We’ve had several tips in a row, taking a closer look at Scripture each week. As promised, today we’ll look at just one verse and see how rich just a small portion of God’s word can be. In Isaiah 38:17 it reads,  “Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” This verse is part of a prayed offered just after God heals the good king Hezekiah. I chose it as an example because I figured it wasn’t especially familiar.

Now, doing a super-close examination takes some time. Don’t panic thinking you have to give every verse this treatment. Try it on one or two key verses, then next time you have a few hours to study you can walk through a whole chapter this way… Just kidding. Sort of.

The secret to this kind of study is to slow down, and spend some time in one single verse. Try with a memory verse, or the key verse in your next Bible study. Keep your dictionary (or concordance) close by, and ask a bunch of questions. Notice what God is doing and what the human subject is doing. It may be the speaker or it could be someone he’s talking about. Look for hows, whys and so whats. Here’s how I broke down our example verse.

Check the transitions words to get a structure. We have: [this] BUT [this] FOR [this]. So something, then contrast, then a reason. However, in that first little section we get more.

Indeed- that’s a word of agreement or acknowledgment. ‘It was for my own peace’, answers ‘why?’, gives us a reason. What happened? “I had great bitterness.”  The Hebrew word gives us grieved and provoked as synonyms, and it’s translated hard times, troubles, anguish in other versions. So in applying that- Have I ever had great bitterness (or hard times, troubles or anguish)? Yes. Did I come through them acknowledging to God that it was for my own benefit, peace, welfare that those things came into my life? Not always.

“…but You lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption…” That bitterness was a pit of corruption. Checking the synonyms again, corruption also means destruction, and a pit can also mean a dungeon. The implication is that Hezekiah recognizes he was powerless to rescue himself from the bitterness that would destroy him. God was more than capable, though. And notice, God does it lovingly, not dutifully, not begrudgingly, but in love. His love for us causes God to act on our behalf. God, in love, delivers our souls from ultimate corruption in salvation, but He also delivers us from life situations in that same love and grace.

“…for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” For is a “why” or “how” word, so let’s see what questions can we answer here. Why does God intervene? He sees us as worthy of rescue. Why? Because He no longer sees our sins. Why? (And this is the good part) He personally cast every last one of them out of His sight. In the past. It’s already done.

So sum it all up- The bitter hard times that Hezekiah went through, that God delivered him from were an object lesson. The experience taught him how God has rescued him from a much greater, eternal bitterness of soul. It also showed him that God didn’t just save him, but that God is involved in the daily trials he faced. That knowledge and assurance was so sweet, it was worth learning it in a difficult way.

Happy birthday Rebecca! 24 is such a nice perfect number… And I’m 42. (Numbers can be cool as long as you’re just looking at them, not trying to add them or anything.)

For the last two weeks, we’ve been taking progressively closer looks at Scripture passages, with a survey/ overview (a fly-over) and last week with a drive-by. This week we’ll try a walkabout. (I don’t know if it was the Australian VBS or if just craving Outback Steakhouse…)

This morning I read some in Isaiah, so I’ll use that as an example. Chapter 38 tells the story of Hezekiah’s terminal illness, his appeal to God, God’s answer and Hezekiah’s praise for healing. It’s mostly a straightforward narrative account, with a little poetry. The tricky thing, though is that the last two verses give you the reasons for the rest of the action. Verse 21 explains when the healing happened and Isaiah’s role in it, and verse 22 tells how Hezekiah knew he would be healed.

Now that we have our background, let’s start that closer inspection.

Sections - Are there natural divisions? We have four in our chapter. The Psalms often have one or two sections, sometimes more. In many of the Gospels’ chapters, there are several short accounts or stories. Paul will hit on a few different topics in the chapters in his epistles.

Who, What, Where etc – There are two main people, Hezekiah and Isaiah, besides God acting. God intervenes with 2 miracles. The healing and the sundial moving backwards.

Lists - (One of my favorites.) Look for series of things. I usually number them right in the text. In God’s answer (vv. 5-9), He lists three things He’s going to do for Hezekiah. 1. Add to his days 2. Deliver him and Jerusalem from the Assyrian threat 3. Defend Jerusalem.

