2026 Book Review #11:Sweeter than Honey Bible Study

 

Since the middle of January, the womens  small group I lead has been working in this workbook about how to fully immerse ourselves in studying Scripture.   This was an in-depth look at all the ways to study a Scripture or a passage of Scripture.   I highly recommend this for new Believers as well as for long time Believers.  

SUMMARY OF STUDY 

This study is centered around how God's word is sweeter than honey and the authors used bees and the honey making process as metaphors for how to study Scripture and why. 

There are six sessions (weeks) and each week has 5 days of homework/Scripture reading/anecdotal readings.  

The  sessions are:

1. Study the Word
2. The Unchanging Word
3. The Good News of the Word
4. Transformed by the Word
5. The Word in Every Season
6. The Word in Everyday Life

Each week, we had to use one of the study methods introduced in the Intro section of the book.

• Gathering Knowledge which includes cultural context, historical context, literary genre, people speaking, people listening, etc. 
• Digest the Big Ideas: this includes digging a little deeper into the finding the main idea or main points; summarizing passages of Scripture, and finding anything new we may have learned about God, Jesus, or some concept being talked about. 
• Grow in Godliness: this included more self reflective questions and a place to write out a Scripture that jumped out at you from the day/week and to write out a prayer (optional).  

The book centered around 4 main passages of Scripture:

Genesis (creation) 

Ephesians 1:1-11 where Paul addresses the people at Ephesus while in prison in Rome, just before his death. 

Ruth

John 15

There were Scriptures for cross reference and we learned how and which commentaries to use for comprehension and interpretation of the more difficult passages. 

We learned that there are different ways to study the Bible:

reading it from start to finish

reading it  chronologically

reading it by theme (I personally lean towards this method using my Soul Care Bible and reading passages in the NIV, NKJV, NLT)

reading it by topic (I also use this method via my Women of Faith Topical Study Bible) 

reading it verse by verse (meditating on one verse at a time). 

We also worked on using different spiritual disciplines to study the Bible daily:  meditation, prayer, worship.

We talked about loving the Word of God and why that's important as well as being in a community of Believers to grow in godliness.

There were Scriptures in other parts of the Bible as well for us to digest:  Psalms, Isaiah, I Timothy, etc. 

MY  THOUGHTS

This is a study with a LOT of writing work so I  chose only a few questions from each day's homework for my group to actually sit and discuss. 

 

I think it's a fantastic study but it's just a lot of work. You really learn to read each verse in the passage and "pick it apart" so to speak. 

I learned alot about using commentaries to help explain what Jesus/God was actually saying or what He meant. 

It's an excellent study for beginners in Christ but those of us who are more mature in Christ can get alot out of this study as well. 

In my opinion, this study is appropriate for ages 21 and older. 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.