by Jen | Jan 7, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Hello again. I hope your new year has already been full of blessings! Mine has, and I’m giving God all the glory for that!
Last Week’s Work
MY PRAYER
For this study, the Spirit inspired me to pray:
Father God, thank You for the chance to re-explore this favorite chapter of mine with Your Holy Spirit. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand the treasure You’ll show me in this passage. I love You and I love Your Word! Help me use it to grow so others can see its treasure in my life. I ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
HUH? and WOW! MOMENTS
Next, I read Genesis 3, focused on my reactions, and noted what caught my attention. Here are most of the points I recorded:
HUH?s
- Did the serpent really think God had told the man and woman they couldn’t eat any fruit in the garden (v1)?
- Did God really tell them not to touch the fruit (v4)?
- They knew good through their experience of God. How did opening their eyes give them knowledge of evil (v5)?
- How did the woman see “the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (v6)?
- Did God really not know where the man was (v9)? But if He did know, why did He ask where they were?
WOW!s
- Verse 1 seems to imply God made the serpent, too.
- Maybe they could “not die” (v4). I know of two biblical men who didn’t: Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).
- The first thing they “knew” was their vulnerability (nakedness) (v7). And they immediately tried to overcome it on their own.
- Hiding from God seems to be an acknowledgement that their fig leaves weren’t enough to protect them (v8).
- The man was honest about his fear (v10).
- God wanted to know who changed their perception of their circumstances and whether they’d disobeyed Him (v11), though surely, He already knew they had.
- In verses 9-13, God doesn’t accuse, He asks questions.
- Serpent’s punishment: he became the lowest of all creatures, the woman and her offspring were above him (vv14-15).
- Woman’s punishment: she must perpetuate the species through childbearing (which will be painful); she’ll disagree with the man; but he’ll prevail (v16). And she will die. (v3).
- Man’s punishment: he had to provide their food (v18), and he will also die (v3).
- Animal(s) died when God made clothing from skins to cover their nakedness. Apparently, covering wasn’t necessary before they disobeyed (v21).
- Once they knew good and evil, God prevented them from eating from the tree of life (v22).
Even though I’ve studied this chapter before, the Spirit has shown me so much more this time! I can’t study it all, though. By next week, I know the He will help me figure out where to concentrate my attention.
Dig-In Challenges
If you’re studying the passage, too, listen to the Spirit this week, and choose a personal Huh? or Wow! to dig more deeply into. Going forward, I’ll refer to this as your personal treasure from Genesis 3. It can be something you noticed in your study, one of the items I’ve listed above, or anything else the Holy Spirit has laid upon your heart as you think about Genesis 3. Write this treasure in your study journal and note the verse(s) most relevant to it. As we study, we’ll consider everything in the chapter, but we’ll gradually narrow the focus to the relevant verse(s).
Then:
- PRAY.
- MINE: Dig into the facts recorded in Genesis 3. This week, we’ll focus specifically on the setting (who’s involved, and where and when the action took place). Note anything the Spirit emphasizes.
I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover with you next week!
GO TO WEEK 3 >
by Jen | Dec 31, 2024 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3, Introduction
Welcome to this Digging into Scripture Ourselves (DISO) study of Genesis 3. Thanks for joining me here!
As I mentioned last week, this is the first of a series of seven studies I’m calling Restoration. These are passages I studied years ago using the original “20 Questions” version of DISO, but those posts are no longer available online. To avoid confusion, I’ve decided to work through the passages again with the newer process rather than simply republishing those old posts. I’m excited to see what the Holy Spirit reveals now and compare that to what I discovered previously!
Let’s Study Genesis 3!
This week, I’ll begin by praying and surveying Genesis 3. If you want to work along with me, here’s what I recommend you have ready:
- A copy of Genesis 3, plus access to the entire book of Genesis.
I like to refer often to the text I’m studying and sometimes make notes on it, so I copy the passage from www.blueletterbible.org, paste it into a word processing program like Google Docs or MS Word, change the formatting to suit my preferences, and print it out. If you want to use the ESV translation, here’s a pdf of my Scripture study sheet with lots of room for doodles and notes.
- A study journal.
We’ll spend the next seven weeks immersed in and learning about Genesis 3, and the work we’ll do each week builds on what came before, so plan to record at least some highlights from your work over the coming weeks. I’m old-school and like the pen-and-paper method for journaling my studies, but it’s okay if that doesn’t work for you. If you don’t have time to write out or type your notes, consider dictating them into a notes app, or recording audio files, instead.
Or, you may decide to just read the posts I publish here. That’s good, too because it will help you become more familiar with the process and show you how the Spirit speaks to my situation. You may find that’s enough to make it worth your while to keep checking in with me, even if you can’t dig into Genesis 3 yourself this time.
