This is workshop time, so it is a little bit different—a little more casual. You can interrupt me occasionally by raising your hands, and it is more of a chat time. We are going to do a couple of exercises together as well.
I would still like to commit the time to the Lord in prayer together.
Lord, we pray that You would draw us with Your love. May that hunger and thirst for righteousness deepen in our hearts. We look to You to bring it up to the surface of our hearts.
Lord, we trust in You. We look to You and to Your Word, and as we are looking into pursuing You and pursuing Your Word, may You stir something deep within. Just remind us of all that You have put in us to seek after You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I actually do not have a lot of slides, but I have a lot of things to show from the laptop and some physical things. For slides, I am only using this for some Scriptures, so we can go a little bit faster.
A Scripture I would like to read is from Psalm 119. During this workshop, we are going to use Psalm 119 for almost everything. This is the longest chapter in the Bible on purpose, and it is the chapter that expresses a real heart for God’s Word.
A lot of people think it is an overflow from David’s Psalm 19—not Psalm 119, but Psalm 19. If you remember Psalm 19, he first shares about how wonderful creation is and how the heavens declare the glory of God. Then it goes into sharing about the Word of God and really compares how creation speaks with how the Word of God speaks.
As an overflow from that, whoever wrote Psalm 119—maybe it was David, maybe it was someone like Ezra, maybe whoever it was—they caught David’s heart for God’s Word. They used those same phrases from Psalm 19.
Psalm 19 actually unlocks Psalm 119, if that makes sense. When you read Psalm 19, it gives you the key to study Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 uses eight main words for Scripture. We will look at that in a little bit, but there are words like law and precepts. The psalmist uses these eight words over and over again, always talking about the Word of God.
It is organized according to the Hebrew alphabet. When you are reading the Bible, suddenly you see these odd, strange words that are usually not even explained. It will say Aleph, then Beth, then Gimel, then Daleth, and then it starts getting hard to pronounce. One of them is Tet, and so on. You have to clear your throat a few times as you do the Hebrew alphabet.
There are twenty-two sections. It is kind of like what we do in poetry sometimes, where you take the alphabet and keep using the first letter. You say a bunch of things with the letter A, then move on to B and say a bunch of things that start with B. This is what they did in this psalm.
They really cheated with the He section—it is the word for “the.” They just started every sentence with “the,” like “the this” and “the that.” Anyway, every section starts with the letter. Most of our verses are going to come from Psalm 119.
Later, at the end of this workshop, we are going to read Psalm 119 together. You can actually capture the heart for God’s Word through this psalm. Whenever you feel dry, and even far away from caring about God’s Word, this is a good psalm to read.
It does not take as long as you think. It is like 170-some verses, but this morning, when I was reading it, I think it took me about seven minutes. I was searching for four different things, so I was taking my time and jotting stuff down.
This is the verse that I think expresses what is deep down in our hearts, in the new heart that the Lord has given us:
Oh how I love Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.—Psalm 119:97
Feelings-wise, the emotions of our heart on the surface level often cannot really say this. Occasionally, you are so touched that it overwhelms all of your soul, and you would say, “Oh, how I love Your Word. Oh, how I love Your law.” You express it to the Lord while you are reading it, and the Lord is showing you light, giving you life, conviction, and revelation.
Sometimes you have a really good time in the Word, and you tell a friend, “I need to read the Bible more. I love it when I read the Bible.” But at all times, there is a new heart within us as believers.
Deep down, where the Holy Spirit dwells, there is always this declaration: “Oh, how I love Thy law.” There is always a heart for God’s Word in our new heart. You cannot shake it. You cannot run away from it.
Once you are born again, you are stuck with this. For the rest of your life, for eternity, there is a longing deep within, at the very bottom of your heart, that wants to read the Word of God. It is the same longing that is after the face of Christ, that is after the Lord Himself.
By the way, I am going to be going through a lot of stuff, but I do have an outline of what I am supposed to say. I printed a bunch—like seventy-some—so I will give these out afterward. If you are scared that you missed something because of my accent, I will pass this out so you can see this.
This heart matches the heart that is after Christ. When you read Psalm 119, some of it says, “I seek Thee,” or “I seek You,” and some of it says, “I seek Your Word.” They are synonymous. They go back and forth all throughout the psalm, showing us that the heart for God’s Word matches the heart for God Himself.
It is the way that God expresses Himself. It is His own voice. It is the words that He wants to use to speak to us. As you are seeking His Word, you are not seeking Bible-study knowledge, theology, concepts, or truths by themselves. A heart for God’s Word is always a heart for Himself.
That is why we have a heart for God’s Word. That is why we want Him to speak to us through His Word: because we want to know Him. This is really what we are talking about.
Here is an example:
When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face;
My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.—Psalm 27:8
Actually, I think this was mentioned in the message earlier. In our hearts, there is a call from the Lord. David’s heart was speaking to him, saying, “Seek My face,” and David said, “I will seek Your face.” That is what is going on with the Word of God. That is what is going on in the depths of us.
Another thing—this is from Psalm 119:
With my whole heart have I sought Thee:
O let me not wander from Thy commandments.—Psalm 119:10
Here he is saying, “I am seeking You,” meaning God Himself. Yet he follows it with, “Let me not wander from Thy commandments.” Every verse in Psalm 119 except two mentions the Word of God. He is talking about the Scriptures, but he says, “I have sought Thee.”
Here is another Scripture:
Blessed are they that observe His testimonies,
That seek Him with the whole heart.—Psalm 119:2
Here is another case where it is seeking Him with your whole heart, but it is connected with His testimonies. Some of it says, “I am seeking Your Word,” and some of it says, “I am seeking Him.”
I want to make this point really clear: when we talk about having a heart for God’s Word, this matches David’s heart after God. This matches a heart after the Lord. The psalmist is not merely interested in understanding technical things in the Bible or all the doctrines of the Bible. He is purely focused on knowing the Lord Himself.
