Studying God's Word

by Marsha Mundy
(Bethel, Ohio)

Studying God's Word

It's all about relationship

When you meet a person that you think you might like to get to know better, what do you do? You spend time with them. You share past experiences and plans for the future. As your relationship develops, you discover the things that make them laugh or cry. You find out about their hobbies, their fears, their likes and dislikes. It's no different with God.

When I was "born again" I had a desire to know more about God. The first thing I did was open my Bible to the concordance and begin reading every scripture reference to God. I wanted to know His character traits, I wanted to know what His thoughts were, I wanted to have a deeper relationship with Him.

The Bible teaches us that God is the creator, He is the mastermind behind the universe and everything in it. From the beginning, God has been seeking righteous people to communicate with Him and share in all His glory.

Believing in God

God told Moses that his name is "I Am." He was before anything else, he was the one who created all things, he sustains all things, he is eternal and ageless. That is a difficult concept for us to wrap our brains around but in order to understand God better, we have to first believe that he is who he says he is.

Believing that he is the one true God and having a holy fear of his power and might are keys to understanding his other character traits. As a holy God, his ways are so far above our ways that we just have to trust in his wisdom as the sovereign ruler of the universe.

He has shown us, through scripture, a glimpse of who he is and what he expects from us as the one who gives us life. If you really want to know about God and his plans for your life, read the entire Bible and ask God's Holy Spirit to direct your time spent in God's word.

Character traits of God

• God is a covenant maker who wants a relationship with the people he created
• He is the one who provides for all our needs according to his riches and glory
• God hears prayers and answers them
• He inhabits the praises of his people
• He is a jealous God, wanting us to have no other god's before him
• He is compassionate and gracious
• He is merciful
• He is faithful
• He will discipline those he loves
• He longs to bless those who love him
• God is the one who strengthens us and we can depend on him
• He touches our hearts
• He longs to dwell with men
• He is forgiving
• He is righteous and holy
• He is mysterious
• God is majestic
• He is trustworthy
• He is able to save us
• With God all things are possible
• God is good
• He is a spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth
• He does not show favoritism
• He is a God of order
• He is powerful and mighty
• His word is alive
• He is just
• He is light, there is no darkness in him
• He is a God of love

David's prayer

As the King of Israel, David praised the Lord in the presence of his people with this prayer from 1 Chronicles 29: 10-13 (New International Version).

"Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name."

David was also a Psalm writer who put his experiences with God into words which touch our hearts even today.

Psalm 53 (New International Version) reveals our helplessness and hopelessness when we do not see our need for God.

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Will the evildoers never learn - those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God? There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!"

Digging into God's Word

Do you desire a closer walk with Almighty God? Have you earnestly looked into his word? If you are at this point in your relationship or if you are just curious about God, then I urge you to read the Bible. As you open your Bible, ask God's holy Spirit to instruct you.

As Jesus was sharing the parable of the lost sheep he told his disciples, "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." Matthew 18:12-14 (New International Version).

Some questions to ponder:
How much time do you spend each day digging into God's word?
Can you set aside 10 or 15 minutes to read a chapter in the Old and New Testaments each day?
Your relationship with the Lord will grow as you read and study God's word.