The final part in the series.

The psalms are poetry.  By definition poetry is full of figurative language.  The psalms, therefore, must be full of figurative language.
 
             Simile:  As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God, 42:1.

              Metaphor:  The Lord is my rock, 18:2.  The Lord is my shepherd, 23:1.

              Personification:  When the waters saw you they were afraid, 77:16.

              Hyperbole:  God looks down on the children of men to see if there are any…who seek after God. They have all fallen away…there is none who does good, not even one, 53:2,3.

              We all use figurative language every day of our lives:  “He’ll give you the shirt off his back.”  “I need a new set of wheels.”  “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.”  But for some reason we don’t get it when we find it in the scriptures.  We make up some weird gate in Jerusalem that archaeologists have never found, nor that the disciples had ever heard of, instead of understanding that Jesus was using hyperbole when he said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.”  We are not any better than our religious friends who want every item in the book of Revelation to be literal.  Maybe we should take the log out of our own eyes before we talk about them.

              We do the same thing with our hymns.  Granted there are lines in some hymns that we probably should not sing.  They teach religious dogma that is not found in the New Testament.  But far more often I have picky brethren who ignore the authority the book of Psalms gives us to use poetry, the hallmark of which is figurative language.  We follow the examples of our neighbors and make it all literal, then ban it from our assemblies. Hymns are poetry set to music just as the psalms were.  We should treat them as such.

              It would be helpful if we recognize that a figure of speech is meant to address only one specific point and stop trying to carry it beyond reason.  “A sower went forth to sow,” Jesus taught.  The point of the parable was how the seed grew based on the ground it fell on.  Who would be so silly as to ask what the bag in which the sower carried seed represented?  The same ones who wonder about camels and needles.  The same ones who want a literal thousand year kingdom on the earth instead of an eternal kingdom in Heaven.  The reason one group didn’t fall for the other fallacy was not their understanding of how to use figurative language, i.e., the same way we use it every day of lives.  The reason they stayed “sound” on one and not the other is they were indoctrinated otherwise.  It’s time we fixed that problem.

              Even denominational preachers understand the uses and abuses of figurative language when it comes down to brass tacks.  Just read Dungan’s Hermeneutics.  He has a great list of exactly how to interpret figurative language (Chapter 8).  If you follow it, you won’t fall for the strange gate OR the millennium.

              So let’s stop being ridiculous with our hymns, too.  We would not stand for anyone interpreting the things we say the way we interpret those poets. “Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, do you also unto them.”

              And, more to the point, if we banned poetic language, we would miss a whole lot of wonderful teaching that reaches the heart in ways that straight prose never could.  Funny how God knew that so many thousands of years ago.
 
Jehovah, I have called upon you; make haste unto me: Give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you; The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness with men that work iniquity: And let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; And let him reprove me, it shall be as oil upon the head; Let not my head refuse it: For even in their wickedness shall my prayer continue. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock; And they shall hear my words; For they are sweet. As when one plows and cleaves the earth, Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol. For my eyes are unto you, O Jehovah the Lord: In you do I take refuge; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, And from the gins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, While I escape. Psalms 141:1-10
 
Dene Ward

Part 5 in a 6 part series
 
              I have never discovered I was so wrong about so many things in such short a time as I have since we started this Psalms study.
 
            The Psalms are mainly poems of praise to God, right?  Wrong.  Only 20% of the psalms are classified as psalms of praise.

              All Biblical psalms are collected in what we know as the “Book of Psalms” or “The Psalter.”  Wrong.  Psalms are scattered throughout the Old Testament from Exodus through the Minor Prophets.

              The Psalms were written by David.  Wrong.  Nor even the majority but only half the Psalms (in the psalter) are attributed to David.  That leaves 75 in the book of Psalms written by someone else, and most of the others scattered throughout the Bible as well.  Some were written hundreds of years before David and some hundreds of years after.  In fact, the book of Psalms covers roughly a thousand years, 1500-500 BC.

              Yes, the Psalms were inspired, but it is poetry, not something important.  Oh my, what an error that was.  The book of Psalms is quoted in the New Testament more than any other book of the Old.  Jesus himself places it right alongside the Law and the Prophets as authoritative and instructive scripture (Luke 24:44-47).  If you want a slap-in-the-face shock, read every place those psalms are quoted in the New Testament and note how the writer or the passage is described:  David was “in the Spirit.”  David wrote “by the Holy Spirit.”  Those psalms are “scripture,” “fulfilled prophecy,” and God-given “definitions.”  Then you can re-read that earlier Psalms article (Part 4) on Bible study and see once again exactly how important these passages are precisely because they are poetry.