There are two principles that we want to remember when talking about having a heart for God’s Word. One side is called seeking. The other side is meditating.
In the whole realm of anything we do in the Word of God, these two phrases come up. They come up a number of times in Psalm 119: “I am seeking,” and also, “I am meditating on the Word of God. I am meditating on His precepts.”
These two things should happen side by side with each other. As you are seeking—in a very specific way, with Scriptures, Bible study, reading the Word, time alone, or just a few verses—you are gathering something. You are gathering some bit of the letter of the Word.
Whether it is extreme seeking and a really thorough study, or whether it is just a regular daily grab-a-verse, you have grabbed something. You have grabbed some letter of the Word that you are actually reading.
When you are seeking, you are grabbing some bit of the Word of God. You are opening it up and reading something, or you are searching through the Scriptures—searching through a word, a topic, or a book of the Bible and outlining it. As you seek, you are gathering materials together, always with the intent to hear the Lord’s voice.
You may hear His voice while you are seeking, or it may come in the meditation later on. While you are seeking, do not be sad if you do not hear anything. Seeking is so important. It is the role of our thirsty, loving heart for the Lord.
The Lord does not always give us His voice while we are seeking, but we gather together the letter of the Word. We gather together something, and then we hold on to it.
Then there is meditation. As you meditate, you are considering the Word that you grabbed, but you are prayerfully considering it. Meditation for Christians is not like meditation in other religions.
In other religions, when you meditate, you try to zone out and blank your mind. That may be great for communication with other spiritual things, but not with God. If you want to communicate with the Lord, He likes us to meditate on His Word—prayerfully taking it back to Him and looking to Him: “What are You saying with this? Are You saying something with this?”
As we have gathered something from seeking, we begin to meditate on it. It may happen at another time, or it may happen at the same time. You may have a lot of time as you are reading one chapter of the Bible. You read a little bit and ask, “What is this?” Then you read a little bit more. That is totally cool.
A lot of us do not have time for that. We may gather something in five minutes, in between this and that, and then meditate on what we gathered while walking somewhere else. The habit of someone who has a heart for the Lord’s Word includes a lot of meditation on His Word.
In a way, your mind becomes a little bit in the clouds—but in the Scriptural clouds, not crowds. You have something above to put your mind on: something from His Word that you have studied, read, or gathered in the morning; something you heard in a message.
You are thinking about it. You are contemplating it. You are prayerfully seeing whether it applies to your life in some way. This can happen when you are in the shower, while you are eating a meal with no one around, or while you are in the car if you turn the radio off.
When you first hop in the car, do not turn the radio on first thing. Look to the Lord and see whether there is something to meditate on. Sometimes you are so down that maybe you need to hear a good Christian song, a hymn, or maybe you need to know the weather. I do not know.
But when you can have quiet moments, do not be afraid of them. Use them for meditation. This is the way of the heart: there is always a seeking and always a meditating.
There are really no rules in the Bible about what to do with the Word of God. It would be a lot easier if there were, in a way. We could say, as we sometimes do with a brand-new Christian, that there are four or five habits to establish. I think that is appropriate and helpful.
But very quickly, it can become a type of rule on top of you—a daily thing that you have to do—and we misunderstand it. These are habits that holy men and women of God have practiced because they have a heart for God’s Word.
For example, you cannot prove from Scripture that you must have a certain time in the morning with the Word of God. But if we get into the heart for the Lord’s Word, these are some of the things we might actually do. These are practices we might have.
I am going to use some examples of heart habits. If you have the heart to seek His Word, there are different ways of seeking. If you have the heart to meditate on His Word, it is because you have a heart for the Lord. As you tap into this, there are helpful things for meditating on the Word of God.
I am not putting this out there as stuff you should be doing, or stuff you have failed in doing. Any one of us in this room could quickly testify to how much we have failed in disciplines with the Word of God.
However much better you may be doing than someone else, all of us have felt—and maybe even feel—how terribly we are doing. But the Lord is looking at the heart. We want to take a step back from disciplines and tap into the heart for God’s Word, the love for His Word.
Even if you have to give up all your Bible-reading plans for a week and find a random chapter to read, remember the good old days when you would just flip open the Bible, read at random, and say, “Oh, this is cool.”
I am not saying you should give up your Bible-reading plans. But never forget to waste time. Never forget to do the exciting things. Never forget that there is a love for the Lord’s Word in our hearts.
Remember, our heart is tricky and deceitful. The emotions of our heart can feel one way when actually the love of our heart is another way. Just because you do not feel like doing something does not mean that your heart is not longing to do it.
How many times have you sat down not wanting to read the Word of God, but then, as you do it, it reignites that love for God’s Word? You remember and say, “I am so glad I did this.”
The feeling is not what we are talking about when we say, “Have a heart for God’s Word.” Sometimes you feel it; sometimes you do not. It is that you discover the new heart inside that loves God’s Word. It is the choice of the heart. It is the conviction at the depth of your conscience to be in God’s Word. It is the pull of the Holy Spirit drawing you back to God’s Word.
The best example of seeking and meditating as a combined thing is what I call manna—the manna of the Word.
Some call it morning watch; we may call it morning devotion time, morning time, quiet time, QT, or solo time. In Christianity in general, and through the centuries, there has been a thought and a concept of opening God’s Word at the beginning of the day.
It is not only opening God’s Word, but setting apart a small bit of time to be in His presence. What do you actually do during this time? There are no rules about it, right?
If you have a heart to seek the Lord’s face and meditate on His Word, perhaps you wake up early enough to have at least fifteen minutes. I think that is a good minimum.
At the beginning of that time, because you are seeking the Lord’s face, do not actually open the Word of God yet. That is an encouragement I would give. Someone encouraged me this way, and it really, really helped me.
