Bible Study Road Trips
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther,
29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Luke 24:25–32 ESV Read More
Whenever I read something in the Old Testament and I get bogged down wondering “why in the world is this in the Bible?” I remember this event. This is also one of the best examples of the power of a small group Bible study that you’ll ever see. These guys walking down the road, they had read the Bible before. They probably had significant passages of it memorized better than most of us have memorized the music catalog of the Beatles or Bon Jovi. (Don’t feel guilty. I get it. Hey Jude is a lot more catchy than Deuteronomy 6.)
But they needed to walk it out and talk it out. I don’t think it’s a mistake that this discussion didn’t happen around a dinner table. The revelation at the end happened there, but the bulk of the education and enlightenment happened while they were walking together.
One of my best Bible study moments ever happened at the copy machine at an ad agency. I was making copies and chuckled about what I had read that morning. A co-worker walked by said “What are you laughing at?” Not accusatory, but just making conversation. I just told her exactly what I was laughing at, but I had to give some back story, so for 2 minutes I gave a thumbnail of somethings Moses was doing, how that was going, and then the thing that happened and why I thought it was funny.
“I grew up in the church and I know about that, but I never heard that?! That is funny!” And then off she went. “You make me want to read my Bible.” She mumbled.
The thing was, it wasn’t the Bible, but talking about it at the copy machine that brought it to life.
If we want to have conversations that make our hearts burn within us, we have to have some fire to talk about. Enjoy reading your Bible. Fill up your head with all of its craziness. Then find some folks to talk it over with and work it out. It’s awesome.