              Misconceptions about the scriptures abound.  All you need do is talk to some skeptic for awhile.  They think they are so smart, and when it comes to worldly knowledge perhaps they are.  They would certainly outdo me on an IQ test.  But they are woefully ignorant of the scriptures, and if you ever want to look foolish, try expounding upon something you know nothing about in front of people who know quite a bit about it.  My husband, the former law enforcement officer, can hardly stand to watch crime dramas any more.  All he sees are the errors about guns, about evidence, even about the law and police procedure.  When it comes to ignorant people scorning the scriptures we should be exactly the same way--seeing their ignorance instead of falling for it.  If we aren’t, maybe it is because we are ignorant.  How can we expect to defend the Truth if we don’t know what we are talking about? 

              But for now, just consider your own misconceptions about the Psalms.  Surely I am not the only one.

              If you think the book of Psalms is nothing more than Israel’s songbook, you are mistaken right off the bat.  But for the sake of argument, if we were to pattern our own singing on this inspired work, what would we be singing?  Lately we seem to be singing nothing but hymns of praise.  At the risk of sounding irreverent let me remind you:  only 20% of the psalms are praise psalms.  What percentage do you sing?  Would you be shocked to discover that the largest group of psalms is psalms of lament?  Then we have psalms of thanks, psalms of trust, wisdom psalms, and even psalms about our earthly government—boy, do we need those these days! 

              We have instructive psalms, historical psalms, and psalms about the Law.  Sadly, many Christians today need to be reminded of the importance of following God’s law.   In fact, the theme of the whole Psalter is the covenant between God and His people, usually stated in words like, “You are my people and I am your God, therefore…”   It is the “therefore” that people do not want to deal with, including some of my brethren. Maybe we sing nothing but the new praise psalms because they demand so little of us.  Those old hymns everyone seems to be tired of make you look at yourself in painful ways.  They call for change in our character and attitudes. If we cleared up our misconceptions about the Psalms, I wonder how our singing would change.   I wonder how our approach to authority would change.  I wonder how our lives would change.

              Or are we no better than a so-called religious person who believes he can pick and choose among the passages in the Bible and still be considered one of God’s people?  Are we ignorant and happy to remain so?  God expects more from his covenant people.  He always has and He always will.
 
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.  Hebrews 12:22-25.
 
Dene Ward
 
 

Part 4 in a 6 part Series
 
              I have told my class several times as we go through these first five lessons, “Yes, you can understand the Psalms without all this specialized knowledge.  You can read a psalm and make sense of it without knowing its genre, without understanding Hebrew poetry, certainly without knowing the difference between a miktam and a maskil.  But guess what?  You will not get as much out of that psalm as you will if you go to the trouble to do the research and learn a little about a foreign culture and its poetry.”
 
             In the past I approached Psalms the same way I approach poetry, which is seldom.  I am not a poetry person.  I much prefer reading and writing prose.  To me, and to anyone from our culture, poetry is about emotion, about attitude, about the “better felt than told.”  Because of that you are not going to find pure fact in poetry.  Poetry is “feel-good-fluff” to me and I really don’t have much use for it.

              Now re-read that last paragraph and insert the word “Western” ahead of every reference to “poetry.”  You see, our attitude toward poetry is the opposite of the Oriental’s.  Orientals believe that the function of poetry is to instruct.  Did you hear that?  Poetry is a teaching method.  Its very form aids in memorization—short lines of roughly equal length and abbreviated word count.  Their poetry is reserved for subjects of the highest order, especially the Divine. 

              My Western view may say, “This is poetry.  It’s all emotion, very little, if any, fact.  Don’t take it too seriously.”  But the Oriental mind says, “This is poetry.  These are the most important, most profound subjects you will ever read.  Pay attention and think about it.”

              Do you think that hasn’t changed my approach to the Psalms?  And how do you think I learned that?  From taking the time to research a foreign culture.  From going beyond the minimum in my Bible study.  Because of that I now know even more about the Word that is supposed to be guiding my life.

              How much time do you spend in the Word of God?  How much extra effort do you go to?  If the doctor told you that you have a disease, would you spend time looking it up?  Would you care enough to know as much as possible, instead of being satisfied with the doctor’s explanation?  Would you want to have hands-on control of your life, or would you just sit back and be happy with the briefest scan of a medical dictionary?

