Hunting for the Hidden Treasures

With Easter approaching, I am reminded of our Biblical Exegesis class last semester.  Denny Petrillo gave an analogy in which he compared an egg hunt to reading the Word of God. Ladies, if you’re anything like me, there have been times when you simply are not motivated to search God’s Word every day, or even every week, because so much of it seems to have nothing to do with you. Is the Word of God simply a collection of “stories,” a good book with some interesting tidbits squished between irrelevant histories from two or three millennia ago? Or is there more? Like Indiana Jones, sometimes we have to be prepared to immerse ourselves in the hunt to find the real treasures hiding in the catacombs.

It’s important to know, first, that not a single account in Scripture is “not in there just for you.” As our Exegesis instructor showed us so vividly last semester, every passage, every portion is recorded because God had something specific to communicate to the original readers, and something equally specific to communicate to you and me centuries later. All we have to do is figure out what He was telling the original readers (Who was the book written to? When, and why? Consider the entire book in its purpose), how He told them (Is it in the form of poetry, history, law, prophecy or gospel?), then look for the principles that apply to us today. Even the most seemingly insignificant things can suddenly become of vital importance. What phrases pop up over and over (and over) throughout the book you are reading? Is God making a specific point by reiterating a phrase or keyword? Try to figure out what is different between you and the people who first received this inspired message. Consider things like which covenant they were under, when they lived and received the message, and what was going on at the time historically. What are some differences in regard to their culture when compared with ours? Discerning these differences will help you to discover both the message that God gave to them directly and the specific principles that apply to us today.

I know we are not preachers in a pulpit. That’s not the role God gave us as women. But preachers are instructed to use these kinds of methods when they study, because otherwise they run the risk of reading their own interpretations into the text instead of getting applications out of it. We need to learn to do the same thing. These are just a few ways that we can start getting more “out of it” when we study God’s Word. I promise that with practice things will begin leaping off the page. Happy hunting!