When we open God’s Word, we want to hear His voice. Before you open His Word, take a moment to quiet your heart, look to the Lord face to face, and ask Him to search your heart. See whether there is any wickedness or anything wrong in you. You may sing a song to Him, but just behold Him for a moment.
It may only be a few moments. But when you feel, “Yes, I am in the Lord and the Lord is in me,” then open up His Word and read.
I call this manna because manna expresses seeking and meditating at the same time. Manna is very Scriptural.
And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
—Deuteronomy 8:3
This is the lesson of the manna that the Israelites had in the wilderness. There was something behind the manna. What is manna? Exodus 16 tells us that they called it manna because it meant, “What is it?” It was the whatness—the “what” stuff.
The Hebrew word for “what” is man. They were like, “Man, I do not know what this is.” They said, “What is this?” They did not even call it bread. They said, “Did you gather the what stuff? Did you gather the what?” Every time they ate, they were like, “What?” That is what they called it.
But there was a lesson. It showed up on the ground while the Israelites were in the wilderness. They did not have regular kitchens to work in, but every day they would go out early in the morning. At the first beginning of the morning, somehow in the dewiness of the ground, this bread appeared. It was bread from heaven.
The Lord miraculously made this whatness stuff appear on the ground, and it became their food all through the day. If they gathered it right away, it was good all through the day. If they did not gather it in time, it spoiled.
That is why they learned the lesson: first things first. Put the Lord first. Grab this bread. They gathered it first, and it lasted all day long.
This is something I had forgotten before when I was thinking about my devotions. I do my devotion time in the morning, but as I contemplated the concept of manna more, I realized they ate it not only for breakfast but also for lunch, dinner, snacks, and midnight snacks. This is what they had.
They learned different ways to make cakes and other things with it. They had it all through the day.
The Lord Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 when He was tempted to create bread out of stones. Manna was a teaching about the Word of God.
If manna is a picture or lesson of the Word of God, then we can use that typology of manna to discover how we might have a morning manna time if we have a heart for God’s Word. You would gather it in the morning.
A lot of people suggest gathering just a little bit—just enough for you. If you have a lot of time, you can do all your studies and reading in the morning. I am only talking about if you have fifteen minutes.
Sometimes you have hours, so you do your manna, Bible reading, Bible study, memorization, and anything else you do. But if you have only the first fifteen minutes, take a little portion of God’s Word.
Do not open a devotional book. Do not feel convicted if you do—I am just giving you my recommendation. Take just God’s Word because you are trying to discover something from God’s Word personally, yourself. You are trying to feed directly on His Word.
I love devotional books. I have a stack of them about this high. They are great for a short time with a few people, reading a short word. I think it is great to read a devotional book every day.
But in your manna time, set aside the devotional book. You may grab the verses they use, but do not read their commentary on it. Do not read their manna time. Those devotional books may have come out of their personal manna time, but have your own personal manna time first.
Gather your portion—enough for you that day. It may be one or two verses. New Testament letters can be really easy places to find verses to meditate on, though there are many places in the Bible.
The sacrifices in Leviticus have so much in them, but perhaps they are more for Bible study. Occasionally, your manna may be from Leviticus. While reading through the Bible, you may find a verse and think, “Ooh, that is cool. I want to come back to that. Let me use that tomorrow in my manna time.”
Set it aside. Write it down or whatever, and plan to read it in the morning. Whatever it is, it should be something you can prayerfully consider with the Lord.
As you take it back to the Lord, He may give you light, understanding, or conviction. He may show you something that you should be doing, or He may give you nothing. That is normal, because you not only seek and gather your manna; you chew on it all day.
As you do that, it is edifying, no matter what you see. You may not even know it. Your emotions may not feel it, but as you gather it, your heart deep down says, “Yes, I am glad we did this,” even if you are saying, “I have no idea what this word means.”
It may be the opening of Philippians: “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints.” You may think, “This is deep, but I do not get it. Paul wrote a letter.” But as you meditate on it through the day, “Grace to you and peace” may come alive.
At the end of the day, as you are about to yell at somebody, this word may come back into your heart: “Grace and peace to you.” You think, “Oh, peace to me right now, before I yell at somebody.” Your manna becomes alive and becomes like the Lord’s voice.
Sometimes you chew on manna you do not understand until weeks later, but it is so profitable. The Word of God is being worked into you. Meditating on your morning verse is almost as important as gathering it that morning.
You cannot meditate if you did not gather it. If you gather it too late—after already spending an hour looking over your emails—your mind is confused, you are thinking about the tasks of the day, and it is all spoiled. You repent for the next day.
But if you gather it first thing, with your phone on silent or whatever it is, then you can meditate on it all day.
In John 6, the Lord Jesus said that He was the manna. Manna not only teaches us about the Word of God but also about Christ Himself. When you gather manna in the morning, you are reconnecting and reconsecrating. You are saying hello to the Lord because your whole day is going to be in relationship with Him.
He is really your manna. He is what you are going to feed on all day. It is His life that you are going to be living by. It is connected with the Word, but it is also connected with seeking His face.
I would suggest: seek His face first, then grab a little bit of His Word. Combined together in a prayerful way, that can become your meditation all day. Sometimes I write it down on a card or put it on my phone because I keep pulling it out through the day to think about it. You may also memorize it.
When you are seeking, one of the things is that the Lord Himself actually seeks you out.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant;
For I have not forgotten Thy commandments.—Psalm 119:176
Now I want to bring up another holy habit: Scripture memory. We are going to use another verse that we will try to memorize together in a second.
Here the psalmist is asking the Lord to seek him out. His reason is, “I have not forgotten Your Word, Your commandments.” The Lord can actually seek His servant through the Word you have remembered and put in your heart.
All of us have failed in Scripture memory. How many times have you memorized something and then forgotten it? How many have memorized something but cannot quote it right now if we ask you? Raise your hand.
My wife and I memorized Song of Songs before we got married. It was awesome. There are some verses I remember, but right now, if you put me on the spot, I know I would mess up. She would do it right, but I would mess up.
