The Method

This 3-step method is actually nothing new. People do it all the time.

For example, a doctor, he tells you to say 'ah'. He then looks into you mouth. To the untrained like us, we don't really know what to look for. But he does! And after the observations, he will interpret his findings as a diagnosis. His application then becomes your prescription.

Another example: a teacher. She gives her lecture to the class, but while doing so, she observes the reaction of her students - facial expressions, posture (face on palm propped up by the elbow?), responses (questions asked or answers given), etc. If her interpretation of the observations is that many of the students don't understand, she will try to explain some more. Sometimes she may observe that a student has his book propped up. She may walk closer to the student's desk to see how he will react. If he sees her approaching and removes something from behind the book, she will interpret that he has not been paying attention but doing something unsanctioned. Her application may be his walk to the principal's office.

Another good example is a crime scene investigation technician. She looks for hair, fiber, finger prints, blood stains, and a number of other things. Then the detectives of the case will interpret what they mean. For example, blood droplets - if one has a 'tail', it helps the detective to figure out the direction of the source and maybe also the velocity at which the droplet was traveling before it landed.

All these people are skilled and know what to look for. On your job, how do you go through the same 3 steps?

But in the inductive Bible study, what do you look for?