Reflection on God's Word

This week, I have been focusing on an approach to learning, understanding, and growing in the discipline of studying God's Word.  Prayer for the Spirit's guidance, reflection on God's Word, and then paying attention to how we struggle with living out what God says are the three "rules" outlined by Martin Luther in his approach to the Scriptures.

Some may wonder why to follow such an approach to God's Word.  After all, most people don't aspire to develop the kind of knowledge and understanding of the Bible as, say, a pastor would.  So why take this kind of approach to studying the Bible?  What would a "regular" person strive to get from this?

One thing that God emphasizes in the Bible is that His Holy Spirit works in specific ways in this world.  True, places such as John 3 show us that we cannot confine God to a specific manner of revealing Himself, but God always wants us to have certainty about how His Spirit comes to us.  The way that He tells us we can count on God's Spirit working is through God's Word, both spoken and read.

But what does that do for us?  What do we get from this kind of study?  Well, those questions are not easily answered.  But one thing that our study of God's Word does is show us what God's disposition is toward us.  We hear about the actions that He has taken on behalf of His people throughout time, and yet, how He sees the bigger picture that is not always obvious to us.  We start to see our place in the world, in time, and in God's grand scheme of things, among many other things.

But, perhaps most important, God shows us how we can deal with a life that is less than perfect.  He shows us what He has done for us in our pain.  He shows how He cares for us, especially when we are joined with others who share that same belief.  And to think, He does this through our times of engaging His Word.