In January, my Bible study group began reading the book of Joshua. We finished this week. That’s nearly five full months in one book of the Bible. Week after week, we read a portion of the text and answered the same questions about each passage. We discussed faithfulness, obedience, idolatry, worship, war, apostasy, promises, covenants, and the gospel. We trudged through land allotments and tribal inheritances, and we remembered over and over again that God is a faithful promise-keeper. For these five months, we have labored to understand, have come with our questions and our struggles, and have been encouraged by the hours of study each person brings to the table. And I’m talking about a literal table, because on Tuesdays at noon, you’ll find a group of women gathered around my dining room table with coffee and snacks and open Bibles and notebooks. Little kids play in the background, littering the floors with all the toys my kids have outgrown. It is one of my favorite hours of the week.
Though we will always be learning and growing, we closed the book of Joshua with a stronger appreciation for the story of Scripture and a deeper love for the God who always keeps His word. Before we move on to our next book, I want to marinate in what I have learned from Joshua. We don’t often linger in what we’re learning, you know? We skim over passages, gloss over details, and flip pages quickly because familiarity has bred impatience in our lives. I’m often tempted to blitz through my Bible reading so I can move to the next thing. But with the help of both the Holy Spirit and my study group, I slowed down in Joshua.
I didn’t expect a book about land and conquest to work so deeply on the area of obedience in my life. But it did. At times, I felt like I was one of the Israelites, standing at the edge of the Jordan River, wondering how the Promised Land would ever belong to us. I wanted to hide my idols in my tent while proclaiming allegiance to Yahweh. I know what it’s like to want to publicly worship God while holding on to little personal allegiances in private. I could feel my sandaled feet marching around a walled-up Jericho, thinking perhaps we were a little crazy to be doing this. I cheered when the prostitute and her family were folded into the people of God. I trembled when Achan confessed his disobedience, and I rejoiced when the people found rest in their inheritance. But mostly, I marveled that the Creator of the universe stooped low to make a covenant with a seemingly insignificant people group through whom He extended His promises to all who believe in Christ for the atonement of sin. Nothing that God promised fell through. He kept every word—is keeping every word. The book of Joshua is a major chapter in the big story of redemption. The promises, the land, the call to faithfulness—it all points to man’s desperate need for a sinless Savior who would live perfectly and die sacrificially so that we could know the Creator who keeps every word.
Deep study of Scripture can feel daunting because sometimes it is daunting. There’s nothing like flipping open to your assigned reading for the week and discovering that you’ll be combing through land surveys and measurements. What is there to be gleaned from geographical boundaries and long lists of names and allotments? Because we often approach our Bibles with a “what’s in it for me?” mentality, we might feel a bit short-changed when the week’s reading isn’t about us at all but rather about the inheritances of people who have been dead for centuries. But here is where deep, slow study moves us away from the immediate, self-gratification approach to Bible-reading and helps us to consider the greater context, the bigger story, the fulfillments of promises long made and still kept. Chewing on a chapter for a week or more gives us time to consider it from multiple angles. We can zoom in with great detail and step out with telescopic perspective, seeing the importance of obedience and faithfulness in every big and small chapter of the story. We can be sure that God was the same faithful covenant-keeper at the Jordan River that He is today. We can learn from Israelites that idolatry will always lead to destruction, and that there is no room for split allegiances in the kingdom of God. Neither is there any merit in a divided heart. Only the steadfast love of God will do for us; it is folly to chase after anything else. We’ll always hunger until we feast at His table. He alone satisfies our hearts as with the richest of foods, and He won’t share His glory with another.
There is much gold to be mined in all the digging we do in deep, slow study. And really, it’s the process of digging that grows us. When we return to the text, asking questions and taking notes, meditating on the words of the Lord, hiding them in our hearts, discussing them with others—well, it changes us. The Lord uses His Word to mold our hearts, to reset our thinking, to question our allegiances and devotions, to expand our small-minded views of His character. Making a study of God means making a study of God’s Word. It takes a lot of slow, daily work, but our endeavors are never fruitless if we’re opening our Bibles to know and love the Lord more.
Tomorrow I’ll open my Bible to 1 Corinthians. Pen in hand, I’ll start scribbling and jotting down notes and questions. Next week I’ll make the coffee and the cookies and open my front door to a group of women who will gather around my table for the next several months as we begin digging into what God has called “no empty word but our very life” (Deut. 32:47). Nothing has shaped my theology, my hope, my love, my devotion, or my worship like the Word of God.
I can’t wait.
Making a study of God means making a study of God's Word. It takes a lot of slow, daily work, but our endeavors are never fruitless if we're opening our Bibles to know and love the Lord more. Share on X
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness (Crossway), and Memorizing Scripture (Moody). Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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