Through the years I have enjoyed studying the Bible through the lens of types. I had a few years of experience with Adventism in my youth, but then went out of the church until my early forties. When I came back I knew I needed to study the Bible, but struggled to understand what I was reading. I would force myself to read, but frankly, as it did not make much sense to me, I did not enjoy it. I had been praying that God would help me to understand and to enjoy my reading but to no avail. I read book after book about how to read the Bible and to get something out of it. They all left me with a feeling of duty; that I had to read it or I could not go on as a Christian. So I would trudge along through a passage or chapter because I knew I had to. This went on for a year or so, until I was about ready to give it up.

At the same time, I was also struggling with my many defects of character and wrong habits in my life. I experienced the same results as with my Bible study, that is, major frustration. It was the same thing. I read countless books on how to ?overcome? my evil habits and destructive behaviors. Five days of this and I could have the Spirit, or ten days of fasting and I would experience incredible clarity, or forty days of intentional prayer and victory was mine. My conclusion at that time was that those books might work for someone else, but they did nothing for me. I can honestly say that it was not for any lack of effort on my part.

Then came the counsel from well-meaning friends that ?of course you can?t do it in your own strength, you just need to let go and let God.? Welcome to the next phase of an exercise in frustration.

I had developed a habit of hiking early on in my religious experience. I would get up at 4:20 each morning and read all that I could stand, and then go hike for miles, all the while letting the Lord know how much I did not get from my reading from the Scripture, and pleading with Him to help me to understand. It was during those hikes that He then began to teach me in the form of types. I of course had no idea what a type was back then, but just the same, I began to see the Bible in a different light. My bible study went from twenty to thirty minutes of forced reading, to an intensely interesting study that often lasted for two plus hours.

That was 24 years ago, and since then the Lord has blessed me with a greater understanding of His Word than I ever thought possible, and has far exceeded my expectations. As I went along I learned to pray most earnestly for the crumbs from off my Master?s table, and then, that He would help me to gather the fragments into the basket, so to speak, so I could then ?hear the conclusion of the whole matter.?

My experience of frustration has become one of true victory in the ongoing battle with my inherited and cultivated defects of character. Three texts became my mainstay: 2 Peter 1:4: ?Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust;? 2 Corinthians 7:1: ?Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;? and 2 Corinthians 1:20: For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.?

Through this experience I have learned just how it is that the Lord works in me to remove my defects, and to come into a right relation with Him: ?Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word;? ?It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes;? and, ?I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.? Psalms 119:67, 71, 75.

My purpose on this forum is to share some of the Bible types that have been helpful to me, in hopes that they may in turn be helpful to others. They have served to ?enlarge my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.? Psalms 18:36.