              You do have a disease—sin.  You do have dangers in your environment, things just as deadly to your soul as secondhand smoke to your lungs.  You need to be aware of every aid, every pitfall, everything that can possibly affect the outcome of your life. 

              Do you care enough to learn the Word of God as completely as possible, or will you trust someone else with your soul and hope a verbal vitamin a day will take care of it?
 
Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stands in the way of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of scoffers:
But his delight is in the law of Jehovah;
And on his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also doth not wither;
And whatsoever he does shall prosper. Psalms 1:1-3                              
 
Dene Ward

Every three months we go through the same thing—trying to get the flea pill into Chloe.  The vet can talk all day about how good it tastes—why, it's beef flavored—but so is a bouillon cube and I wouldn't eat one of them either.  Besides, I wonder if she has actually tasted this pill—this HUGE pill that somehow I am supposed to get not only into my dog's mouth, but actually down her throat.

           We've tried the peanut butter trick.  She somehow sucks it out of the peanut butter and spits it out without losing one smear of the good stuff.

              We tried stuffing it into a block of cheese.  Same thing, and not only that, but getting a block of cheese big enough for that horse pill is pretty expensive.

              So one time we tried the mean way.  We grabbed her, pried open her mouth and stuffed it in.  Keith held her muzzle, stroked her throat to encourage swallowing, and talked as sweetly as he could to calm her down and get her to accept it.  Even with her mouth clamped shut, out it came—like a watermelon seed spitting contest.

              I am certain that you have seen people spit out the parts of the gospel they don't like, just like Chloe did her pills.  I am just as certain you have seen Christians do the same thing.  I actually had a woman tell me in a Bible class, "But I don't like reading those passages," as if that would make what she deemed objectionable go away or at least excuse her from having to look at it.  Because of those attitudes we have people in the world who think God changes with the Testaments, that Jesus will accept their continuing sin because he loves them, and that the church is only there to take care of them and make them feel good.

              This isn't new.  One of Hosea's themes is that God's people did not know him.  Oh, they knew his name, they knew he existed, but if they had really known what he was all about, do you really think they would have been so unfaithful?

              ​Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. Hos 8:12.  They were so ignorant of God and his law that it was practically a foreign language.  It's the same attitude that, when confronted with their sin today, people dare to say, "But God wouldn't want me to be unhappy."  When you really know someone, you understand their likes and dislikes, their opinions, their preferences, the things that are most important to them.  We cannot claim to know God yet neither know nor even care about those things with him.

              I recently came across the following quote:  "The modern church is producing passionate people with empty heads who love the Jesus they don't know very well."  (Voddie Baucham)

              Because of his background, I believe the speaker is referring to the modern church in denominational terms, but I have seen enough ignorance among my brothers and sisters to know it applies here as well.  The hunger for knowledge has been lost in a society that is too busy with "stuff" to even have time for it, much less think it is worth the trouble.  And because we convert people by emotion alone, they have no real knowledge of God and what he requires of them in holiness, purity, and obedience.  When they finally hear a sermon they don't agree with, regardless of the Biblical evidence, they leave because it no longer makes them happy, or it requires a sacrifice in their lifestyles, or they are "uncomfortable" with what it means.  If we manage to chase them down and make them stay, don't expect them to go ahead and swallow that nasty pill they don't like. 

              Finally, out of sheer desperation one day, I called Chloe and told her I had a treat for her, using the same silly tone of voice and the same excited body language as for a real treat.  Then I put it on the steps, right where I put all her other treats.  She gave it a sniff and looked at me sideways.  "Eat your treat!" I said, even sillier sounding than before.  She sighed, leaned down, picked it up and, after rolling it around in her mouth for a while, ate it.  Then she walked away, looking over her shoulder at me as if she were very disappointed in such a naughty child. 

              Somehow we must start getting the Word into people, whether they think they want it or not.  Somehow we must show them that it is indeed a "treat."  Learning God's Word can be fun.  Learning about God can be exhilarating.  Learning about everything he did to bring us into a saving relationship with him can spark a real desire to learn more, to become more like him, changing and growing each day.  That's how you develop a faith that will stand the trials of life and prepare you for an Eternity with a Father you finally know.
 
