Whether you’re participating in the National Bible Bee for the first time or a seasoned veteran returning for another year, I’d strongly encourage you to make it your goal to glean as much truth as possible from the Summer Study instead of rushing through it as quickly as you can or just memorizing enough to be able to answer the questions on the Qualifying Test. Here are some tips to help you get even more out of an already rich study, from three alumni with a combined total of well over a decade spent participating.
Pace:
The Discovery Journal is designed to be done one lesson a day for a five-day week, and while some find it is easily possible to do multiple lessons in a day, cramming too much content too quickly inhibits your ability to understand, process, and meditate on the truths you’re learning. Getting through the Discovery Journal as quickly as possible causes you to treat it like a task rather than an opportunity to discover more biblical truths and grow in your relationship with Christ. Finishing the Discovery Journal isn’t a race, and someone who finishes even after the 8 weeks of the Summer Study are over, but who was gone slowly and gleaned all the truths they can from it, will profit much more than someone who finishes in the first week or two of the study but who doesn’t retain most of that information, or who only retains it by rote memory, and not because they actually understand or live out the truth of what they’ve studied. If you do want to complete more than one lesson a day, try splitting them up at different times of the day so that you have time to reflect on what you’re learning, or allow plenty of time if you’re doing multiple lessons in one sitting. Don’t do so many lessons in a day that you can’t remember what each individual lesson was about or what you learned from it. To truly allow yourself to comprehend and soak up the rich truths of God’s Word, you probably shouldn’t do more than 3 lessons a day.
Review:
In addition to learning new content from the Discovery Journal, make sure you also take a day or two just to review the material you’ve already learned without adding more new material, as often as is necessary to keep from getting so swamped with new information that you forget what you’ve already learned. Doing this will give your mind a rest, and helps cement what you’re learning more deeply in your mind. In addition to occasional days dedicated solely to review, it is helpful to devote a little time to review on a regular basis, to make sure the truths you’re learning from the study don’t fade from your memory.
Pray:
There are prompts for prayer throughout the Discovery Journal – don’t skip over them! Prayer is an incredible way to grow in our relationship with the Lord. Even though not every lesson has a specific prompt for prayer, pray before each lesson to prepare your heart for the truth, and afterwards to recollect it, give thanks for it, and ask God to mold you according to that truth and empower you to live it out. (Side benefit, this helps you remember it better). The Psalms are a great inspiration in what to pray for and how to pray, so I encourage you to pray with the psalmist:
“Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.” (Psalm 57:5 KJV)
Apply:
Like prayer prompts, the study also has personal reflection and application questions built into it, but don’t let those built in reflection and application questions replace personally thinking through, asking questions about, and applying what you’re learning. After each lesson, reflect on what you learned, and how your knowledge of the truth will impact your life. Thank the Lord for what He has revealed to you through His Word, and ask Him to empower you through His Spirit to live in a way that displays those truths.
Journal:
Writing down both what you have already learned and what you still want to learn is a great discipline to help you learn even more. Looking back over what you’ve written down later can be encouraging, as you see how much you’ve learned, and helps keep those truths from being forgotten. You can even journal application related things, whether prayer requests, things the Lord is convicting you on, or practical ways you plan to apply certain verses to your life.
Connect:
Throughout the study you will be reading passages from all over Scripture, not just the study passage. An excellent way to start understanding how all 66 individual books in God’s Word, though written by about 40 (inspired) authors, all tell the same story. As you read other passages, whether cross-references, memory verses, or other verses scattered throughout the Discovery Journal, think about why and how those passages connect to the study passage, and what they say about the themes and ideas you’re learning about. Many times, a passage in another part of Scripture will provide more information or expand on an idea in the study passage; understanding the connections in all of God’s Word will make the study far richer and deeper.
Research:
If you’re curious, doing extra research of your own on information mentioned in the Discovery Journal is a great way to expand your knowledge of the truth. For example, on page 6 of the Senior Discovery Journal you are given information about John, the author of our study passage for this year. Briefly mentioned is the fact that later in his life John was exiled to the isle of Patmos. If you want additional information on John’s life and why he was exiled, a good place to start looking for more information on topics like these is in bible dictionaries and encyclopedias. BlueLetterBible.org has a large selection of well-known Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and other resources available for free on their website. Another example of a topic you could do extra research on is inspired by page 11 of the Senior Discovery Journal, where you are asked to identify which Bible verses each stanza of a hymn was based on. For a fun and beneficial challenge, try doing this with one of your personal favorite hymns or worship songs to learn to recognize the theology of the music you love. There’s so much to learn about God’s Word, so you are only limited by your curiosity and how much time you have.
Explore:
Expository sermons or commentaries on the study passage and cross-references or other related passages can also be a helpful tool in thinking deeply about what God is saying through His Word, why it matters, and how it should affect our lives. Obviously, no pastor or commentator, no matter how well-known or well-loved, has the same authority as the inspired Word of God, so evaluate any claims from extra-biblical sources (and yes, that includes sources mentioned in/cited by the Discovery Journal) by looking at Scripture – not just the specific passage in question, but cross-references and other passages – to see what Scripture as a united whole has to say about those claims. And remember that if you’re praying for wisdom and discernment, God will answer that prayer.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5 NKJV)
Meditate:
By meditation I don’t mean anything strange or mystical, I simply refer to what the Bible describes as meditation – thinking about God’s Word, and keeping it in our minds as much as possible.
“O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97 KJV).
“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” (Psalm 63:5-6 KJV)
“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” (Psalm 77:12 KJV)
As we read in these verses, meditating on God’s Word by thinking about it and what it tells us about God’s character and works develops in us a joy in and love for God’s Word.
Rest:
There are so many things you could do with the study, but ultimately, the Lord will open your eyes to what He wants to teach you, and will guide you to the truth, so rest in His wisdom and love, and don’t stress out about trying to do every single extra thing you could do. Don’t study in such a way that the joy of learning about your Savior becomes just another thing to check off your list, or worse yet, a drudgery you dread. Trust the Lord and the sufficiency of His Word, and rest in Christ’s promise that the Holy Spirit will guide you to the truth.
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16-17 KJV)
For every participant reading this, I pray that as you dig into the study, the Lord opens your eyes to the Truth of His Word and plants it deep in your heart. I pray that it brings forth fruit in your life, so that you may bring glory to our Lord and Savior. Let us know God’s Word and make Him known!
Written by NBB Alumna: Janese Hurst with contributions from Dylan George and Mikhenna Brown
