Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (97 page)

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

John 3:1–21

TIME COMMITMENT:

20 minutes

“The question is one of the most powerful tools of communication. If I ask you a question, doesn’t it more or less force you to think? Sure it does. Of course, if someone only asks questions and never provides answers, that can be very frustrating. You begin to wonder whether he knows what he’s talking about. But we’re going to discover that the biblical writers employ both—strategic questions and helpful answers” (p. 159).

S
everal examples of potent questions and answers are provided in
Living By the Book
(p. 159). But for this exercise, we want to look at a question that wasn’t particularly good. In fact, it was quite ridiculous.

Read John 3:1–9. You’ll probably recognize the story. It’s where Nicodemus and Jesus were having a late-night conversation. Jesus was trying to pass along some deep insight about spiritual things, but Nicodemus wasn’t exactly soaking it up like a sponge. What “deep” questions did he have for Jesus?

Now read John 3:10–21. What were some of the other things Jesus had to tell Nicodemus?

Among the things you noted should have been the classic verse: John 3:16. We all love this verse! But look at the circumstances under which Jesus uttered it. It was in response to a question—a rather simplistic question, but a question nevertheless. What if Nicodemus had been reluctant to sound foolish and had never asked Jesus to explain Himself further? Do you think we would be quoting John 3:16 today?

Jesus’ response to Nicodemus’s question is only one of many examples of the question-and-answer format of things that are related in Scripture. What do you think it suggests to us about asking “stupid” questions if we don’t understand something in Scripture?

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

Isaiah 66:1–16

TIME COMMITMENT:

40 minutes

“The biblical writers give you a number of terms that flag similarities. The two most common words to look for are
as
and
like.
They indicate a figure of speech called a simile, which is a word picture that draws a comparison between two things. . . . A device related to the simile is the metaphor, where comparison is made without using
as
or
like”
(p. 163).