Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

My friend Pastor Todd Wilson started posting a series through Proverbs on his blog A Word of Grace at the beginning of the year. I thought I had reblogged the first one so you could follow but today realized I had not.  Here is the first in the series where you can link to the rest. 

Blogging in Proverbs

Today we begin a devotional journey through “the proverbs of Solomon” (Proverbs 1:1). We are told that Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32). There are 915 verses in Proverbs, containing 800 proverbs, though not all of these are attributed directly to Solomon (see Proverbs 30:1; 31:1). I invite you to join me here each Tuesday-Friday as we consider these shorty, pithy writings to profit your soul.

I will be using a wonderful tool from in Minding Your Faith by Gregg Hodge on how to study passages of Scripture. In preparing for his 15 steps (really 16 – don’t give up yet!) he writes the following: “There are fifteen steps for understanding and applying a single passage of Scripture. You can complete one at a time over a period of days or group them together in one or two longer sessions” (p. 61).

We will use his 15 steps (again, 16) and a combination of his approach as a guide through the book of Proverbs. My goal is to “guide” you, not do the work for you, in order to spur your thoughts and meditations on each verse(s) – 15-20 minutes each day. Only you and the Spirit can know how you need to be fed and grow in your walk of faith. I pray that be the case for us as we begin this journey. So, here we go… 16 steps to introduce you to our approach so we can launch in tomorrow.

1. Read it. Read the verse or verses we covered.
2. Pray it. Ask God to teach you the meaning and how its truths relate to your own life and journey.
3. Place it. This provides historical context.
4. Pigeonhole it. What is the genre (narrative, poetry, prophetic, teaching, etc.). This on is easy for us – PROVERBIAL!
5. Read it. I know, we already have that… but read it over, and perhaps in a different translation and note differences in words.
6. Read around it. Read verses before and after to provide context for understanding.
7. Diagram it. I know, YUCK! But the proverbs are rather easy to diagram because they are rich in parallelism. (Try Proverbs 3:5-6)
8. Highlight it. Use different colors pencils to circle repeated words and thoughts. Use colors for groupings that you will remember. (EX: Red for passages that speak to redemption/salvation; yellow for passages that speak about Christ; black for passages on sin, etc.)
9. Noun it. Look up persons, places, or things in a study Bible or dictionary.
10. Verb it. Take most important verbs and think through the actions.
11. Connect it. Focus on prepositions and words that connect certain phrases.
12. Interrogate it. Ask questions about the text. (EX: Proverbs 1:7 What does it mean to fear the Lord? What other fears might I have? What is knowledge? Wisdom? Instruction? How are they similar/different?)
13. Relate it. 1) To other biblical passages 2) To the main teachings or propositions in Scripture (doctrine) 3) To Jesus Christ.
14. List it (or journal it). Write down specific thoughts and applications you have gleaned for the passage.
15. State it. Main thought in your own words.
16. Receive it. In short — APPLY IT! LIVE IT! OBEY IT!

There you have it. So tomorrow, get ready to dive into Proverbs 1:1. Have a blessed day… and HAPPY NEW YEAR!