Sometimes, when I am saying the words that the guy says to the girl, I mix it up, and suddenly I am the girl talking to the guy. Catherine is like, “What? No.” She is saying how my locks of hair are black and flowing, or something. It does not completely work.
There is stuff that we have just forgotten. When I was beginning to memorize, what motivated me was that I could not remember things I knew were in the Word of God.
I was sharing with unbelievers, and I would say, “The Bible says this.” They would say, “It does not say that. Show me where.” I would say, “I will find it. Give me five minutes.” Then they were gone, and I could not do it.
So I memorized that verse. The next time I saw them, I said, “Hey, it is here.” Then I memorized any verses I thought they would catch me out or stump me on, so I could say, “Yes, the Bible does say this.”
As I memorized, I found Scriptures that really helped me in my walk. Out of desperation to overcome some sins, I memorized Scriptures. They became my weapon to fight with, because temptation would come up and I would be desperate. When I quoted the Scripture, that was when I would get delivered.
Up until this day, it is the same way. That is what motivated me and brought me into it, through selfish reasons in a way—selfish for my own spiritual life, ability to witness, or ability to help someone later on. Then I discovered the joy of having the Lord’s Word in my heart, and I wanted to memorize more and more.
In the beginning, I asked other believers and older saints, “What did you do for memorization? How did you memorize?” They would share with me, and then I would ask, “What are you doing right now? Do you remember any of those things?” Almost all of them were like, “No, we forgot.”
They would say, “I had a hundred verses memorized in a stack of cards, but it was taking me an hour every day to go through these, so I gave up.” This is our problem: most of us give up pretty soon after we start memorizing.
I am not saying you need to memorize every day, but I am encouraging all of us, myself included, to try to remember what we have memorized. Try to keep what we have memorized.
Our morning manna verse is actually a great start. You are already chewing on it all day. By the end of the day, if you realize it, you have probably already memorized it, depending on how long the verse is.
If we are really dull in our minds, we can still memorize our manna verse. We can still memorize a little bit. At least we can try to keep it.
For me, I started with stacks of Scriptures and flashcards. I created a flashcard system. I would check the corners because I wanted to find a system of bashing it into my dull mind.
I would start with one verse, memorize it, and then do it again the next day. If I got it right, I would check it. One side had the reference and the other side had the Scripture.
For example, on one side I might write Proverbs 12:4, and on the other side:
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.
—Proverbs 12:4
If I got it right, I checked it and switched sides. I would ask, “Where is it that says, ‘A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband’?” If I said, “Proverbs 12:4,” then I could check it.
Once I got five checks, I put it into a weekly pile. Then, once a week, I would check it. Eventually I had weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly piles.
I had about thirty-two shoeboxes of flashcards going, but I did not have to look at them every day. It took me about fifteen minutes a day because I did the monthly and weekly ones at scheduled times. It was to bash it in.
By the time it gets to the monthly pile, it is very quick because it is in your heart more thoroughly. This is the type of concept.
James introduced me to a phone app called Remember Me, and it was great. There are a number of apps for Bible memorization. I do not get any money if you download this app. I am just trying to give you an example.
It uses the same concept as flashcards. It spreads review out after two days, four days, eight days, and keeps pushing it back if you get it right. I love that kind of concept because it develops long-term memory.
As you are memorizing, you are trying to hide it in your heart and remember it. It gives techniques such as hiding some words or speaking the verse to you so that you can hear it and speak it back.
You may write it down, but one thing that works for almost anybody is saying it out loud with your mouth multiple times. For me, about every time I say something five times, I have it memorized.
We are going to take Psalm 119:11. How many have that verse memorized? Awesome. Do not cheat, because now you have to memorize it in a new translation.
It starts like this:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.—Psalm 119:11
You have to do the “thees” and “thys” because we are doing Darby’s translation this time. This will be pretty hard because you are used to the NIV, NASB, ESV, or something. We will go through one section at a time.
“Thy Word.”
“Have I hid.”
“In my heart.”
“That I might not sin against Thee.”
Okay, how many already have it? Whatever. No, they probably really do. I believe them.
Let us say it again:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.
Now we have said it two times. We are going to try five times. The third time, we will do it all at once and you can read it.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.
Fourth time:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.
Whenever you repeat it, you have to think about where the reference is. I say it out loud to myself: “Psalm 119:11.”
Fifth time:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.
You guys. Now, where is it at? Cool. That took us like a minute. That was awesome. You memorized it, even in the old translation—the Darby translation.
Memorization does not have to take that long. If you repeat it out loud a few times, you have got it memorized. The problem is that when I ask you tomorrow, “What was that verse we memorized yesterday?” you may say something like, “Psalm 19:23,” and not remember.
But if you try again tomorrow—just try to remember—maybe you get a little bit wrong. As you try over and over, it gets developed and becomes long-term.
Getting it at first does not take that long. It may happen automatically in your morning manna. But developing it into long-term memory is something you maintain, whether you use flashcards or whatever works for you.
Another thing we can do in seeking the Lord is what we call Bible study. It is a real seeking. Bible study is not as devotional as your manna time. It is not as much like wasting time. It is definitely more gathering in the seeking.
One thing we do is called a book study, where you take a book of the Bible. Here is my little template that I use when I am studying a book of the Bible.
If I am studying a book of the Bible, such as Genesis, I am looking for stuff. I am trying to create a basic outline of the book and then a detailed outline. I have notes, notes by verse, and any other things I learn—such as key words, phrases, or verses I want to memorize.
You do not have to do this in a Word document. I mostly use OneNote now, or you might use paper. I used paper a lot in the past, and sometimes I still use it because it is convenient. I have paper, and I do not want to type it in, so I just put it in a filing system organized by books of the Bible.
I also have topics such as evangelism, basic lessons, speaking in tongues, chronology, or anything else. I keep the same kind of notebook online as well.
