Eat This Article
A Short Guide on Spiritual Study
Just after I rounded up the two-part sermon series of Eat This Book, a series we started on learning how to study the Bible and why it matters, a friend walked up to me to share an illustration he’d thought of while I was preaching. I tend to do that myself; add layers to sermons I’m listening to especially when I’m enjoying what I’m hearing. My friend said, “no one gives his guest raw rice as a meal, rather you’ll serve a cooked meal. Jollof Rice takes time to prepare, you have to cook it with all its ingredients combined. Every good meal isn’t ingested raw. Same with the scriptures”. I laughed and told him I was jealous I didn’t come up with this illustration myself.
If you think about it concerning how we see Scriptures it makes sense. The Bible is a library of 66 books written over 1600 years authored by over 40 authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. But as we know the Bible is more than just texts. God refers to His Word as food often to make us understand that more than having information about what is written (raw rice), He wants us to have an in-depth experience of His Word (Jollof Rice). He invites us to “taste and see that He is good”.
If you’re reading this and you’ve tasted one of Nigeria’s de facto National meals, Jollof Rice, you’ll know that there’s an art to preparing Jollof Rice. Done right and your guests will praise you and your Jollof Rice for eons, done badly and you’ll get passive-aggressive compliments, insults or complisults (Nigerians have mastered the art of complisults).
A complisult is an insult wrapped in a compliment.
There’s an art to feasting on Scripture as well. Here’s what I shared last Sunday on how to read the Scriptures for Spiritual Formation.
Pray in the Spirit:
We know the Bible is a genre-bending book as a whole. It is a historical narrative, poetry, prophecy, law, wisdom literature, epistles and more. We must more than anything recognise that it is a Spiritual Book! And to understand it we must ask its author what it means. We must ask the Holy Spirit the meaning of what he’s written and why he’s written it. Before reading a text of Scripture your prayer should be “Lord, open my eyes so that I may see wonderful things in your Word.” (Ps 119:18 paraphrased).
Dig:
You should have intentionality or deliberateness of mind when you approach the Scriptures. A good meal doesn’t happen by accident, you have to be intentional about preparing a good meal. Jeremiah echoed this intentionality when he documented his prophecy over 3000 years ago saying, “Your words were found and I ate them. They were a joy and delight”. The way we dig is through Exegesis. Exegesis: the art of focused attention on a text to draw out all its meaning.
Repetition or Memorisation:
This means to commit to mind/memory what is exegete from the text. To repeat over and over again what you’ve read. Till you can recite it without looking at the texts. This is a forgotten discipline and must be revived if you want to deepen your Spiritual Formation.
Meditation:
Called the neglected discipline of Spiritual Formation by some. Meditation has been largely ignored by many Christians. But it is an essential component of the Spiritual Disciplines. I suspect meditation has been ignored by Christians because of the way it’s been viewed. Meditation isn’t sitting and humming like religions from the East do. Rather it is an attentive reflection on what the Holy Spirit has shown you in your findings and memorisation.
Application:
Lastly, the Scripture that has been prayed, revealed, found, memorised and meditated on must be applied in our lives. The Eternal Truths of God’s Word must be obeyed. That’s how we apply it to our lives. People may ask why should we obey an ancient book? My response, yes the Bible’s contents may be ancient but it is relevant because the Truths in them are eternal!
Have you eaten the Word of God today? Don’t starve yourself. Go, now! Feast on the Word!
