Microscopic Studies of the Word

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You know why the microscope is important in a lab? It let's you see vital details---details that tell you the whole story of what's really going on. The whole body is important. But to thoroughly understand it, you need to see how cells work and interact with each other.

You only see that through a microscope.

That's why I do what I call microscopic studies of the Word. The whole bible is important. Studying them by books and chapters is important. But so are microscopic studies of the Word of God.

For instance, take this passage:

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

That's a powerful passage. But sometimes we miss a lot of details when we always treat passages as a whole. We're apt to just read them past and get the summary. Like in the passage above, the general idea is that the Word spoken by Jesus is Spirit and life.

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But then my eyes often zoom-in to a tiny, particular insight in the passage and magnify it: "The flesh counts for nothing." The first time I "saw" this detail, I was astounded. I'd probably read past the whole passage a hundred times before. And yet I never really "saw" it.

The flesh counts for nothing.

Anything the flesh achieves---even in ministry and even for God---is nothing. Zero. Nill. Pfft. The moment your flesh interferes with anything you do for God---even a tiny bit---it's all zero. Any bragging, self-interest, self-promotion, self-aggrandizement can spoil everything. And that's no matter how well appreciated, recognized and awarded you are in church.

We must be careful that not even an iota of flesh mars our deeds. Flesh is destructive. The moment you think an achievement is partly because of you---even for a short while---then everything disintegrates to nothing. Like what happened to Nebuchadnezzar when he felt great about his kingdom.

Only the Spirit gives life. Only things done when led by the Holy Spirit and done in His power count in God's eyes. No human effort or initiative, no matter how dedicated to God, can ever count in HIS eyes.

Often, we miss these small yet powerful details.

So, I highlight them in my bible. Sometimes I write whole articles about these small minuscule details. At times I post them on my FB wall. And others think I "subtract" from the Word of God and warn me against adding or subtracting from the Word.

It's not subtracting---it's zooming in.

Another example: "The words I have spoken are Spirit and life."

When I see something like this in the bible, my focus is immediately arrested and glued to it. I am taken away and brought to the third heaven where you hear weird things you're not supposed to share with mere mortals.

"Words I have spoken to you."

It's not actually the words we read in the bible but the words Jesus speaks to us that is Spirit and life. No wonder then that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out from the mouth of God. That's more detailed and specific.

Do you hear God actually speaking his Word to you when you meditate the bible?

That's the power of microscopic studies of the Word. It definitely beats any study of human theology.