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. Hos 2:20
 
Dene Ward
 

Stomach trouble seems to run in our family.  I remember my Daddy eating Di-gel tablets like they were candy.  Then I inherited his problem and had my first ulcer at 23.  Way too much acid that was aided and abetted by carrying a 9 ¼ lb, 22 inch baby so high I looked like a walking beach ball.  My younger son picked up the acid problem with an acid level even higher than mine.  On my mother's side everyone had gall stones, so I followed suit as did my older son.
 
             No matter how healthy you are, stomach trouble can debilitate you, in sometimes embarrassing ways, and it is almost always affected by what we eat.  I remember introducing my first baby to sweet potatoes.  His little tummy rumbled and grumbled in such an alarming way that I was sure any second that child would launch out of the infant seat and orbit the kitchen.  He certainly had enough propulsion to do so.  At least that experience benefited his little brother.  I mixed his sweet potatoes with other mashed veggies the first time, like carrots or peas, though I would never recommend the color that peas and sweet potatoes make when mixed together for any painting project.

              As many times as the metaphor of eating is applied to the Word of God, those memories made me sit back and think a bit.

              God once told Ezekiel, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. "So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. Ezek 3:1-3

              John had a similar experience.  So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. Rev 10:9-10

              Both of those prophets had a great respect and love for the Word of God.  That's where the "sweet as honey" comes in.  But neither one of them loved the message they had to deliver; John, one of an upcoming persecution greater than God's people had ever experienced, and Ezekiel, trying to convince a hardheaded people that Jerusalem would indeed be destroyed in a most horrible way and that they were the true remnant, the only hope for God's people and the World.  Yet both of those men, because of their devotion to God, fulfilled their missions.  Their abiding love for God made their prophecies palatable.

              I have heard both preachers and elders, lately, beg a congregation full of God's people to "get into the Word."  When we have to beg, when we have to bargain like a parent with a toddler—"Eat just one bite and you can have some dessert"—how much love for the Word are we exhibiting?  How much commitment to our Savior do we really have?

              If we are what we claim, we should long to fill ourselves with those words.  We should clamor for more.  If nothing else, like an adult we should understand that eating our vegetables is better for us than eating French fries, desserts, or candy, and do it without needing a bribe.  At least one has a hope of developing a taste for the profound, the spiritual, the Truth if he tries it once in a while. 

              My mother used to mash the carrots and potatoes from the pot roast and mix them together so I would eat the carrots.  Now I have matured and do just fine, thank you.  What won't you eat, even for the sake of saving your soul?
 
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Ps 119:103
 
Dene Ward
 

I have had some wonderful comments come up in my classes.  Women who were not too embarrassed to share a moment of vulnerability, a mistake in judgment, or a light bulb moment have all had great impacts on their listeners.  I have come to love these women who have faced adversity in many ways and kept their faith, who have handled doubt and come out stronger.  Without these students, my classes would have been ho-hum at best.
 
             I haven’t much to add to this after the last subject we discussed.  Comments can be motivated by practically all the things that questions can be, both good and bad.  As we said last week, we won’t discuss the negative attitudes.  No one who cares enough to read these things is likely to have bad attitudes.  The same guideline goes for this topic as that one:  think of your classmates when you make your comments.  I honestly believe that love is what has made my best students so willing to share—to keep others from the same painful mistakes or help them through similar experiences.

              I especially appreciate a student who sees that I have not communicated well and has a simpler way to say what she has understood.  More than once it has instantly cleared confusion from the other faces.  When you do this, though, please make it brief.  Too many times we spoil what would have been wonderful by adding too many unnecessary words, words that dilute the effect of the simple explanation and make it once again muddled. 

              “Muddled” is the perfect word.  When you put fresh mint, for example, in the bottom of the pitcher and pound on it with a wooden spoon, you are “muddling” the drink you are making.  Instead of being plain tea, it will now be mint tea, or peach, or raspberry, or whatever else you “muddled.”  It will no longer be plain and simple tea.  In fact, you might not be able to tell what the initial beverage was before you “muddled” all those flavors in it.  The simpler the comment, the fewer the words, the better.

              And may I say this as kindly as I know how?  Class is not the place to show everyone how much you know.  I have been in mixed Bible classes where people in the class practically took over and taught it from their seats.  I call these “preacher comments.”  I’m sorry, dear brothers.  I have the utmost respect for what you do, but you are definitely the worst offenders.  Then there are the ones who seem to think no one can say it as well as they can.  As in the first instance, comments should be brief and to the point.