Dig-In Challenges
So, here’s how I’ll be studying this week:
- PRAY: I’ll be creating a prayer that I can pray every time I study Genesis 3. I’m going to write it in my study journal, so I’ll have it handy each time I study.
- SURVEY: And then I’ll read Genesis 3, noting anything that makes me say, “huh?” (as in, “I wonder what that means?”) or “wow” (as in, “that is so awesome!”). I’ll record these and later ask the Spirit to direct me to the one I should dig more deeply into right now.
If you’d like more information about these steps, check out this printable summary of the process I’ll be using over the next eight weeks. Or, you can always reach out to me with your questions through my contact page or at [email protected]. I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover in this process with you, along with snippets of my previous study from 2020 as appropriate—I hope you’ll keep checking in with me each week!
GO TO WEEK 2 >
by Jen | Dec 24, 2024 | DISO studies
Merry Christmas!
It’s so refreshing to say that to you, my friend!
I do understand Happy Holidays, though, especially when I’m speaking to someone who may not know what Christmas really means. And this year, Hanukkah begins on Christmas day: the festival of lights starts with the birth of the Light of the world (John 1:1-5; 8:12). Isn’t it just like God to have worked that out at such a time as this?!
Even so, each time I hear that nonspecific reference, I wonder about the speaker. Does he or she know the Christ of Christmas? Or are they just going through the motions, celebrating December 25 as the ultimate Santa delivery date? Have they heard about and ignored or even rejected eternal life in Jesus Christ? May we always be in prayer for those who have not yet opened the only gift that truly does last forever—beyond this life, beyond this world.
Update: A Book-length DISO Study
Before we start a new study next week, I want to update you on the book I first mentioned in this blog years ago. At the time, I was almost done with the original manuscript. Once finished, though, my beta readers struggled with it. They were kind but honest, and there was much work to be done to improve it. In fact, their feedback led to the dramatic changes I made to the process used in these posts beginning October of last year.
Earlier this year, I finished the revised book and am really excited about the feedback I’ve received on it so far. It’s a DISO study of the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) designed for three weeks of daily quiet time study and reflection. I’ll keep updating you periodically on its progress through publication, which I hope happens late next year or early 2026.
A Gift for You: Bible Treasure!
Also, I’ve created a brief study guide based on the book’s content as my gift to you for reading my blog posts. I hope you’ll download it and refer to it often as we continue to study through God’s Word using the Digging into Scripture Ourselves 5-step process. And you can also use it on your own to dig for Bible treasure anywhere in God’s Word.
A Look Ahead
I’m also gearing up to expand my social media presence in 2025. Feel free to follow me on Facebook where I’ll be highlighting some of the cool things you can do in your personal Bible study time, announcing new studies, providing more timely updates on the book project, and hopefully not embarrassing myself too much in the process!
In the meantime, plan to join me next week as I start the study series I’m calling Restoration. In it, I’ll be revisiting several passages I’ve studied in the past. Those posts featured the older, DISO 20-Questions method I practiced before my old web hosting service took my site down in September 2023. For a while, I’ve wanted to restore them as originally written, but now I’ve decided to use the newer, 5-step process developed for the book as I revisit each passage. We’ll start December 31 with Genesis 3:1-24: the Fall of Humanity. I can’t wait to see what treasure the Spirit helps us discover in this familiar territory!
Till then, I pray you have a wonderful Christmas, and the New Year brings amazing blessings to you and your loved ones. Thank you for spending a little of your time this week with God’s Word and with me!
by Jen | Dec 17, 2024 | 1-18, DISO studies, Ruth 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Can you believe we’ve all but finished the book of Ruth? I hope the Holy Spirit has revealed amazing treasure for you these past seven weeks. Here’s my work for week 8 of this study.
Last Week’s Work
LESSON(S) LEARNED
As I thought through the lessons learned over the last eight weeks, the Spirit drew me to the contrast between Boaz (who, from chapter 2 on, has acted the part of a redeemer for Ruth and Naomi) and the nearer redeemer—a negative comparison I should have noticed in week 4, but didn’t.
In my study of Chapter 3, I commented about how Jesus, our Brother in God’s family, rescued us from slavery to sin and death. Similarly, Boaz provided for the physical needs of Ruth and Naomi though technically he could have let them starve. All along, he was the real redeemer here. He could have turned away from them. Instead, he stepped up so the nearer redeemer could “do what was right in his own eyes.” Boaz was the self-sacrificing lover of the undeserving, just as Jesus was.
CONVICTION
As part of my observations this week, I checked how many times redeem and redeemer appear in the New Testament. I found redeem three times (Luke 24:21, Galatians 4:5, and Titus 2:14) and redeemer only once (Acts 7:35).
