Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle

62: Anchored By The Word

• Leanne • Season 5 • Episode 62

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A locked door, a worn Bible, a quiet glow—those childhood snapshots taught me something I couldn’t name yet: time in Scripture changes a person. I build on that memory to explore why studying the Bible is not a checkbox but a lifeline that reveals who God is and, in turn, steadies who we are.

Psalm 19 frames the value of God’s word—reviving the soul, enlightening the eyes—and why reading the whole story reveals our need for Jesus. From the early days of depending on study guides to learning to sit with the text itself, I talk about confusion, dry spells, and the slow growth of desire that comes from simply returning to the page. You’ll hear practical tools drawn from Jen Wilkin’s five P’s—purpose, perspective, patience, process, and prayer—plus a clear approach to application that starts with God’s character before it moves to our response.

Life seasons shape study rhythms, so let's map real options for each one: ten focused minutes with three guiding questions, a single verse carried through the day, an audio Bible on a walk, or deep work with commentaries and notes when margin allows. Along the way, I name the lie that volume equals virtue and replace it with a better truth: faithfulness over time forms a resilient heart. Whether you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, spiritually dry, or ready to dive deep, this conversation will help you begin again with courage and clarity.

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Recommended Resources:

Sing by The Worship Initiative

Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin

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Leanne Tuggle:

