Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. Joshua 1:8

After 70 years of studying, preaching, and teaching the Word of God, my grandfather Duffield was in the hospital, nearing death.  When He asked me to read from his Bible at his side, I thought, “Grandpa, you could recite that passage word for word!”  He wanted to hear the Word He had loved and mastered.  Now, his peaceful, sweet spirit showed that God’s Word had mastered him.

Today, most are far away from anything that could be called “Bible Mastery.” Followers of Jesus are often more likely to interact lightly with the Bible on a screen, maybe using a Bible reading plan, videos…or listening to a devotional.   How many of us set out to make study of God’s Word a life goal?

“We talk about the Bible mastering us,” says Dr. Marv Wilson, “but we have to master it before those words can begin to master us.” “How do we do that?  Dr. Wilson gives practical advice: “A good first step is to know where things are found [in the Bible] …you have a lifetime to work on the interpretation of the Bible, but the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible.” [1]

I now realize that all the people of faith I look up to, are or were, people of the Book.  They purposefully set out to master Scripture, taking it in day by day, and they were powerfully changed by it.

 

Resource reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

[1] YouTube. (2018). Prophets, Session 7, Interpreting the Prophets Part 3, Intro Jonah. YouTube. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oka3liWq7bI.