In the letter to Titus, Paul describes Jesus as the one who brings “salvation for all people” and trains His followers “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.” (Titus 2:11-12). I couldn’t help but think of Ruth: when she left Moab, she wasn’t just changing her residence. In Ruth 1:16-17, she renounced her Moabite citizenship, their gods, even her own family. And her new life wasn’t easy. Boaz mentions her self-controlled, upright life at least a couple of times (Ruth 2:11-12, 3:10-11). Again, Ruth’s example convicts me. What faith and trust she must have had to commit everything to a God she only experienced through her first husband’s family. And, in the end, God blesses her with Boaz and Obed, through whom she blessed Israel (King David) and the world (Jesus).
CORRECTION
You may remember some time ago I mentioned I’m working on a book detailing the DISO study process. I submitted it to an editor in late October and received his feedback this week. I can’t help but think this might be how Ruth felt staring at the barley field that first morning she went to glean: “looks like a lot of work!!”
While looking at the context of redeem above, the Spirit drew my attention to this from Titus 2:7-8:
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
The Spirit seems to be connecting Paul’s admonition above to my work on the edits. Some are simple, but a handful will require much research and effort to do well. I believe I’m being reminded to do this work to the best of my ability. Friend, please pray for me. This won’t be easy, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
ACTION PLAN
From today forward, as I work on improving the book, I will pray over Titus 2:7-8. I pray for energy, courage, and stamina to move this project forward as the Lord directs.
Our Next Study
Next week is Christmas Eve and I have a special gift for you! Rather than launch into another study, I’m preparing a short overview of the Digging into Scripture Ourselves (DISO) process, plus a 6-page guide that walks you through all five steps of the process and includes bonus codes you can use to quickly access the free, online tools I use in my personal studies. With the Holy Spirit, this booklet is all you need to dig deeply and confidently into any passage on your own. I can’t wait to share it with you!
by Jen | Dec 10, 2024 | 1-22, DISO studies, Ruth 4
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Where has this year gone?! Can you believe next week we’ll have studied six different passages (including the entire book of Ruth)? I’m so grateful you’re checking in with me, and I hope your studies are going well, too!
This past week we were looking at cross-references and other translations of our focus verse(s). My focus verse is Ruth 4:6. Here’s what the Spirit revealed to me this week.
Last Week’s Work
CROSS-REFERENCES
For the first time since I began studying God’s Word this way, I found a verse with no direct cross-references! The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (my usual go-to cross-reference resource) contained only this:
I cannot – The Targum seems to give the proper sense of this passage: ‘I cannot redeem it, because I have a wife already; and it is not fit for me to bring another into my house, lest brawling and contention arise in it; and lest I hurt my own inheritance. Do thou redeem it, for thou has no wife; which hinders me from redeeming it.’ Based on this text’s attribution (The Targum, which is a version of the Hebrew Bible translated into Aramaic), it appears the primary redeemer could refuse to perform the duty if another relative was willing to step up, instead.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS
I compared the ESV, AMP, NIV, and Good News translations for Ruth 4:6 and discovered another couple of reasons why the redeemer might have refused to marry Ruth. The Amplified Bible says it’s “… because [by marrying a Moabitess] I would jeopardize my own inheritance.”
But the GNT indicates he said, “… I will give up my right to buy the field because it would mean that my own children would not inherit it.” In this study, I don’t feel the Spirit pulling me to understand why the man didn’t want the field after he learned he’d need to fulfill the levirate requirements. Instead, I think the Spirit is directing me to focus on the fact that Ruth, a non-Hebrew believer, became an important part of Matthew’s genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:1-16). And she’s not the only non-Hebrew woman in that lineage. Boaz’s mother, Rahab, was a Canaanite prostitute whose faith led her to trust the spies Joshua sent into Jericho when they promised to spare her family in return for her aid in escaping the men of the city (Joshua 2). Though the Israelites were (and are) God’s chosen people, He clearly intends His family to include all races, and both genders play an important role in bringing salvation to mankind.
Dig-In Challenges
Now let’s wrap up our study of Ruth and align with what we’ve discovered in Chapter 4. I hope you’ll join me as I
- PRAY: Read the prayer we created in Step 1.
- ALIGN: Review my study notes and other work, focusing specifically on what I’ve learned.
- ALIGN: Then, considering those “lessons learned,” I’ll think about how the Spirit has convicted me through this study. In other words, where has He shown me misalignment between what I’ve discovered and how I practice my faith?
- ALIGN: Next, I’ll look to God’s Word for guidance to correct that misalignment. This is often—but not always—a verse from the study text or from one of the cross-references.
- ALIGN: And finally, I’ll reflect on how I can change my thoughts or actions to align more closely with what I’ve discovered here. To really make this work, I commit to changing something and do my best to act on that commitment every day for at least three weeks.
That may seem like a lot to consider in one week. If you’re working with the Spirit, remember you can do this at your own pace. Don’t worry about keeping up with me—just do what you can when you can. The Lord will bless any time you spend in His Word, I know it!
