Actually Studying the Scriptures

Elder Takashi Wada's talk, Feasting upon the Words of Christ, has reminded me that my recent resurgence of daily scripture study hasn't really been "scripture study" at all.

Sure, I've been reading the scriptures daily, and I ponder them almost as often, but I haven't really been studying them. I haven't been checking the footnotes, looking for relevant General Conference talks, or considering the historical context of the passages I've been reading. Essentially, I haven't been "studying" the scriptures the way I would study any other topic or text.

Still, I'm not sure that studying the scriptures in the conventional manner is actually the best way to get the most out of them. Yes, it might help someone gain a bit more perspective about the scriptures, and that might help them pick up more insights, but I think that the scriptures were meant for more than that. The scriptures aren't just there to teach us; they're also there to inspire us and help us become better people.

That's why I think that the best way to "study" the scriptures is prayerfully. When we read the scriptures, we should also pray for guidance, and we should let our minds be drawn toward whatever thoughts the Spirit inspires in us, whether those thoughts are expressed in the text of the scriptures or not. The Spirit might inspire us to dig deeper, pursue questions, and actually study the scriptures, but if He doesn't, we might be just as well off reading a few verses, pondering them, and thinking about how we can apply them to our lives.

That may or may not be the same thing as actually studying the scriptures, but it sounds like a good idea to me.