David's Study Tips

   At times I have imagined being a fly on the wall in Dr. Tozer's study. Watching him get up from the tear-stained rug. The one he would lie on facedown for hours to worship. Watching him walk with purpose to his desk, surrounded with books by giants of the past, like the Hebrew writer surrounded by the very cloud of witnesses themselves. To watch him apply his exegesis to the sacred Scriptures, tender, careful, and eager.
   I have wondered how Spurgeon mined his text, how Ravenhill dug for his treasures. There are many wonderful and beneficial methods and principles in studying Scripture. We must always study the context. We must, when we come across some dark and obscure passage, remember to interpret scripture by scripture. Isolating a text leads to confusion and eventually to heresy. We must study exegetically, as free from bias and prejudices as possible. These are all important. But there are a couple tips from David the Psalmist that might be more important than any others. They are not as practical as they are spiritual. But we would do well to remember them:
   Study Tip #1:  We must hunger for His Word. Jesus said "Blessed are those that hunger..." and surely that applies as well to our daily bread from the mouth of God. Have you ever seen a dog extremely hungry? Panting hard? This verse stalled me yesterday: "I opened my mouth and panted, For I longed for Your commandments." Is that our posture? In a world filled with information but perishing for lack of true knowledge and spiritual voice, are we looking to God with open hands and open mouths for our portion? Longing for just one Word from the other side? One piercing insight for our soul? One morsel from His Presence? To the casual peruser of pages He has not much to say. But to the hungry and panting, He has volumes of revelation to unfold. Let us cry out anew for a fresh hunger for the Eternal Word.
   Study Tip #2: We must approach His Word with humility. David said that "He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way." There have been seminary graduates with more degrees than a thermometer confounded by simple men and women with genuine faith who had unique understanding of the text. "For He has chosen the foolish to confound the wise..." Higher learning is a noble calling and there is nothing wrong with seminary, but the danger exists in the truth of Paul's warning that "knowledge puffs up..." It's impossible to receive fullness of His Word in our hearts with full heads. God is repulsed by it. James plainly states that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." If we want the grace of the Spirit to reveal God's Word  to our hearts, we need to remember our need of His Spirit and our dependence on His grace to understand. We should approach His Word with humility, remembering that "This is the one on whom I look; the one who trembles at My Word." If we come to the Bible to re-affirm our own position, feed our ego, win an argument, justify a lifestyle choice, or stuff our intellect, we will leave with facts and shells, but no meat. No spiritual food. No enlightenment. May we approach on our knees, saying like Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening."
   Obviously there are many things that go into careful study, but let us not complicate things. First and foremost, let our lives and our approach to Scripture be characterized by hunger and humility. Lord, open our eyes to see treasure. After all, as the disciples said, "Where else, Lord, can we turn? Who else holds the words of life?"