This is a book review by one of our apprentices, Ben Kinuthia. He is based in Deliverance Church, Maseno. He helps in the church administration as well as reaching out to students in schools nearby for fellowship and Bible studies. 

I have always struggled reading books but Dig Deeper by Andrew Sach and Nigel Beynon has been a cultivating piece of work that has kept me glued for nearly three months, reading and re-reading it. As the title suggests, the book is about mining valuable treasure from the Bible. The authors thus labor to give tools to be able to mine this treasure. I have always thought reading the Bible is obvious; choose a text, read, assume you have all you need to get from the text, say a prayer and that’s it.

The authors say ‘This is a book to help you understand the Bible correctly… We want to help you dig deeper and find hidden riches in the Bible.’ They go on to say, ‘Most of all, we want to help you do all this for yourself.’

The format of the book is very simple to follow through. The writers have used tools in each chapter with many illustrations and examples from the Bible. Each tool has been placed in a separate section in the toolbox which has made it interesting and easy to understand on how it operates in the mining process; it has been wonderful to work through the practical examples in each section. It is impossible to read this book without opening your Bible and rubbing your nose actively in the scripture.

The various tools include:

• The author’s purpose tool
• The context tool
• The structure tool
• The linking words tool
• The vocabulary tool
• The translations tool
• The repetition tool
• The genre tool
• The Bible timeline tool

I liked the fact that the chapters are short and detailed and very clear. Their flow of thought is amazing all through and they do not lose the main purpose of the book: ‘to help us correctly handle the Bible so as to experience God and grow in him.’ The language is easy to grasp for everyone which makes it an easy read.

Dig deeper has not only helped me on how to effectively read the bible and experience God but has also engaged my thoughts on the many times I have done the opposite of what I ought to do when reading the Bible. It has shown me the many times I have wanted to be the ‘David’ in the story, the ‘Moses’ in the story; always wanting to be the hero of the day but never pausing to consider the possibility of me being the grumbling Israelites or even the unfaithful wife to Hosea by correctly interpreting the Word of God.

If you are seeking to grow in your walk with God, if you are seeking to teach the word of God to others then you have to read this book. I recommend it to every Christian eager to understand God’s Word. It is rich in every way.