Eye-catchers – Sometimes, things just grab your attention. (Think there’s a reason for that? Absolutely!) Maybe it’s something you never knew. Many times, it’s a fresh take on something familiar. I had two. When the prophet tells the king to get his house in order, what does Hezekiah ask God for? Not healing, like you’d expect. He simply asks that God remember how he has walked in obedience with a loyal heart. The second one was verse 17. “Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” At first, it was kind of jarring to think that bitterness produces peace, but this is the king’s testimony of what good came from this experience, how God redeemed the situation. Also, don’t you love that God throws our sins behind His back. He doesn’t look at them any more.
Next week we’ll squeeze what we can out of verse 17 for a super-close, rabbit-chasing study.

In Isaiah 37-38, there is a historical account of Assyria’s attempt to frighten Judah into submission. Having just crushed the Northern kingdom, the threat against Judah and the fear it stirred were very real. The story also appears in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Any story God tells is significant, but one that He records three times bears looking at closely. Here are some things I saw.

1. The opposition was wrong. The Assyrians misinterpreted Hezekiah’s efforts to remove idolatry from Judah as an attempt to remove all religion. Never believe what the opposition says about you, whether you’re dealing with people or when the conflict is more spiritual. Satan lies on purpose. People can purposefully try to deceive or just not have all the facts.

2. The opposition doesn’t know the future. One of the Assyrians scare tactics was a description of what life would be like when Judah was besieged. The siege never came. God intervened miraculously on behalf of His people. Only God knows the future, because only God holds it in His hands.

3. God is more offended than we are. Several times, Scripture mentions Assyria’s reproach of the living God. Judah understood how close their relationship with God and their identification with Him was. In the same way, any attack of any kind against us is an attack against God.

4. Let God fight the battle. Hezekiah went up to the temple and laid his situation out before the Lord and then went home in peace and confidence. I admit, I’m much better at part A, than part B. God took care of the situation in a way that went above and beyond what Hezekiah imagined.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Infinitely more… than we dare ask or imagine…

Any studying, any time spent in God’s word, is good profitable time. I don’t think there’s a ‘wrong’ way to do it. Each Tuesday, I try to suggest a way to look at Scripture in hopes of gaining deeper insights or understanding. I don’t use all my suggestions all the time. That’s not practical. The study methods I use every time I open my Bible are to mark my list of key words (and after years of doing this the list is pretty big) and I highlight verses that grab my heart. I also underline details that catch my eye.

Some folks can read Scripture without ’studying’ it. That’s really hard for me. There’s a real benefit in getting the big picture. That’s especially helpful with the little books in the Old and New Testament. I’m more of a ‘word-by-word, read-all-the-footnotes, chase-all-the-cross-references’ type. If you read 2 Chronicles, the overview is going to show that some of the kings followed God and blessings came. Some didn’t, and God judged. Through it all there was a gradual decline in obedience and commitment to God from which Judah never recovered.

I love the details (except for building dimensions ) I try to imagine what the scenes looked like, what the bystanders saw, what cultural connection there might be. Here’s an example of one of those ‘glaze-over’ details. I was reading 2 Chronicles 30 this morning which describes how Hezekiah reinstituted the Passover. Verse 24 says the king gave 1000 bulls and 7000 sheep, and the leaders of the people gave another 1000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. My husband is a farm boy, so he’s had cows, and you only have one bull on the place at a time. Otherwise there’s a ruckus. I’ve helped him vaccinate, and managing a couple dozen critters is challenging enough. Can you imagine how hard the priests and Levites had to work to get all those animals wrangled, penned, then prepared and sacrificed? The thoughts of that much blood makes me a little queasy, but there’s a purpose in that. Sin requires a horrible payment. God wants us to hate sin as much as He does. In seeing how many innocent animals were sacrificed just to hold off judgment, we start to appreciate the magnitude of Christ’s work that removed the need for further payment for sin. Once and for all.

That’s where I get chills- when all those details point to Jesus Christ. Seeing His redemptive work fresh and new everyday… that’s what makes me get up early to study.