              Comments should also be on the subject.  Any time I hear, “I know this is off topic, but...” I groan inwardly.  We are supposed to be learning what the teacher is supposed to be teaching us, not some other lesson someone in the pew decided on.  The elders have a reason for the classes they choose—at least they should—and no one else should decide what needs to be taught.  The shepherds are feeding the flock the things the flock needs, from careful observation and thought.  The man in the pew may be feeding them what he thinks they need, and in reality, what he wants them to hear, usurping authority in the process.

              And we should make this clear too—just because a class was full of comments does not mean it was a good class.  It may very well mean the teacher completely lost control.  If you remember nothing else, remember this:  anything anyone can come up with off the cuff is far less beneficial than the things the teacher has spent hours preparing—at least it had better be.

              So, comments?  Yes, please.  Brief, on topic, clear and helpful.  Always think before you speak—but then that is perfect advice any time.

              My students excel in all the areas we have discussed.  They are excited learners who work hard and consider one another before themselves.  Together we make a safe place to discuss the things we have all wondered about or that trouble us, without having to worry about anyone judging us or spreading our comments and private experiences beyond the classroom doors.  What is said in class, stays in class—that is our rule.  If every Bible class followed their examples, the church would be more knowledgeable and more loving, just as these women are becoming week after week.
 
Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me, Rom 15:2,3.
 
Dene Ward

I love students who ask questions, and most of mine do.   Please ask your questions.  Many times when one of my students asks a question, someone speaks up and says, “I was wondering that too.”  A teacher who doesn’t welcome questions ought to have a seat and stay there.  Questions show you have been listening, and even better, thinking about what you have heard, the answer to every good teacher’s prayer. 

              My classes are peppered with questions.  I am thrilled that these ladies are not too embarrassed to ask, and confident in how I will accept those questions.  Yes, there are unwelcome questions, but the difference between them and the good questions should be obvious to anyone. 

              This guideline takes care of almost everything: don’t be selfish in your questions.  Consider the effects on the other class members.  Consider who might be listening to you, including babes in Christ and outsiders from the community.  Remember that there may be visitors passing through or people moving in, “shopping” for a new church home.  Consideration for others should be the main characteristic of a Christian, even in Bible classes.  I seldom have a problem with questions like that, unlike my brothers who teach auditorium classes, and my wonderful students deserve all the credit for that.  Here are some other guidelines, most of which I have never had to deal with.

              Questions that are so far off the subject they give everyone mental whiplash are not appropriate.  One wonders, in fact, if the student has been listening and considering the class material at all, or simply letting his mind wander.  A good teacher arrives with a goal and a plan to reach it.  When you dig a pothole in the road with an unrelated question, you can seriously hinder progress in the journey to that goal. 

              Recently a teacher I know was asked, “Would you please comment on…” and because the subject was totally removed from the point of the lesson and not one he could have intelligently answered without study, he simply said, “No, that’s not something I am prepared to talk about.”  Some might criticize him, but I won’t.  He had the best interests of the class at heart.  As their leader, it was up to him to reach the goal of the lesson, not be sidetracked by something that didn’t even have a black and white answer in the scriptures.  It’s time we supported our teachers and the risks they take to their reputation, when anything they say can be misconstrued and often is, instead of sitting back taking the easy, judgmental way out and joining the bandwagon in criticizing them.  If you have one of those questions, please save it for private conversations with the teacher.  Do not disrupt the learning of others because you have a private problem. 

              This is especially true in the Sunday morning adult class where you never know who may be there.  A smaller class with a defined sub-purpose of encouragement may stop for a moment if someone is in need.  Many of my women’s classes have done exactly that, but even then, we were conscious of who was present.  If I deemed it inappropriate at that particular moment, I gently suggested a private moment after class.  Usually several others, mature women who made it a point to be aware of what was going on, stayed with me and the one in need received the attention she required.  I learned this the hard way, after allowing classes to continue on a distracting course, which ultimately led to damaged relationships because I was too afraid of hurting feelings.  Tell me which is worse, a permanently injured bond between sisters in the Lord or a momentarily bruised ego that was soothed as soon as possible?  We have said this before—teachers must sometimes make hard, spur-of-the-moment decisions.  If you can’t, then you shouldn’t teach.

