Study the Bible By Asking Yourself Questions

One of my favorite methods of Bible study is to ask myself the W questions - Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.  I've started using this method with every lesson that I prepare. 

The idea is to create questions out of the portion of Scripture that you're studying using the W words.  Sometimes you'll be able to answer yourself right away, and other times these questions will clue you in to something that you have to study more in-depth.

For example - I'm currently working on the next lesson in the Psalm 23 study I'm writing for this blog.  The focus for the next lesson is the first part of verse 3 - "He restores my soul."  Only four words.  How much could this question method actually help?  The following are some questions and answers in my notes:

• Who restores my soul?    My Shepherd (Jesus) restores my soul.  No one else is capable of the type of restoration that I need.  And I can't do it myself.  He is the only one that knows how to restore me or that has the power to do it.  Trying to get other people to restore me will only wear them out and lead to an even greater need for restoration.
• Who needs restoration?  I need restoration.  I'm not the only person in the world that doesn't need restoration.  There's no shame in needing Jesus to restore me.  It's part of the human condition.
• What needs to be restored?  My soul needs restoration.  Is this talking about my soul as separate from my spirit and body? If so, my soul is made up of my mind, will, and emotions.  So each of these aspects could need restoration.
• What is it to be restored?  Need to look for other places in Scripture that talk about soul restoration.  Also need to do a word study of the original Hebrew word.
• Why do people fight restoration? Could be that they don't trust Jesus with everything.  Maybe they've been disappointed in the past and are scared of being disappointed again.  Or maybe they just don't understand Jesus' true character, His kindness.

As you can see, this is a bit like having a little discussion group with me, myself, I, and the Holy Spirit.  Asking myself one question leads to surprising thoughts and other questions.  Call me a nerd (wouldn't be the first time), but it's downright fun. 

Notice that this step in the lesson preparation process happens before looking at commentaries, Bible dictionaries, or any other type of reference material. As a matter of fact, asking myself these questions pointed out to me some reference materials I need to better understand the topic.  Now I can look at those reference materials with focus.

Another benefit of asking myself questions is that I'm giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to teach me and guide me to a focus for the particular lesson.  After asking myself a number of questions for this Psalm 23 verse, I started to focus on soul injuries.  It may be the focus on the lesson, but we'll see what happens as I continue to study.

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Comments

[Amy @ MomsToolBox]

What a wonderful reminder and fantastic conversation starter with the Lord. Using these simple questions will certainly help me to gain my focus during study times. Thank you!