However you organize it, when you are studying a book of the Bible, you are reading it. You may read Genesis over and over again. The foundation of studying a book of the Bible is your outline.
What are you looking for in order to understand a book of the Bible? What is the burden behind this book? How did they express it? What is the outline?
After reading it about five times, you begin to see, “I think they are kind of talking about this.” You may create what I call a detailed outline: a point-by-point outline. You may not know how it all fits, but you put the points down.
Then you discover that five points match with each other and other points match together. You begin to find the outline of the book.
If you are studying a book of the Bible, I would recommend not using a commentary unless you are going to read the book multiple times—unless you are really studying and have read it ten or twenty times.
Then you can turn to commentaries. But there is something you can turn to earlier: Bible-overview books. If you have read a book over and over and are trying to study it but asking, “What is this book actually talking about? I mean, Haggai—I have no clue,” Bible-overview books can be helpful.
One is the God Has Spoken series by Stephen Kaung. He goes through it really simply, just to whet the appetite. As he does, he gives some general outlines for you to start with, and then you fill in the details.
Another book is The Unfolding Drama of Redemption by W. Graham Scroggie. It is awesome. If you read this book, it can create a nerd hunger for the Word of God because you say, “This is so cool. This matches with this, and it is amazing how all this works.”
This author has charts, outlines, neat things in the Word of God, and revelations of how this connects with that. It may be more helpful after you have read the Word multiple times and developed some outline of the book yourself.
Another overview is J. N. Darby’s Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. It is not as nerdy as the other one, but it is more flowy. As you read it, you get more of the heart behind what is going on in the book.
These things are helpful as you are seeking, but they are not the first thing you turn to. Do not study Genesis and then immediately turn to a commentary.
If you show up to a Bible study with a commentary but do not have your own comments, you are missing out on the fellowship. We are trying to hear the voice of the Lord. We are trying to meet the Lord.
Commentaries are for fellowship later on. Once you have something from your own study, fellowship with a commentary or with other believers about what you have been studying. But do not swallow everyone else’s thoughts on everything, or you may miss something the Lord wants to show you.
Another thing you might do is a word study. One of the things I have is a word study on Psalm 119. Remember the eight words I mentioned, such as commandments and precepts? I gathered material for those.
By “exact words,” I mean the original-language words. For example, the word law has a number connected with it, called a Strong’s number. I know this is elementary for a lot of people here, but I want to mention it in case anyone gets lost when they see these numbers.
Here is Strong’s Concordance. You have to be strong to carry it. His last name was Strong, I think—that is why they call it Strong’s. James Strong created a great concordance.
Before concordances existed, someone created Cruden’s Concordance. It is amazing; he apparently lost his mind while making it. Think about making a concordance before they existed. He found where all the words were in the King James Version and put them in order.
He found every occurrence of words such as “ape” or “peacock” and put all the references together. In the process, he actually lost his mind. This is how much people love God’s Word.
Thankfully, these guys have gone on before us, so we do not have to lose our minds. We can cheat and use their work.
Strong discovered that there is more than simply finding where something is found. Today we can use computers and phones. We can ask, “Where is peacock in the Bible?” and quickly find it. That is the same thing people used concordances for on a foundational level.
But if you want to do a word study, you have to go beyond that. Take the word love. In the New Testament, there are a few actual words for love. You cannot simply look up every occurrence of the English word love, because it may represent different original words.
A lot of us know words such as agape and phileo. Both may be translated “love.” But when you study, you want to find the Strong’s numbers.
Strong made a number for every actual original-language word. It might be Strong’s number 4562. That number stands for a real word, even though it might be translated four different ways in English.
When you do a word study, skip the English and go right to the Strong’s number. It takes forever in a physical concordance to piece this together, but it is much easier on a Bible-study website.
For example, on a site such as Blue Letter Bible, you can search by Strong’s number. You can gather every occurrence of the number associated with agape love. Then you have gathered the materials, and it is time to meditate.
Read through the passages and prayerfully consider, “What does love actually mean?” That is the process: seeking, gathering the materials, then meditating.
There are physical tools such as The Englishman’s Greek Concordance and its Hebrew counterpart. You do not need to know Greek or Hebrew. They organize references by Strong’s numbers.
If computers have cooties when you come to Bible study and you want to be away from the computer because it may distract you, it is not hopeless. You can use good old books like these.
If you use a computer, you can use expensive Bible software such as Logos—it is awesome, but it is a beast of materials—or free tools such as Olive Tree or e-Sword. These help you quickly gather materials by Strong’s number.
You can copy verses and paste them into your own format for your own study. But gathering materials does not mean you have really done anything. When I gathered materials for Psalm 119, it took me about thirty minutes to piece it all together in a really cool way.
Then comes reading the verses, contemplating, and meditating. With all Bible study, do not just gather. Half of it may be gathering facts, but then you must contemplate them. Read the verses over and over, discover differences in usage, and begin to outline what you find.
As you make these discoveries in meditation, you have been seeking and meditating. This answers to the desire of a heart after the Lord and after the Lord’s Word. It is in that meditation that you hear His voice.
A topical study is similar to a word study. A topical study takes a topic such as prayer. You cannot simply look up the word prayer, because every time people pray in Scripture, they do not necessarily use that word.
If you want to find every verse about prayer, you have to do a lot of seeking. You have to read through the whole Bible and gather material. You may find Hannah’s prayer, though she does not use the word prayer. You would never find it by merely searching prayer or supplication.
While you are reading through the Bible, gather material. Then you get all these verses on prayer, and you meditate. You discover things about prayer: “My prayers do not work if I am mean to my wife. If I do not forgive somebody, He will not forgive me.”
That becomes your meditation. That becomes the Lord speaking to you. It takes work. It takes time.
One of the other things you can do is what I call nerd studies. You might call it a fact study. It includes things such as chronology.
