summarizing Chapters: Seeing the Forest and Then the Trees
After grasping the overall message of a book, you can break it down further into chapters and summarize each one. These don’t need to be long or detailed. They should provide a summary that helps you remember the main themes and messages of the overall book. These can be a single sentence sometimes Once you have this framework an occasional review of your summaries can keep the elements of the book and its details retained in your memory until you again return to deepen your understanding with further study.
3. Using Key Verses as Quick Reference Points
Within each book of the bible there are verses that capture the heart of the message. These same verses you often hear quoted by teachers and preachers. These are key verses. These verses do not replace the rest of the book; instead, they function like a heading or subheading that indicate dominant themes presiding over the framework of the message. Like chapter summaries, these key verses can be applied to memory to give foundation for long term understanding. Meditating on and even memorizing chapter summaries, book summaries, or key verses creates structure and clarity.
4. Intention and direction
Many people express difficult in studying the bible. They read it and quickly forget. They don’t comprehend or understand. Often this is because they approach the scripture without intention. Frustration can be avoided, and a sense of understanding occurs when come to our bible with some intention. Begin by reading the whole book looking for only 2 or 3 themes. Highlight or underline any verse that seem particularly important or meaningful. Then go back a second time and summarize each chapter. Finally, you can summarize the entire book. Each of these steps are part of an observational process of understanding scripture. Observation is where all good detective work begins and the start of our approach to understanding the scripture.
It should be noted that none of these techniques reveal God’s word. It is God not our intellect and diligence that open our eyes. Luke 24:45 is a clue to how God is the one who opens our eyes to his message. As we seek and ask him to teach us he will reveal his truth to us. Let us pray like the psalmist in Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes. That I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