              Then there are those who seek to mask an agenda with their questions, or who have a major hobby they wish to broach at every opportunity, or who have a vendetta against the teacher.  I would assume that none of those even care to be reading this, so we won’t deal with them here.  Let me just add this:  I have seen young teachers in adult classes discouraged to the point of never teaching again because no one but him was brave enough to take on a sinner.  Shame on the leadership of a church when that happens.

              As I said, the wrong questions are usually obvious.  Sometimes, though, an honest person simply needs a little direction.  It is easy when you are in the middle of a personal problem, to forget one’s obligations to others. 

              A class full of questioners is a teacher’s dream, a dream I have fulfilled every week by some wonderful women.  Don’t be embarrassed to ask the questions that need asking.
 
After three days they found [Jesus] sitting in the Temple, listening to them and asking them questions, Luke 2:46.
 
Dene Ward

One thing I seldom have is an unprepared student.  I don’t think it’s because my lessons are so interesting.  I don’t think it’s because they are so much fun to do.  Most of the time they take a good hour, and often more.  Yet my students show up again and again with something written down.  It may not always be what I am after, and usually that is my fault, but at least they tried and I am grateful to them for the effort. 

              Every teacher appreciates a prepared student.  If you are given something to read, then read it.  If you are given an outline, then go over it.  Make a few notes, look up the scriptures cited, and list any questions that might have risen in your mind.  The teacher may answer them in the class, but then again, s/he may not. 

              I usually write my own Bible class material, including scriptures to read and questions to answer.  I try to design questions that will lead the students to their own discoveries.  I know it has worked when they arrive excited, hardly able to contain themselves over the things they have learned and the ideas they have unearthed in all that digging.  Usually those ideas are what I am aimed at, but we cannot get there if the preparation wasn’t done beforehand, and these women usually have.  If we had to spend the time on the fundamentals for the unprepared, the excitement would die in those who have done the work.  In fact, I usually continue on for the sake of the prepared.  If someone is left behind because of their own laziness, why should the others suffer?  Maybe they will do better the next time.  Sometimes being a teacher means you must make hard decisions, and sometimes it means a little discipline toward the student.  But I seldom have that problem due to these dedicated students.

              As to those who do prepare but feel like they must have missed something: it may very well be the fault of the person who wrote the material—in this case, me.  Sometimes a question is poorly worded.  I know that despite copious and careful editing, I still cannot see every way that a question might be interpreted.  So answer to the best of your ability—that’s what my ladies do.  Why should you be embarrassed if it’s the questioner’s fault and not yours?  I can guarantee you that even if you missed the point, you still learned something from reading the Word of God and thinking about it.

              But there is an even more important preparation—an open mind.  An openly skeptical student usually thinks he is keeping a teacher humble, or being careful with the truth, either of which excuses his behavior, to him anyway.  What he’s really doing is hurting himself because he is refusing to consider anything he hasn’t already learned.  Certainly a student should “beware of false teachers,” but everyone deserves a fair hearing.  Skepticism has already judged and convicted before hearing a word.  Any teacher who has spent hours preparing and dares to put himself in front of a group deserves better than that.

              Especially in an ongoing class of busy women, teachers understand when preparation time is sometimes impossible.  As a teacher whose lessons are more complicated than most, I understand better than most.  So should the student stay away if she is not prepared?

              Absolutely not.  Many have come on anyway, and for that I thank them.  If you have that open mindset, you can still learn.  They always bring a pen and listen and write.  If you have done this and still find yourself hopelessly lost, rather than delay the rest of the class, ask for a private session.  I have held those more than once, and teachers should be happy to do it.  But don’t ever deprive yourself of an hour of encouragement and exhortation with your sisters because you feel embarrassed.  Have you caught onto this yet?  Embarrassment will get in the way of your being a good student more than practically anything else.  Don’t let the Devil have his way with you.  You can still learn something, even if you have not prepared the lesson.  Your mind will be stimulated to greater understanding and insights. 

              So here is your first lesson, care of my wonderful students:  Prepare your lesson as well as you are able; prepare your mind every time.
 
…and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Eph 6:15.
 
Dene Ward

I taught my first Bible class when I was sixteen and an elder pulled me out of the high school class because the third grade teacher hadn’t shown up.  I had no material and no prep time.  Why he chose me when there were plenty of able-bodied adults in a congregation of 150, I still don’t know, but the children and I got through the ten plagues with a combination of raucous laughter and wide-eyed amazement—them at God’s power, and me at having survived those forty-five minutes.