In the beginning of Genesis, you can discover things by charting the ages. If you are just reading and thinking, “He begot him at age 286, and then he lived 375 more years, and then he died,” you may just want to get through it.
But if you get a little nerdy, waste a little time seeking the Lord, put those things in a spreadsheet, and make a chart, you can discover cool things. You must meditate on your chart and look at it a little bit.
For example, if you go through the timeline from Adam to Noah, match the ages, and put them on a chart, you can see that when Methuselah dies—at 969 years, the oldest man who ever lived—it is the same year that the flood happens: 1656 after Adam.
These are cool things to memorize too. How long did Abraham live? Do you think it is a waste of time to put that on flashcards? It is totally cool to memorize this kind of thing.
One time I was sitting in a message, and somebody was talking about the flood. He said that at the flood, the Lord declared nobody would ever live more than 120 years. Have you heard this?
It says that man’s days shall be 120 years. But then I was thinking about ages I had memorized. Abraham lived 175 years. Moses was 120, so that matches. But Abraham was after the flood, and what about Shem, Arpachshad, Eber, and all those other men who lived more than 120 years after the flood?
So as I was contemplating, I totally lost the message. I thought, “It cannot mean people can only live 120 years.” It must have meant that they had 120 years before the flood happened.
There are discoveries in memorizing weird, random facts. You can also see who was alive when Noah was alive, who could have known Adam, and whether Enoch could have talked to Adam. You will not know unless you nerd it out and put it on paper.
The same applies to the sacrifices and the temple. You can look up a picture online, see the colors, and consider what they mean. You may wonder, “What does blue mean in Scripture?” Then you can do a word study on blue and find its uses.
Get interested in the nerdiness of the Word. You will discover that it is extremely cool. There is amazing stuff there.
Geography is another example. You need maps at the back of the Bible or an atlas of Bible times. When you see how long somebody had to walk and how many miles it was, you think differently about a passage.
The Scripture may simply say, “Then he went there and said hello,” but you realize it took two weeks before he said hello. It opens up discoveries as you get curious. It is a seeking thing.
Most of the time, you may seek and say, “Oh, that did not help any,” but it does help. It is edifying no matter what you do. Just having the Word in your heart is edifying.
The last holy habit of a heart seeking the Lord that I want to mention is reading the Bible. Not everyone has read through the Bible. Sometimes it is because we do not realize the value of it.
I was talking to somebody the other day who is very good at studying the Bible and knows a lot of the Word, but he has never finished reading the Bible, though he has been a Christian for many years.
I think sometimes this is because we do not understand the value of reading all the way through the Bible. I would recommend doing it however often you can.
Sometimes, if you are hungry, you can read through the Bible really quickly—in a month. You can create your own plans, or you can use one of the many plans already available. What matters is that you read through the Word of God.
I made spreadsheets and calculators to work out, “If I want to read ten chapters a day, how fast can I read through the Bible?” Or, “If I want to memorize ten verses a day, how fast can I memorize Philippians?” That is my nerdy way of creating Bible-study plans.
But there are tons of plans out there. You do not have to waste time making them. Just grab one. What matters is that you read through the Word of God.
I asked Stephen Kaung—he is one hundred years old now, almost 101—because he daily reads the Bible, about four chapters a day. He does it every day unless he is really sick, and he almost never misses it.
Four chapters allows you to miss a day here and there and still read through the Bible in a year. I asked him, “Why do you still read through the Bible?” He said, “Because I do not remember everything.”
He is always discovering more things, and it is always warming his heart. Even though you are not memorizing a verse, reading gives you a panoramic, overviewish feeling of what is in that book.
As you are doing it, you are seeking and meditating on the Word. Sometimes you are open to the Lord, and your heart is fully open to His Word. You pray, not in a formal way, but simply, “Lord, speak to me.”
Then you are reading Genesis and get to the story of Joseph. How many have cried when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers? He says, “I am your brother.” I think I have cried about ten times reading that.
You catch the heart behind it and think, “Oh, this is awesome.” Or you read the Lord’s prophecy against Edom, and His emotions become real to you. Your emotions can match the Lord’s emotions as you are reading the Word of God.
Either way, read through the Word of God. If you know generally what is in Romans, even without having memorized verses, you can meditate on it. If you remember the stories in Exodus, you can meditate on them. Some light may come to you while you are in the shower or at some other time.
The last thing we want to do really quickly is read Psalm 119. I want to share this encouragement: we can encourage one another with this heart, and we can actually catch it from each other.
I have some people who will come up and read. This psalm is according to the Hebrew alphabet, and they each have one or two letters that they are going to read.
As we read, we want to listen prayerfully. It is not going to be on the screen. We are just going to listen and let the Word of the Lord wash our hearts.
The Bible mentions having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and it also mentions being washed. That washing may be baptism, but there is also “the washing of water by the word.” There is a washing of the feet that happens with the Word of God.
Whether you are studying, reading, memorizing, or you just have a manna verse, share it with each other. Do these things together. If you study together, that is one way. If you follow a Bible-reading plan with others, it can encourage you to finish each day. If you memorize verses together, it can really help.
I had friends who used to memorize verses with me. There were three guys, and we would stand around in a circle and shout verses at each other. We thought it was so cool. I was in college; I was a little silly.
But we would do these things, and it was like a big fight. We were fighting the verses back and forth. When you do these things together, there is encouragement because the heart is caught. It is deep down and discovered, but it is also caught from each other.
The other day, Catherine and I were on a car trip. We had run out of things to fellowship about for a moment, and I asked her to read Psalm 119 to me. It was late at night, and I needed to stay awake while we were traveling.
She read Psalm 119, and both of us finished the psalm full of tears. Both of us felt, “Oh, how we love the Lord’s Word.” It washed our hearts clean. It made everything right. It expressed what was deep down in our hearts.
Maybe we had neglected spending enough time in the Word of God. Maybe we did not have enough material to fellowship about for eight hours and had run out. But when we did that, it was real fellowship, even though we were just reading the Word together.
