Taught of the Lord

I thought I would share just one more Scripture post, this one from my quiet time yesterday.  Again for June 30, the passage in the Scripture writing challenge I was doing was just one verse, so I decided to spend a little extra time in God's Word and SOAP the verse, which was Isaiah 54:13.  It was a blessing to me, so I thought I would share it today.

S (Scripture)=  "And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD, and great shall be the peace of thy children."

O (Observation)= We always have to be careful not to take a verse out of context.  This looks like a simple encouragement to parents to teach their children of the Lord, but it is something quite different.  This verse is speaking of a time yet future when Israel will be restored to her privileged relationship with the LORD.  All of her children will be taught of Him.  Accordingly, Israel will be blessed with great peace, rather than the turmoil that has resulted from the nation's long history of disobeying God.  Righteousness will prevail.

A (Application)=  Even though this verse is absolutely speaking of Israel, I do see some ways in which I may apply it to my Christian life.  As God's children, we need to be taught of the Lord.  Often this takes the form of being taught God's Word by a pastor or Sunday School teacher (and it's vital that we avail ourselves of such teaching).  But we also need to be spending time in God's Word on our own, allowing Him to teach us as we learn and apply His Word.  We can't say we have really learned something until we've begun applying it to our lives.

And as we learn and grow in the Lord, we have great peace in Him.  As God told Israel in Isaiah 48:18, "Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments!  Then had thy peace been like a river ...".  I'm also reminded of Psalm 119:165: "Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them [or, literally, 'they shall have no stumbling block']."  Loving God's Word means obeying it.  And obedience always brings blessing.

P (Prayer)= "Lord, I thank and praise you today for Your Word!  I thank You that I have the unfathomable, undeserved blessing of owning multiple copies of the Bible in my own language, and that I have the freedom to hear Your Word taught and to study it for myself.  I pray that You will help me to apply its principles to my everyday life, and I thank You that the Bible has the answers to all the issues of life.  I praise You for the peace and joy that is ours as we live and walk in obedience to Your Word, and I thank You for how You will help me to do this.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

Have you used the SOAP method of Bible study?  It's not the only method of Bible study I use, but it's a good and very helpful one, especially for short passages of Scripture.  The longer days and somewhat slower pace of summer are perfect for fitting in some extra time in God's Word.  I love to have my quiet time outdoors in summer!