The Assembly Of A Bible Study: When is the best time to study Scripture?

Hobby: "[An] activity outside of one's regular occupation that is engaged in primarily for pleasure."[i] 

Everyone has a hobby of some kind. Some people collect stuff such as stamps or coins from around the world. Many people spend their pass time playing video-games while others enjoy the more physically demanding activities like sports or going for a walk or a jog. Others enjoy assembling model vehicles. Many people enjoy intellectually stimulating hobbies such as learning to play an instrument or reading novels or learning all about some interesting topic. Every kind of hobby has its benefit. Reading up on some interesting subject or playing some kinds of video games can be mentally stimulating. Jogging or going for a walk is physically beneficial and tackling a project like a 300 piece model vehicle or a 1000 piece puzzle enhances one's patience and fine-motor skills.

However for many Christians there is an activity that seems to get sidelined by every aspect of life including work, family and hobbies: personal Scripture study. Of course I cannot loop every Christian into the same basket so if you are a Christian you will have to see if this applies to you. In the lives of many Christians Scripture has been pushed aside by work, family responsibilities, school and leisure. This results in one of three outcomes: A) one's personal time with Jesus is at the very end of their day before they go to bed; a time when they are tired from what the day threw at them. B) They forgo altogether their personal time with Jesus or C) they merely glance over God's word instead of studying it. There is no right or wrong time to spend time with Jesus and reading his word; but please allow me to make the argument that there are wise and unwise times to set aside for your personal devotions.

Over the last few weeks I have gotten into assembling plastic model vehicles. There are a few things I consider when choosing a model vehicle to assemble but the one non-negotiable consideration for me is its complexity level. I want a challenge and so I always look for a Skill-Level -5. Essentially the difference in skill-level in plastic models is the number and size of the pieces that are involved. One such model I did, a Kenworth T900 "Australia" truck consisted of 300 pieces of which many were no bigger than a mere few millimetres in length. A model I did before the T900 was a Ferrari FXX. There is one big difference between the completion of these two vehicles: the Ferrari looks like it was in a wreck. One reason for this is my work habits. I worked on it late at night when my mind was half-off and my patience was waring thin. I worked on it consistently and for many hours at a time; and at the end due to all my irreversible mess-ups I threw away care and merely slapped on some of the main decals so to just get it done. Also after finishing the model I realized that there were some small pieces still on the plastic holder that I overlooked.

What did my tired brain and impatience cost me? The financial cost of the model kit, a number of necessary paints, glue and a modelling knife. What did I learn between the assembly of the Ferrari FXX and the Kenworth T900?

1. I had to learn to pace my self. I had to designate a time during the day to work on it. I also had to take brakes during the day. 
2. I had to remember to utilize a modeller's version of an old carpenter's adage: "Check the instructions twice, glue once". 
3. I had to think multiple steps ahead. I learned that even though the specific step I was working on required me to glue piece-D to piece-E, I had to remember that 6 steps down the road piece-K will have to fit with the D/E assembly. So I had to take care when gluing pieces D and E, otherwise piece-K might not fit properly of which then will cause problems for piece-Y. In sum I had to study each step in light of the context of the entire instructions.

What is the result of studying God's word on a tired and impatient brain?

1. An improper analysis of the text. The Apostle Paul instructs us to do our "...best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15. The Bible teaches theology; however it does not teach theology in an academic vacuum. Scripture includes with its theology history and philosophy. To varying degrees all Christians are guilty of applying non-biblical philosophy to Scripture. God's word should be studied at a time of day when one is fully alert so to give it a proper analysis and therefore to be sure to not apply unbiblical philosophy to Biblical theology.   
2. Vital aspects of Biblical analysis gets forgotten. As pointed out above, Scripture isn't just a book of theology, it provides its own philosophy to understand its theology and it teaches its theology in light of history. The Bible offers its teachings to us 21st century Westernized people but its teachings were not taught to us as its audience. Its audience was a middle and near eastern culture who lived 2000-5000 years ago. As such the authors of the respective documents utilized a frame of reference for the people of their time to bring home their message; the same message that applies to us. It is important to consider who its audience was so to be abel to glean its message. Just like a how I overlooked pieces of the models I've done it is easy to forget to look at both the acute and overall messages that God has for us in light of the time they were taught and the philosophy that accompanied them. 
3. A tired and impatient brain is more susceptible to a reliance on its own nature. The human being is affected by sin in-toto, this includes how they think and rationalize, (cf. Romans 1:21-22, 25). Scripture has some concepts that for many people (if not all people) are hard to accept. These concepts go against the concepts that the sinful mind naturally gravitates to.  It is important for the Christian to keep quiet and let Scripture teach them its theology and its philosophy so to understand its theology. And it is important to analyze Scripture's message/s in light of its audience so to properly pull out how it applies to them. 

A correct division of Scripture is to read each verse in light of the entirety of the Bible, in sum in the context. And its context consists of theology, history and philosophy. Just as I had to learn to double and triple check the instructions of the model vehicles I've done so to make sure that the assembly of each step is done with the rest of the instructions in mind, i.e. the context, it is important for the Christian to make sure that there are no pieces of Biblical analysis that are overlooked or replaced with a human version. 

What is the cost of studying God's word on a fatigue and impatient mind? ANSWER: Being improperly equipped to represent God and his word. So when it the best time to study God's word? ANSWER: The time when your mind is fully alert and ready to allow Scripture to speak to you and fight against its own nature to apply its own thoughts onto Biblical theology. For some people that is late at night, others it is with their morning coffee, while others its in the middle of the day. As stated before there is no right or wrong time to study God's word, but there is an unwise time, namely when you can't divide the word of truth correctly. 

___________________

[i] - http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hobby - accessed July, 26, 2014