If you have nothing to say and you are with somebody, you can even read the Word together. I want us to have that experience together.
Lord, as we read through Your Word right now, we pray for that blessing of real fellowship. May the light be with us, and especially may we catch this heart: “Oh, how I love Your Word.”
Lord, we know it is deep within. It is in this new heart, and the Holy Spirit longs deep within after the Word of God and after the face of Christ. We commit this to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Blessed are the perfect in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they that observe His testimonies,
That seek Him with the whole heart;
Who also do no unrighteousness:
They walk in His ways.
Thou hast enjoined Thy precepts
To be kept diligently.
Oh that my ways were directed
To keep Thy statutes!
Then shall I not be ashamed,
When I have respect unto all Thy commandments.
I will give Thee thanks with uprightness of heart,
When I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments.
I will keep Thy statutes:
Forsake me not utterly.—Psalm 119:1-8
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his path?
By taking heed according to Thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought Thee:
O let me not wander from Thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
That I might not sin against Thee.
Blessed art Thou, O Lord:
Teach me Thy statutes.
With my lips have I declared
All the judgments of Thy mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies,
As much as in all wealth.
I will meditate upon Thy precepts,
And have respect unto Thy paths.
I delight myself in Thy statutes:
I will not forget Thy word.—Psalm 119:9-16
Deal bountifully with Thy servant, and I shall live;
And I will keep Thy word.
Open mine eyes, and I shall behold
Wondrous things out of Thy law.
I am a stranger in the land:
Hide not Thy commandments from me.
My soul breaketh for longing
After Thy judgments at all times.
Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed,
Who wander from Thy commandments.
Roll off from me reproach and contempt;
For I observe Thy testimonies.
Princes also did sit and talk together against me:
Thy servant doth meditate in Thy statutes.
Thy testimonies also are my delight
And my counsellors.My soul cleaveth unto the dust:
Quicken me according to Thy word.
I have declared my ways, and Thou hast answered me:
Teach me Thy statutes.
Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts;
And I will meditate upon Thy wondrous works.
My soul melteth for sadness:
Strengthen me according to Thy word.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
And graciously grant me Thy law.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness:
Thy judgments have I set before me.
I cleave unto Thy testimonies:
O Lord, let me not be ashamed.
I will run the way of Thy commandments,
When Thou shalt enlarge my heart.—Psalm 119:17-32
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes;
And I will observe it unto the end.
Give me understanding, and I will observe Thy law;
And I will keep it with my whole heart.
Make me to walk in the path of Thy commandments;
For therein do I delight.
Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies,
And not to gain.
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity;
Quicken me in Thy way.
Establish Thy word unto Thy servant,
Who is devoted to Thy fear.
Turn away my reproach which I fear;
For Thy judgments are good.
Behold, I have longed after Thy precepts:
Quicken me in Thy righteousness.And let Thy lovingkindness come unto me, O Lord,
Thy salvation according to Thy word;
So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me,
For I confide in Thy word.
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
Because I have hoped in Thy judgments.
Then I will keep Thy law continually,
For ever and ever;
And I will walk at liberty,
For I have sought Thy precepts.
And I will speak of Thy testimonies before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
And I will delight myself in Thy commandments,
Which I have loved.
And I will lift my hands unto Thy commandments,
Which I have loved;
And I will meditate in Thy statutes.—Psalm 119:33-48
Remember the word unto Thy servant,
Upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in mine affliction;
For Thy word hath quickened me.
The proud have derided me beyond measure:
I have not declined from Thy law.
I remembered Thy judgments of old, O Lord,
And have comforted myself.
Burning indignation hath taken hold upon me,
Because of the wicked who forsake Thy law.
Thy statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.
I have remembered Thy name, O Lord, in the night,
And have kept Thy law.
This I have had,
Because I have observed Thy precepts.My portion, O Lord, I have said,
Is to keep Thy words.
I have sought Thy favor with my whole heart:
Be gracious unto me according to Thy word.
I have thought on my ways,
And turned my feet unto Thy testimonies.
I have made haste, and not delayed,
To keep Thy commandments.
The bands of the wicked have wrapped me round:
I have not forgotten Thy law.
At midnight I rise up to give thanks unto Thee
Because of Thy righteous judgments.
I am the companion of all that fear Thee,
And of them that keep Thy precepts.
The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy lovingkindness:
Teach me Thy statutes.—Psalm 119:49-64
Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord,
According to Thy word.
Teach me good discernment and knowledge;
For I have believed in Thy commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray;
But now I keep Thy word.
Thou art good, and doest good:
Teach me Thy statutes.
The proud have forged falsehood against me:
I will observe Thy precepts with my whole heart.
Their heart is as fat as grease:
As for me, I delight in Thy law.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I might learn Thy statutes.
The law of Thy mouth is better unto me
Than thousands of gold and silver.Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:
Give me understanding, and I will learn Thy commandments.
They that fear Thee will see me and rejoice,
Because I have hoped in Thy word.
I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are righteousness,
And that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me.
Oh let Thy lovingkindness be for my comfort,
According to Thy word unto Thy servant.
Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live;
For Thy law is my delight.
Let the proud be ashamed, for they have acted perversely
Towards me with falsehood:
As for me, I meditate in Thy precepts.
Let those that fear Thee turn unto me,
And those that know Thy testimonies.
Let my heart be perfect in Thy statutes,
That I may not be ashamed.—Psalm 119:65-80
My soul fainteth for Thy salvation:
I hope in Thy word.
Mine eyes fail for Thy word,
Saying, When wilt Thou comfort me?
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke;
I do not forget Thy statutes.
How many shall be the days of Thy servant?
When wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
The proud have digged pits for me,
Which is not according to Thy law.
All Thy commandments are faithfulness:
They persecute me wrongfully; help Thou me.
