In all these years I’ve never written a Lesson like this, not anywhere near. A Study of a Verse of Scripture, maybe more than one, and a prayer request to follow.
I trust someone will respond to the idea. It did not actually originate with me, but with a Pastor for whom I preach Revival Meetings, his people anyway.
I suspect we do not really know how highly God expects us to esteem His Word. Psalm 138:2 surprisingly says to the Lord: “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” And “magnified” (“gadal” in Hebrew) means “to make great, to make important, to grow!” And the noun “word” means “sayings,” God’s very “Speech,” the things that have “flowed” from His Mouth! Including all of Sacred Scripture, His Commandments and His Promises specifically included.
God takes His “Word” seriously.
Listen to the Psalmist share his attitude toward the Bible: “O how LOVE I thy law (Thy Word)! It is my meditation (the thing about which I “talk”) all the day.” Psalm 119:97, but repeated in Psalm 119:113, 163 and 165.
And 2nd Timothy 2:15 agrees with the foregoing verses. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Looks here like one way to please God (to be “approved” in His Eyes) is to learn to “rightly divide the Word of Truth,” the Scriptures. “Approved” is “dokimos,” as in “taking a test … and passing!”
But what is it to “rightly divide” the Bible?
“Orthotomeo” is the verb, a blend of two little Greek words. “Ortho” means “straight.” (An orthopedic doctor wants you to have straight, unbroken bones, for example.) And “tomeo” is the word “to cut.”
Cutting straight the Word of God!
Not “hacking” it into ugly pieces.
Pretty, even (not some get more than others), appealing slices, presentations of the Bible!
The most lovely picture of the verb I’ve ever read is that of a father … standing at the head of his dining room table, slicing the bread or turkey or whatever food … so that each family member gets some … a properly nourishing portion in fact!
And learning how to so teach and serve the Bible is a life-long endeavor, I might add. I’m tying to lead to my prayer request.
Then this quick verse. “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word.” Isaiah 66:5, where it is implied that we will “hear” the Word better, if we “reverence” it more! The verb “tremble” is “chared,” literally “to quake, to shake,” at times to “be discomfited” (uncomfortable)!
Wow!
Prayer request … a Pastor within an hour of our home (driving distance) asked me to consider coming to his Church and TEACHING one Saturday (about 4 hours or so) some part of God’s Word!
As Debbie was driving yesterday afternoon (bringing us to North Carolina to be in Revival) I finalized the plans for that Class. (One of others to follow at different Churches? Only the Lord knows.) Pray for wisdom in this noble endeavor, please.
So … Saturday, August 20, at 10:00 in the morning … this Class will start. I do not yet know the “Text.” Praying about that now. At Sunnyside Baptist Church in the city of Lafayette, Georgia. Probably an hour or less south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Again I ask you, and some of you will, to put this venture on your “Prayer List” please.
Thank you.
And YES, anyone can come.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
If you have any questions, you may text me at 770-844-7627. Or email us at mikeanddebbiebagwell@yahoo.com. I honestly feel like praying Psalm 119:18 … “Open thou mine eyes (Lord), that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law (Thy Word).” Amen.