Write Bible
It all started in September 2016, when I shared an article on Facebook about beautiful examples of penmanship! My friend Stephanie commented on the post that she writes down the Bible. What a great idea, I thought! Aiming for at least one chapter a day, I began writing down the Bible in my own handwriting.
I had just received a new Bible. Armed with that, another study Bible, a dictionary, Warren Wiersbe’s chapter-by-chapter commentary of the Bible called With the Word, Google, and my colorful Ink Joy pens, I set out to study the Bible. I had been a born-again Christian for 28 years, but I was in a hard place. I had so many questions for God, mostly WHY? I also realized that I knew a lot about the Bible, but lacked the ability to share the Scriptures with others in a practical, helpful way.
Writing down the Bible really helps if you, like me, have a hard time sitting still, focusing, or wandering in your thoughts. I don’t focus on beautiful penmanship, but on understanding. I use the dictionary for all the words I don’t know the meaning of. For example, I have no mind for building/construction terms. When I came across “door jamb,” I looked it up in the dictionary. I also used Google to better understand what Ezekiel’s temple looked like.
I love to read the Bible chronologically. Sometimes I have deviated from the exact sequence. When my pastor started a series on Joshua, I switched to Joshua. I have always loved 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles and really enjoyed reading the major and minor prophet books as they coincided with the Kings. I just finished Daniel, and as I wrote it down, I also used Rand Hummel’s Daniel, Living With Lion-Like Character. Hummel’s Bible studies never disappoint!
Here are a few highlights of my Bible study:
God’s extravagant love - and our stubborn sinfulness - is on display throughout both the Old and New Testaments. He made it crystal clear how to receive forgiveness of sins and secure a place in heaven. We are to place our faith in the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ) and not ourselves. Some believe; some do not believe. Even those who do believe have a tendency to fall away from God. This has taught me to mourn sin, to not be so shocked by people’s hardheartedness (mine too), to love and pray for others, and to appreciate God even more for His great and merciful rescue plan.
In 2 Kings 19, I loved Hezekiah’s prayer. Verse 14 says, “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.” I learned that when I am so deeply troubled and there is nothing that I can do, I too can spread my concerns before the LORD. He will hear and help me! The very day I read that verse, I spread all of my circumstances before the Lord and had great peace.
A resounding theme throughout Isaiah is to stop depending on worldly or human wisdom but rather have complete dependence on the Lord. I was especially touched by Isaiah 41:10, 13: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will HELP you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who HELPS you.’”
Habakkuk encouraged me so very much. In With the Word, Warren Wiersbe said of Habakkuk: “His book describes three stages in Habakkuk’s experience—perplexity: faith wavers (chap. 1); perspective: faith watches (chap. 2); and perseverance: faith worships (chap. 3).” God has done the same work in me the past four years through reading the Bible. Four years ago, I was cynical and bitter, trying so very hard to figure out the whys in my life.
Through Bible Study, I have found God's perspective on things. Now I have faith and can say like Habakkuk did in Habakkuk 3:17-19: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”
Have all my hard places disappeared? No. Well then, what next? As long as I am here on Earth, I hope to keep pursuing God to know Him better and to help others in hard places. I have gained much by writing down the Bible and hope it will always be a part of my Bible study. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” Cast down every preconceived idea that the world gives you about God, and read the Bible to find out who He really is. Psalm 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