They had almost consumed me upon earth;
But as for me, I forsook not Thy precepts.
Quicken me according to Thy lovingkindness;
And I will keep the testimony of Thy mouth.For ever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in the heavens.
Thy faithfulness is from generation to generation:
Thou hast established the earth, and it standeth.
By Thine ordinances they stand this day;
For all things are Thy servants.
Unless Thy law had been my delight,
I should then have perished in mine affliction.
I will never forget Thy precepts;
For by them Thou hast quickened me.
I am Thine, save me;
For I have sought Thy precepts.
The wicked have awaited me to destroy me;
But I attend unto Thy testimonies.
I have seen an end of all perfection:
Thy commandment is exceeding broad.—Psalm 119:81-96
Oh how I love Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies,
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil path,
That I might keep Thy word.
I have not departed from Thy judgments;
For it is Thou that hast taught me.
How sweet are Thy words unto my taste!
More than honey to my mouth!
From Thy precepts I get understanding:
Therefore I hate every false path.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path.
I have sworn, and I will perform it,
That I will keep Thy righteous judgments.
I am afflicted very much:
O Lord, quicken me according to Thy word.
Accept, I beseech Thee, O Lord,
The voluntary offerings of my mouth,
And teach me Thy judgments.
My life is continually in my hand;
Yet I do not forget Thy law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me;
Yet I have not wandered from Thy precepts.
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever;
For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes
For ever, unto the end.—Psalm 119:97-112
The double-minded have I hated,
But Thy law do I love.
Thou art my hiding place and my shield:
I hope in Thy word.
Depart from me, ye evildoers;
And I will observe the commandments of my God.
Uphold me according to Thy word, that I may live;
And let me not be ashamed of my hope.
Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,
And I will have respect unto Thy statutes continually.
Thou hast set at naught all them that wander from Thy statutes;
For their deceit is falsehood.
Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross:
Therefore I love Thy testimonies.
My flesh shuddereth for fear of Thee;
And I am afraid of Thy judgments.I have done judgment and justice:
Leave me not to mine oppressors.
Be surety for Thy servant for good:
Let not the proud oppress me.
Mine eyes fail for Thy salvation,
And for the word of Thy righteousness.
Deal with Thy servant according to Thy lovingkindness,
And teach me Thy statutes.
I am Thy servant; give me understanding,
That I may know Thy testimonies.
It is time for the Lord to work;
For they have made void Thy law.
Therefore I love Thy commandments
Above gold, yea, above fine gold.
Therefore I regard all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right;
I hate every false path.—Psalm 119:113-128
Thy testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore doth my soul observe them.
The entrance of Thy words giveth light,
Giving understanding unto the simple.
I open my mouth wide and pant;
For I long for Thy commandments.
Turn unto me, and be gracious unto me,
As Thou art wont to do unto those that love Thy name.
Establish my steps in Thy word,
And let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Deliver me from the oppression of man;
And I will keep Thy precepts.
Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant,
And teach me Thy statutes.
Mine eyes run down with streams of water,
Because they keep not Thy law.Righteous art Thou, O Lord,
And upright are Thy judgments.
Thou hast commanded Thy testimonies in righteousness
And exceeding faithfulness.
My zeal destroyeth me,
Because mine oppressors have forgotten Thy words.
Thy word is exceeding pure,
And Thy servant loveth it.
I am little and despised:
Thy precepts have I not forgotten.
Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Thy law is truth.
Trouble and anguish have taken hold upon me:
Thy commandments are my delights.
The righteousness of Thy testimonies is for ever:
Give me understanding, and I shall live.—Psalm 119:129-144
I have called with my whole heart; answer me, O Lord:
I will observe Thy statutes.
I call upon Thee; save me,
And I will keep Thy testimonies.
I anticipate the morning dawn, and cry:
I hope in Thy word.
Mine eyes anticipate the night watches,
That I may meditate in Thy word.
Hear my voice according to Thy lovingkindness:
O Lord, quicken me according to Thy judgment.
They have drawn nigh that follow after mischief:
They are far from Thy law.
Thou, O Lord, art near;
And all Thy commandments are truth.
From Thy testimonies I have known of old
That Thou hast founded them for ever.See mine affliction, and deliver me;
For I have not forgotten Thy law.
Plead my cause, and redeem me:
Quicken me according to Thy word.
Salvation is far from the wicked;
For they seek not Thy statutes.
Many are Thy tender mercies, O Lord:
Quicken me according to Thy judgments.
Many are my persecutors and mine oppressors;
I have not declined from Thy testimonies.
I beheld them that deal treacherously, and was grieved,
Because they kept not Thy word.
See how I have loved Thy precepts:
Quicken me, O Lord, according to Thy lovingkindness.
The sum of Thy word is truth;
And every righteous judgment of Thine is for ever.—Psalm 119:145-160
Princes have persecuted me without a cause,
But my heart standeth in awe of Thy word.
I rejoice at Thy word,
As one that findeth great spoil.
I hate and abhor falsehood:
Thy law do I love.
Seven times a day do I praise Thee
Because of Thy righteous judgments.
Great peace have they that love Thy law;
And nothing doth stumble them.
I have hoped for Thy salvation, O Lord,
And have done Thy commandments.
My soul hath kept Thy testimonies;
And I love them exceedingly.
I have kept Thy precepts and Thy testimonies;
For all my ways are before Thee.Let my cry come near before Thee, O Lord:
Give me understanding according to Thy word.
Let my supplication come before Thee:
Deliver me according to Thy word.
My lips shall pour forth praise,
When Thou hast taught me Thy statutes.
My tongue shall speak aloud of Thy word;
For all Thy commandments are righteousness.
Let Thy hand be for my help;
For I have chosen Thy precepts.
I have longed for Thy salvation, O Lord;
And Thy law is my delight.
Let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee;
And let Thy judgments help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant;
For I have not forgotten Thy commandments.—Psalm 119:161-176
Amen.