There are many ways to learn. One is superior above all others, and that is to ask questions. I touched on this in a previous post, but I believe it bears repeating.

So often when we read the scriptures, we do so simply to check the box of “I read my scriptures today”. But there is almost no value in this. All throughout the scriptures, the prophets never talk about reading the scriptures. They always say to search the scriptures.

But the only way to search the scriptures is if you are looking for something. If you’re looking for something, you must have a question. Without a question, without a thing to look for, you cannot search.

Sometimes we inadvertently find things to search for when we experience trauma in our lives. Maybe it’s an illness or death or an unexpected life change, and we seek out the scriptures trying to answer “why me”, or “what does this mean”, or “what am I supposed to do”. And with these questions in our hearts, we find that the scriptures can speak to us, and that pure intelligence can flow in to us, and we can be enlightened.

But these questions, as legitimate as they are, are brought on by duress. As Christ told Thomas (John 20:29):

Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:

But, He continues:

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Or, as Alma put it (Alma 32:13, 16):

because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

But Alma also says:

blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

When we experience these traumas and turn to God in the midst of them, He is attempting to “compel” us to be humble. We are being compelled to search the scriptures, because the questions are being forcibly given to us.

Blessed is he (or she) who has questions without the trauma.

So how can we proactively search the scriptures? How do we find the questions to ask, without being compelled to find them? Here are two approaches I take:

  1. Ask for the questions to be given to you. As you pray or meditate, ask that the questions be given to you. Often you may find that “it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment” what you should ask.
  2. Force yourself to ask questions. Read a verse, and then stop and make yourself ask questions about it. Start with the basics: who is speaking, what is being said, where is this happening, when is this happening? Then move on to related questions: why is this happening? how did events unfold such as to bring the characters to this point? how might things have progressed differently? are there other ways to react? what is the political situation in which this event is occurring? what is the economic, social, and religious environment? why is the character saying things this way, and not another way? are the things the character is saying/doing affected by his/her cultural or personal background? if this is a “revered” figure, is there chance of personal bias that might be seeping through the message? Then continue on to even broader questions: how was this translated? are there other translations? how do the translations differ? what meaning can be gained from the differences? etc. The more questions you ask, the more connections you will find, and the more answers you will begin to glimpse.

Ask, and ye shall receive.