One of my earliest memories is finding my mom on her bedroom floor reading her Bible. I remember that her door was closed, and when I jiggled the handle, I found that it was locked. But like any other self-respecting six-year-old, I knew how to slide my library card into that door jam and pop the door open. I don't even remember what I needed her for, but I do remember stopping and taking everything in at once. She was on her rug. The bed was still unmade, and she had her Bible laid out in front of her with a pen on highlighters. Her eyes were closed in prayer and her lips were moving, speaking words that only God could hear. She didn't even notice that I was there. But when she looked up, there was something about her face that simply glowed. From then on, I noticed a difference between the days when my mom had this quiet time alone in her room and the days when our busy schedule didn't allow for it. I didn't fully understand why reading her Bible gave her more peace, but I could tell that the time alone with the Lord was important to her. So whenever I saw that her bedroom door was closed, I knew it was for the best if I just left her be. Now, so many years later, I get it. As a mom, I now understand the importance of spending time with the Lord because apart from him, I can't do anything. And there is something about that time that anchors my heart and my soul before I tackle the work before me for the day. My dad was similar. He woke up much earlier than anyone else in the house. So it wasn't until I was in high school that I realized he also spent time in the Word every day. I was up early one morning to print out my homework assignment, and I found him sitting in his chair reading a very worn Bible. There were sticky notes and tabs all over this thing. The binding looked like it was barely holding on. And again, he hardly registered my presence as I watched him pour over these pages. When he finally looked up, I asked him what he was reading. And he said he was reading through the Bible from cover to cover. Again, I asked him how many times he had read the Bible. And after thinking it over for a few minutes, he replied that he wasn't sure, maybe eight or nine times. What? Eight or nine times? I remember thinking that that seemed like an excessive amount of time to read the same book. Didn't he already know everything that it said? And again, all these years later, I get it. Every time I read through the Bible, I learn something new. Something different will stand out, depending on whatever season of life I'm in at the moment. I am truly grateful for my early exposure to what studying the Bible looks like. I had beautiful examples with both of my parents. It was part of our family's culture and livelihood. And now I want to share a little bit of that with you. In this episode, I will explain why studying the Bible is so important and also share some practical tips on how to study the Bible, as well as discuss what to do about Bible study during different seasons or stages of life. Psalm 19, 7 through 11 provides the best explanation for why studying the Bible is so important. It says, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. The Bible is God's word, and it is how we get to know who God is. The greatest benefit for studying the Bible is to know God. A. W. Tozer calls it the pursuit of God. And the more you begin to understand who God is, the more likely you are to know who you are in Christ. We have an identity crisis in our world today. But since we are made in the image of God, the more we know about who God is, the more we can understand who we are and our purpose, which is to worship God and enjoy Him forever. This is only something that we can do through Jesus Christ. And that's another benefit to studying the Bible. Reading verses here and there are great, but reading the whole Bible as one big story is how you begin to see how the puzzle pieces fit together. And it's how you see your need for a savior. Everything in the entire Bible points towards Jesus. As I have grown and matured in my walk with the Lord, I have also found that the more I study the Bible, the more it shapes and guides all of the circumstances of my daily life. As a newlywed, I could find inspiration on being a godly wife in the book of Ephesians. Holding my brand new baby, the words of Solomon to his son in Proverbs suddenly made a whole lot more sense. And when I found myself struggling in a season of depression, the words of Jesus in John 15 pulled me out of that darkness. From the pages of Scripture, I could find encouragement, discernment, and strength for every season and stage of my life. For any circumstance or challenge that I am going through, I can find wisdom in God's word. And so can you. Anytime I feel confused or lack peace, I know I can turn to the word and find the truth. And this truth has been the anchor for my life. No matter what storms may come, I can hold on to the word because as it says in John 1:1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. Everything always comes back to God. Studying the Bible is how you can know God this side of heaven. And the more you know about God, the more you want to pursue Him, which is our whole reason for existence. So it makes sense that studying the Bible is a vital part of who we are as we were made to be in relationship with God. But how do you study the Bible? I gave my life to the Lord when I was nine years old. Having been raised in a Christian home, I didn't know a day apart from Jesus. And then one day I finally understood that all those verses that I had memorized in Sunday school or even at home were more than just pretty words. 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 17 says, But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Suddenly, these verses made sense to me in a way that only the Holy Spirit could articulate. I knew I needed a savior, and I knew that I wanted to know more about who God is and who I am as his child. But I also didn't know what to do with it. There were big words in that Bible, and some of the stories were honestly kind of scary. Sometimes God sounded really angry, and other times he sounded kind and merciful. I wanted to read my Bible and study it, but I didn't know how. I didn't know where to start. But my mom helped me by getting me a Bible study workbook. This guide became my lifeline. I could look up the verses suggested in the workbook, and then I could write down answers to thought-provoking questions. And as a straight A student, this was something that I could do. It was very tangible and it helped things make more sense. It was something that I understood. But it didn't take long for this to start to feel like just going through the motions. Bible study eventually became something that I did every day, but it was something to check off my daily to-do list. And like a good little Christian girl, I did do it every day, but I didn't necessarily love it. And I didn't get how my mom could spend an hour reading her Bible or how my dad could read the same thing over and over again. When I left for college, I still opened my Bible and followed a study every morning. I sort of became dependent on those studies. Somehow I had convinced myself that I didn't know how to read my Bible without a Bible study guide of some sort. Somewhere in my faith journey, I had begun to believe the lie that at best I wasn't capable of discerning the truth from the Bible on my own, or at worst, that the Bible wasn't enough. That is, until the Holy Spirit broke through again and convicted me of my passivity with Bible reading. I felt him nudging me to simply read the word. Not other commentators, not other podcasts or speakers. I needed to learn from the Holy Spirit. But I'll be honest with you, studying the Bible isn't easy. My first read through the Bible didn't make a whole lot of sense. The book of Numbers literally put me to sleep. The book of Judges felt like a violent medieval drama. The Song of Songs made me blush. Jeremiah and Limitations were pretty depressing. And I had no idea why some of the prophets were major and some were minor. And when I finally got to the New Testament, while things did get better, there was still a lot I did not understand. But there was something else too. I realized I wanted to know more. When I finished that first read through the Bible, I knew I needed to read it again, perhaps slower. Jen Wilken provides an incredible guide for how to study the Bible in her book titled Women of the Word. She describes the five P's of Bible study: purpose, perspective, patience, process, and prayer. You need all five to most effectively study the Bible, but perhaps most importantly is to start with the knowledge that scripture is about God first, not you. In her book, Jen suggests starting with a book of the Bible, picking any book of the Bible. You don't have to start in a Genesis at the beginning of the new year, but choosing a book of the Bible. Read through that book or chapter several times. Take notes or even annotations along the way. Maybe use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words or words that are repeated. Look at other translations of the Bible passage to see if another version provides more insight. Jot down an outline of what you have read. