Answering questions is probably the most difficult part of personal Bible study. If inductive Bible study is a rigorous method of study, it is in the answering of questions where rigor is most required. Two words will be helpful in describing these efforts: Orderly and thorough.
First, the questions you answer must be answered in a specific order:
1. Observational Question: What's here?
2. Definitional Question: What does it mean?
     a) When confronted with a name you've never seen before, as "Who is this person?"
     b) When confronted with a place you've never heard of before, ask "Where is this place?"
     c) When confronted with a time element such as "Passover" or "Feast of Weeks", ask "When is this?"
3. Rational Question: The rational question explores at least two major thoughts. First, it explores how element works. Second, it explores why the element was included in the text in the first place. So, you might ask such questions as these:
   How are these two contrasting elements different?
   Why does the aiuthor include this contrast in his book?
   How are these two similar elements the same?
   Why does the author include these two similar elements in his book?
   How does the cause lead to the effect and how does the effect stem from or result from the cause?
  Why is this causative relationmship included in the book?
   How does the preparatory material prepare for what follows?
   Why does the author include this preparatory material in his book?
4. Implication question: Many students erroneously think of the implication question as the application question, but you must avoid that mistake. The implication question is the question you have been leaading up to from the outset of your Bible study. Your answer to this question is the lesson you are learning from yoru study. If you do not answer this question, then you have wasted your time. When answering this question you should have one of the following for items in your answer:
     a) A truth to believe;
     b) A promise to hope in;
     c) A command to obey;
     d) A principle to live by,.

Remember: Answering the questions requires rigorous persistence and considerable thought. More time should be spent on this step than on any other step in Bible study. Everything leads up to this step.