Welcome to Day 1589 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Bible Study – Conclusions and Affirmations – Meditation MondayWelcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! Wisdom is the final frontier in gaining true knowledge. Our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, seek out discernment and insights, and boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; this is Gramps; thanks for coming along on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy Today is Day 1589 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.
We are continuing our series this week on Meditation Monday as we focus on Mastering Bible Study through a series of brief insights from Hebrew Scholar, Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Our current insights are focusing on accurately interpreting the Bible. Today let us meditate on:
Bible Study – Conclusions and Affirmations· Insight Sixty-Five: Draw Both Positive and Negative Conclusions about What a Verse or Passage Teaches
Have you ever had a hard time putting precisely what you think into words? As a writer and student of the Bible, I’ve experienced that many times. It’s one thing to put the mental energy into studying Scripture. It requires digging into materials that help me try to understand a little bit about Hebrew and Greek grammar, reading background material, evaluating translation choices, that sort of thing. It is another thing altogether to be able to articulate what I’m finding. It can be frustrating.
The problem isn’t writing or speaking: it’s thinking with clarity. Here’s some of the best advice I’ve ever received about clear thinking: to think with clarity, deliberately think about things both positively and negatively. I have read that the best way to come to a clear statement of what you believe is to express yourself in affirmations (positive assertions) and denials (negative assertions).
The exercise of trying to say what you mean and following it by what you don’t mean has a way of separating the mental chaff from the wheat. For example, let’s take the statement in https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A1andversion=NLT (Romans 13:1) that says: Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
You could say that you believe the verse teaches that every ruler on earth has been put there by God and should therefore be obeyed. But what exactly does that mean? Do you mean to say there are no exceptions? How could you justify one? Is the verse an assertion of God’s activity (God appoints every ruler) so that to disobey a ruler means rebelling against God’s choice? Maybe it’s just a statement of God’s sovereignty without crediting God for every last tyrant on the planet. Or perhaps Paul is merely expressing a wish (i.e., “everyone . . .”) since he knows people can t change their circumstances under the Roman Empire. If your government allows you to replace a ruler, does this verse forbid that? Why would you want to replace someone God put in charge? What is it that you believe about this verse? What don’t you believe?

An excellent way to sharpen your thinking and clarity in communicating to others is to carefully consider your Bible study results regarding what you think the text means and doesn’t mean. It may take an hour...