You're sitting down for some much-needed Bible study. You really want to dig into a passage, but where do you start? You read the text and ask for a divine download of inspiration. But what then?

Or maybe you've gathered with a group of Christian friends to study the Bible together. Maybe you're the leader. Can you approach scripture in a way that leads to a genuine encounter with God? How?

I keep coming back to three questions: Where is this coming from? What's here? Where is it going?

Where is it coming from?

Say you walk into the room and someone in your group asks, "Where are you coming from?" How could you answer?

"From the other room, where I was talking with Sally."

"From my home in Maple Grove."

"From a lifetime of misery and woe."

"From a long line of Swedish haberdashers."

In the same way, as we consider where a Scripture passage is coming from, we can look at the immediate context of the previous verses, the purpose of the book, the historical background, or its place in the overarching biblical story. And there are other possibilities as well.

In Romans 12:1, Paul urges his readers to offer themselves as "living sacrifices." To understand this text, you could look at the rich benediction in the previous verses, the theme of "God's righteousness" woven through this epistle, the Jewish sacrificial system, or the situation of the Roman church at the time.

This may require some research. While you can easily read the preceding text or the entire book of the Bible, you might need a good study Bible, commentary or Bible dictionary for the historical info. You can decide how deep you want to go, based on your own capacity or that of the group.

What's here?

It's amazing how quickly people jump into speculation and application after they read a Bible text. In the process, they sometimes distort what the passage actually says. Take the time to read the words. Ask the basic who-what-when-where questions. Diagram the sentence. See what's in front of you before you start drawing lessons.

Philippians 4:8 is the "whatever" verse. We are asked to think about whatever is true, noble, right, etc. Another eight positive qualities are listed. Occasionally I've asked groups, "What does this verse tell us not to think about?" It's a trick question, of course. The answer is "nothing." While some people use Philippians 4:8 to urge mental purity by avoiding thoughts that are not true, noble, right, etc., the verse itself has no such restriction.

As we'll see in a moment, there's a place for analysis, application and comparison to other Scriptures. But at least for a moment, see the verse in front of you. No more, no less.

Where is it going?

Look at how this story or teaching leads forward to the following verses. What point is being made, and what other points are built on it? In the case of a story, what's the impact of these events? After David kills Goliath, what changes . . . for Israel, for Saul, for David?

But we also want to think about where the passage is going in our lives. Is there an example for us to follow, an instruction to put into practice, a new insight that will change the way we look at the world? God's word is "alive and active," we're told (Hebrews 4:12). It's going somewhere. Where will it lead us?

Of course there are many different ways to approach Bible study. This one is easy to remember. Think of past, present and future. Where does this passage come from, what's here, and where is it going?

Want to go deeper into engaging with the Bible? Use the following resources to help you understand the bigger context of your passage. Then try answering these 3 simple questions! 

Click here for articles to help answer these 3 questions