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what it all means before, during, and after reading. And then seek out cross-references or commentaries to provide additional insight and understanding. Not the only thing that you read, but in addition to reading the Bible. And then the final step in studying the Bible is the application part. But before you get it twisted, application first needs to be about God. Remember, we study the Bible so that we can know more about who God is. And the first question Jen Wilkins suggests that we ask is what does this passage teach me about God? Then you can begin to explore if this aspect of God's character changes your view of self. And then lastly, you can ask, what should I do in response? Now, if you are listening to all of this and you feel embarrassed to be thinking that it all sounds like a lot, don't worry, I thought the same thing. But then I remembered my purpose, which is to know God and enjoy Him forever. If this is my purpose, and if the Bible provides me with wisdom and insight for living, then why not study the Bible as thoroughly as possible? But the main point I want to convey to you right now, perhaps the whole point of this entire episode, is that you have your whole life to study the Bible. And I'm not saying that so that you put it off and wait until you're older or later on in your journey with the Lord. What I'm saying is you have your entire life to study the Bible, to keep coming back to it to read it over and over again. There is no manual that says in order to be a good Christian, you have to read through the Bible in a year. There is no guidebook that says you have to have a quiet time for one hour every morning before the sun rises. And God is not sitting up in heaven with a clipboard and a grade book checking to see if you are doing all the right things. He simply wants a relationship with you. And this will look different during different seasons and stages of your life. What I do think is helpful, however, is to have an idea of what studying the Bible looks like so that depending on your season or stage of life, you can do as much or as little as you are able. Let me explain with some examples. You might find that you are in an exhausting season of life. Perhaps you have a newborn and you've been up at all hours of the night. Or maybe you're on the opposite end of the spectrum and you are up late with a teenager who suddenly has everything to say at 11 p.m. Rising early to spend an hour in the Word isn't necessarily the right choice for you in this season. Maybe this means you study for shorter periods of time, or only focus on one book of the Bible for a long time. You might find that listening to an audio Bible is more helpful for comprehension, or you might write one verse on a card and meditate on it throughout the day. If you find yourself in the midst of a busy or overwhelming season, perhaps studying your Bible looks like blocking out 10 to 15 minutes to read a passage and then ask those three questions I mentioned earlier. What does this passage teach me about God? What does this aspect of God's character mean for me? What should I do in response? And maybe that's all that you have time for, and that's okay. Maybe you are in a spiritually dry season. You might choose to study the gospels or read through one psalm every day. Maybe you need to stack your Bible time with a prayer walk or a journaling session. Pray and ask God to renew your desire for His Word. Or perhaps you find yourself in a season of plenty and margin. And this is when you can dive deeper, where you can use the commentaries and spend longer amounts of time in the Word. Maybe you study with a friend, or maybe this is a season when you lead a small group Bible study. The point I'm trying to make here is that studying your Bible is going to look different in different seasons. Your commitment is to do what you can and let God multiply your efforts. Faithfulness matters more than volume. Personally, I have found it helpful to have a sort of baseline similar to what Jen Wilken refers to. This is like my goal, or kind of like my ideal, for what my Bible study time would look like. When my first child was born, all semblance of this ideal quiet time went right out the window. And because I couldn't have the quiet time like I wanted to, I figured it meant that this season wasn't one that required me to study the Bible. Well, this is a lie. Just because I couldn't spend an hour alone with God didn't mean that I wasn't able to study the Bible. Slowly but surely, I realized that even reading one verse and meditating on it throughout the day was better than nothing at all. And gradually, she did sleep longer, and I was able to read for more or longer periods of time. By the time my twins were born, I knew that it would be a few months before I could enjoy a full Bible study session. I embraced the few verses that I was able to read and thought about them off and on throughout the day, sometimes reading the same handful of verses all week long. Until again they started to sleep a little longer and I was able to read more. Soon I could add back in the journaling and the outlining what I read. And then before long, I was back to reading the commentaries too. But because I had this baseline or I knew what I wanted Bible study time to look like, I knew what I was working towards. And I could scale it up or scale it back, depending on what was needed in that season. Even though I knew that reading a few verses at a time was still worthwhile, I wanted to ensure that I wasn't just making excuses when I did actually have the capacity for more. To studying the Bible in different seasons and stages of life. Psalm 139, 23 says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. I truly believe that there is incredible value in reading God's word yourself. And I believe this is when the Holy Spirit shows up to lead and guide you in the way you should go. But I also know that in some seasons, this is hard. When I struggled with a season of depression, reading my Bible was simply something that I just did. Yes, I still opened my Bible, but my heart wasn't in it. And yet the simple act of opening my Bible was the very thing that eventually pulled me out of that depression. The Holy Spirit still met me, even though I was half-hearted in my attempts. So the spiritual discipline of reading the word is so important, especially for those times when you don't feel like it. I am also learning that in some seasons, we need more help to study the Bible. And this is when something like Sing by the Worship Initiative is super helpful. This is a daily devotional that is texted to you every morning with scripture and song. Again, if our purpose is to worship God and enjoy Him forever, something that allows you to remember and experience truth by singing God's word is a wonderful way to daily meet with Him. Colossians 3:16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. So here's the bottom line. We can do this through studying the Bible so that we can know who God is and as a result know more about who we are as his daughters. Knowing what it looks like to study the Bible is helpful so that depending on the season of life you are in, you can hold yourself accountable to faithfully pursuing God with as much or as little as you are able in that season. And because God is faithful and his mercies are new every morning, he will multiply your efforts. So keep coming back to the word. Keep showing up to study your Bible. No matter what season or stage of life you are in, pursuing God is always worth it. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Genesis 3:9, which says, But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? From the very beginning, even after sin entered the world, God has been pursuing us. Even when you are at your lowest, even when you mess up, even when you have so little to offer him, he is reaching out to you. Choose to pursue God. He is already pursuing you. Mark 12, 41 through 44 offers a story about a woman who gave all that she had. And while this is referring to a monetary gift, all of the money that she had, I like to think of it in terms of also our time or what we're able to give, even mentally or emotionally or spiritually. And it is my prayer that when it comes to studying your Bible, that you do offer up what you have to the Lord in faith and for his glory. Mark 12, 41 through 44 says this. And he, Jesus, sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums, and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which made a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. Whatever you have to give is worthy in God's eyes. Ask him to give you a hunger for his word. And then open your Bible.