              I’ve been teaching ever since, from the baby class when mine were that size—and don’t let anyone tell you a one year old can’t learn anything—all the way up to middle school—another place we seriously underestimate the capabilities of our children.  I wrote a workbook for them called “Did You Ever Wonder?” exploring all those things you wonder about in Bible class but are afraid to ask.  It was given to someone else to teach once, who said, “There’s no way these kids will get this,” even after I had taught it twice myself.  So the book came back to me and I taught it yet again to a group who “got” every bit of it. 

              I’ve taught at least one women’s class everywhere I have been.  That’s a group not only underestimated, but which often underestimates itself.  Most of the material for women, a sister I recently met said, is “spun sugar.”  In some places women’s studies are limited to being a good wife and mother, which leaves a lot of women out.  Yes, those things ought to be taught, and recently have not been.  It has become too popular to follow the mainstream media and disparage the men, which is exactly why I have written a study for wives.  It, too, is deeper than the standard work on the subject, because women can dig just as deeply as the men.  Their minds are just as capable of complex reasoning.  They must be or they couldn’t run their homes.  That’s exactly who I cater to in my classes—meat eaters who are tired of milk, or even the glorified milk called custard.  Women are not spiritual invalids.

              I have had to drop my children’s classes since 2005.  Children need dependable continuity, and with my health issues and increasing disability, I cannot be counted on.  Adults can understand if an emergency arises, if a weak body just cannot manage on a particular day, or if a medication wreaks havoc instead of comfort.  Children can’t.  I nearly cried when a recent group graduated that I had never taught.  But such is life; things change, and most of the time people get along just fine without you.

              Along the way I have had some wonderful students, and it seemed good to tell you about them, so they will get the thanks they deserve, but also so you can learn from them how to be a good Bible class student yourselves.  Don’t think that this is self-serving.  By emulating these women, you will get far more out of your classes, and so will your classmates.  People who disrupt classes, even accidentally, are hindering others, not helping, and we all know how Jesus felt about people who cast stumbling blocks in front of others, particularly the babes. 

              So please join me this week.  I hope that what you learn from these remarkable women will help far beyond these few weeks.
 
Help me to understand what your precepts mean.  Then I can meditate on your marvelous teachings, Psalm 119:27, NET.
 
Dene Ward

“Buttons! Buttons! Read the buttons!” and so for the fortieth time that week I sit down with my two year old grandson Judah and read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  And every time we reach the page where Pete loses his last button but doesn’t let it get him down because “buttons come and buttons go,” and where Pete looks down at his buttonless shirt hanging open and the author asks, “what does he see?” Judah springs up, holds his little arms high over his head with a big grin on his face and says, “His bel-ly but-ton!” with exactly the same amount of glee and excitement as the first time he ever heard the book read.
 
             He loves that book and the other two Pete the Cat books he has, as well as the one called Click, Clack, Boo, plus the one based on Ezekiel 37 called Dem Bones.  That week we babysat we learned by the third day to be careful what we said or it would remind him of one of those books and he would toddle off to find it and ask for it to be read not once again, but three, four, five times again.

              Yet here we sit with a shelf full of Bibles, every version you can imagine, amplified and not, written in and bare, paragraphed and versed, and now even some in large print, and do we ever have the same amount of desire to read it as a two year old who can’t even read it to himself yet?  He knows those “Pete” books so well you can leave off a word and he will fill it in.  You can say the wrong word and he will shout, “No! No! It’s ______!”  You can mention one word completely out of context and he will immediately think of that book and go looking for it. 

              Yet we seem loathe to pick up what is supposed to be our spiritual food and drink, the lamp that lights our way in the dark, and the weapon to fight our spiritual battles.  We moan over daily reading programs, especially when we get to Leviticus or the genealogies.  We complain when the scripture reading at church is longer than 5 verses, especially if we are one of those congregations that, like the people in Nehemiah, stand at the reading of God’s Word.  We gripe when the Bible class teacher asks us to read more than one chapter before next week’s class.  What in the world is wrong with us?

              This little two-year-old puts us to shame.  Just from hearing it read, he can quote practically a whole book, several of them, in fact.  His whole face lights up when you read it to him yet again.  I have to admit, Keith and I would occasionally try to hide those books by the end of a day.  We may not do that with God’s Word, at least not literally, but leaving it to sit on the shelf and gather dust isn’t much different.
 
I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble, Psalms 119:162-165.
 
Dene Ward