Lesson 2 | Observe Carefully
Study Skill: Make Sharp Observations
While making observations may seem simple and ordinary, very few of us practice this skill well. It requires discipline and clear thinking. Most of all, it requires something we are little accustomed to—slowing down, lingering long.
Consider six specific ways to develop your observation skills.
1. Begin with what draws your attention.
This may be rooted in your previous understanding of the text, a recent teaching you have heard, your own curiosity, or any number of other factors. The Holy Spirit may use a variety of means to prompt your heart and mind for his purposes.
2. Expand your vision.
Move from that initial element to the details that surround it. As with the student and the fish, keep looking. The aim is to see as much as possible.
3. Record your observations.
I can hardly overstate the value of taking time to put your thoughts into writing. This will force greater clarity and precision, leading you to a more accurate understanding of the author’s message. Recording observations also helps with a fundamental need—remembering what you have seen. Within the Markup module, you can record your observations using dot notes, which can be “attached” to your markups in the text. (We’ll show you how to do this later in this lesson.)
4. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious.
Nothing is too minor to make note of. Making the effort to record the obvious will lead to seeing what you could easily pass by. Do you remember the professor’s exhortation? “You haven’t looked very carefully. You have not seen one of the most obvious features.”
5. Be descriptive; don’t merely restate the text.
For example, the following are not adequate observations from 1 Peter 1, true and accurate as they may be.
Inadequate Observations:
- God caused us to be born again to a living hope.
- He did so according to his great mercy.
- Our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
Each of these points simply restates the Scripture text word for word. By contrast, the following observations describe the text with careful detail.
Descriptive Observations:
- God is the direct agent of spiritual birth (“he caused…” v. 3)
- New birth has an object: hope (“born … to a living hope” v. 3);
- both realities involve spiritual life (new birth = being made alive; and the hope is a living hope)
- The phrase “according to” connects God’s saving action with his mercy (v. 3)
- Peter uses three terms to describe our inheritance: imperishable, undefiled, unfading (v. 4)
- These three terms overlap significantly, but they are not exactly synonymous either:
- imperishable – will not go bad, decay
- undefiled – cannot be contaminated
- unfading – will not diminish in its luster, beauty, or significance
I hope that, even from this brief example, you get a taste for just how much more there is to see. Furthermore, did these observations stir any questions for you? They certainly did for me! Part of the fruit of writing descriptive observations are all clarifying questions that come to the surface. (More on this in the next lesson.)
6. Be patient and persevere.
After ten minutes, the student thought he had exhausted all that could be observed about the fish. With nothing else to do, he pressed on for another twenty minutes, then an hour. After two hours, he was at his limit, bored, convinced there was nothing left to observe. But, just as the professor admonished, he had not even begun to open his eyes and really see.
Slowly, after another hour, his eyes, interest, and enthusiasm began to awaken. That launched him into three days of patient, persevering study.¹ As you study God’s word, earnestly fight Spirit-quenching boredom with hopeful expectation and prayer.
A Word of Caution
Recognize the difference between observations, interpretations, applications.
At this point, we need to make an important distinction. Making observations from the text is a process of discovering what is there, in the text itself. Interpretation on the other hand is asking, “What does this mean?” Making good observations is indeed a vital part of the interpretation process but we need to guard against running too quickly to interpretive conclusions. At this stage, we are still gathering information, coming to an understanding. Interpretation is still a work in progress; we are not yet ready to draw conclusions.
Moreover, though we are already beginning to see and consider the implications of what we are reading, we are not yet fully equipped to make sound application of the text into our own world. There is more work to be done and great danger in the misapplication of a half-understood passage. That is why we ask for only one point of interpretation and only one point of application with each assignment.
Proverbs warns about providing answers before you take the time to listen well. 85% of this course is about listening to the text. We are convinced that is a healthy proportion.
Let’s explore these distinctions with a quiz…