This week we are reading Psalms 8-14.
My podcast about this section will be available on Wednesday, and in it, I will be pointing out three themes that emerged for me. Do you ever look for themes in your Bible reading? There are really no right or wrong answers when it comes to looking for themes in literature. Different themes will stand out to each of us.
I think your reading will be enriched by looking for themes while reading the Bible, and I am not just indulging my inner English teacher when I say this. Looking for themes is a way of making connections, a way of seeing how pieces of the text work together as a whole. Making connections as we read keeps us engaged. (Let’s be real: mind-wandering is a problem for most of us while reading the Bible).
This is how you look for themes:
When words are repeated, pay attention. When ideas are repeated, pay attention. At the end of the reading, take a few moments to link the similar words and ideas. Does one word describe the way they are connected? That’s a theme.
There can be several themes in any given text. Looking for themes will make the Bible come alive. If looking for themes becomes a practice in your daily Bible reading, then the time you spend reading will be more than a series of words on a page and more of window into God’s heart. He writes about what He thinks about. By looking for themes, we stop seeing His Word as a series of words, or even as a series of stories, but as a series of thoughts.
Thoughts that are higher than our thoughts.