Study

2 Timothy 2:15

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

One of the biggest reasons people do not understand God’s Word is that they do not study. As a boy, I heard words I did not understand, and I would ask my mom what those words meant. She always answered, “Son, there’s a dictionary on the shelf. Stop being lazy and go to the dictionary and look up the word.” She was teaching me that the only reason I didn’t understand certain words was because of my laziness. She knew if I was diligent and studied a word with the dictionary, I could understand any word no matter how difficult that word seemed to be.

The age-old argument about why some think we need a new translation instead of sticking to God’s Word, the King James Bible, is that the words are too difficult to understand. My response to these people is that if you stopped being too lazy to study, you would find that the words are not that hard to understand. It is laziness that keeps you from understanding so-called archaic words. It doesn’t matter what language you speak; you can understand God’s Word if you study. Let me give you a few thoughts about the importance of studying God’s Word instead of changing it.

First, Satan will always tell you God’s Word is archaic when you have the Holy Spirit and a dictionary to help you understand His Word. The fact that some words are harder to understand is no excuse to change to a perversion. When God says to study, that means to look up words in a dictionary that you don’t understand.

Second, there is power in words. Words do matter, and changing words to make them easier to understand often takes the power away from those words. Satan is the master of changing God’s Word. He changed God’s Word in the garden of Eden, and it led to a world filled with sin. Why do we think that changing the King James Bible is any different? Satan wants to change God’s Word because he wants people to be destroyed by sin. We must stop changing God’s Word and start studying God’s Word.

Third, studying God’s Word takes time, but the benefit received from studying it far outweighs the “inconvenience” it takes to study. You will find that discovering the truths of God’s Word because you studied it will bring a fresh view to your walk with God and an excitement about God’s Word that you never had before.

Now, how do we study God’s Word? First, ask the Holy Spirit to explain God’s Word to you. The Holy Spirit guides the believer into all truth, so if you don’t understand a word, the best person to ask about what that word means is the Holy Spirit. If you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Stop ignoring the Holy Spirit who can explain God’s Word to you, and start asking Him for His help to understand words that you perceive as difficult.

Second, use a thesaurus or a dictionary when you don’t understand a word. I have found that the King James Bible is not that hard to understand because I have a thesaurus and a dictionary to help me understand words. Stop being lazy and look up the words you don’t understand. You will find a treasure chest in God’s Word if you learn to let the Holy Spirit guide you and a thesaurus and dictionary help you grasp words you don’t understand.