The sword is an illustration of the Word of God. Think of it like this:
- God – When we pick the sword up, we naturally point it toward God. So the first question that we ask of the passage is, “What does this teach us about God?”
- Man – We grasp the sword by the handle. So the second question
we ask is, “What does this teach us about man?” - What do we do? – This area covers several different ideas:
a. The right side – “What is right,” or “What should we do,” or
“Things to obey”.
b. The left – “What is sin,” or “What should we avoid?”
c. The center – “What promises do we need to cling to and
etch into our hearts?”
When we work through the first two areas, we should normally address
those questions separately. But for the whole middle section, we ask all
three of those questions at the same time.
We should take our time to assess each of the different questions and draw
some conclusions. Items that we see repeated are likely highly important, and that
should have an impact on what we do as a result. But rather than just drawing
conclusions, we want to intentionally involve the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to guide you in obeying what He points out from
the passage.