Lesson 10 | Vocab: Conjunctions
Pray or Study?
Paul exhorted his protégé, Timothy:
Notice the connection between the two clauses: Timothy should think about what Paul wrote, because the Lord would give him understanding about those words. That means that God’s gift of understanding doesn’t destroy the need for thinking hard about the words of Scripture—it is the reason for thinking hard! Without God’s promise of understanding, our hard work would be in vain; but without our hard work, our prayers would be shown to be insincere.
So should you pray that God will help you understand a tough passage in the Old Testament, or should you study the Hebrew carefully and examine the grammar, the syntax, and the context?
Yes to both!
Our goal in this course is to give you more tools for digging deeply into the Old Testament, not in order to set up a competing source of reliance to God but to be a means through which he will help you understand the Scriptures.
Let us trust him now as we gear up to think hard in this lesson.