Before we actually begin to look at the Proverbs to glean the wisdom of God, we first need to remind ourselves what Bible study entails and how to mine the depths of God's Word for the treasure often buried just below the surface. Note, we are committing ourselves to Bible study to experience God and His wisdom. Not Bible skimming or even Bible reading. Those may have their place in our spiritual lives, but not if we strive to have a deeper intimacy with the Lord and experience the Higher Christian Life.
Bible study is not a sprint. We don't begin with the goal of trying to get as much done in the least amount of time so we can cross this item off our to-do list and move on to something more important. That is a recipe for failure, frustration, and a stagnant Christian life. And it is a great slight to God's inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16).
No, Bible study is a marathon. It is a life-long endeavor that produces a mature believer "thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:17). And it takes time, as all things of value do. Proper Bible study is like the difference between dining on a fine meal in an upscale restaurant with close friends or whoofing down a Happy Meal in the front seat of your car alone. Both meet your hunger needs. But only one is a deeply satisfying, pleasurable experience.
There are just a few things we must know about any passage of Scripture we will study, especially if our goal is to have the Lord speak to us about something in our lives through His Word. First, we need to know exactly what it says, what each word means. Not just in our language today, but what it meant to those to whom it was written so many millennia ago. After all, language changes. And what something meant in English 75 years ago may not mean the same thing today.
For example, before the '60s, when someone said, "Cool, man," it was always about temperature. But that all changed over time. So that now, when we hear that statement, we never think it has something to do with how cold it is outside. Or, in the time before World War II, the phrase "gay" had nothing to do with sexual orientation. Instead, it referred to an attitude of cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement. In 1934, Fred Astair and Ginger Roger starred in the movie, The Gay Divorcee. This musical had nothing to do with the sexual orientation of either party. But if that movie was released today, we would probably assume we knew the reason behind their divorce. Ah, one of them was gay. And this is how words can mean something different over time.
Understanding this, we need to know what a passage said when it was written, the culture in which it was written, and the people for whom it was written. That is why a Greek and Hebrew Word Study Dictionary is so important. But we'll speak on that in a moment.
Then, after we determine what a passage says, we have to determine what it means. And this is where the marathon part of Bible study comes in. The rule is simply this; we do not move to another passage until we fully understand what our current passage means. There is no skipping over it or "I'll get back around to that later." Our task is to stop, prayerfully meditate on the passage, use whatever resources we have available to help us in our understanding (see below), ask the Lord to reveal His meaning to us, and wait until we discover His hidden treasure of truth, before moving on. No matter how long it takes.
After all, if we spend an hour in His Word reading three chapters but get nothing out of it, we have wasted our time. But if we spent the same amount of time on one verse and God reveals...
