As always, begin this study with prayer asking the Holy Spirit to give you insight and understanding.
Choose the person or event about which you would like to write a journal entry.
Using your concordance, find the verses where this person or event is recorded in the Bible.
Read the verses.
As you read, take note:
- Carefully observe the text
- Consider the background
- Ask what the person might have thought or felt
- Put yourself in that person's shoes
- Consider looking at it from a different perspective (e.g. in the march around Jericho you could write from the perspective of an Israelite soldier or priest, a resident of Jericho, Rahab, or an Israelite woman or child who stayed in camp or even an inanimate object such as a horn or stone in the wall) Don't be afraid to think outside the box and be creative.
Write a journal entry from the perspective you have chosen.
Suggested stories:
- Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3)
- Ruth leaving Moab (Ruth 1)
- Rahab after hiding the spies (Joshua 2)
- A person of Jericho as the Israelites march around the walls (Joshua 6)
- A Philistine describing Goliath's death (1 Samuel 17)
- Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus in the garden (John 20:1-18
If you would like to see an example of this study, visit "I Met a Man" - a journal entry I wrote from the point of view of the woman with an issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus' robe.
What Bible character intrigues you the most? What about him or her captures your attention?
Darlene, Our ladies' book group at church is currently reading a book (actually 5 smaller books but put together into one volume also) called "Lineage of Grace" by Francine Rivers. I would highly recommend to others that they read this series (or, if you can find it, in the one volume format). It does exactly what you're recommending except in the form of novelettes. She does a great job of incorporating the cultural and political climate that would have affected this person during the time they lived. She also describes how they might have felt and how others around them may have reacted to them and the particular situation they were experiencing. There is one about each of these Biblical women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Thanks for your good suggestions for doing a character study from the Bible too.
ReplyDeletePatty
Patty, "Lineage of Grace" sounds like a wonderful series. I have enjoyed some of Francine Rivers other books and have found her to be well-grounded biblically. I shall have to keep an eye out for it. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I'm sure others will enjoy it as well.
DeleteDar