As Christians, we know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and can speak to any subject, even if it doesn’t mention it directly. It is living and active (Heb. 4:12), and we can turn to it for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). God’s Word is relevant when we are going through trials, when we need comfort, when we want to rejoice, when we need guidance, when we’re praying for healing, when we’re in a difficult relationship, and so much more.
As we enter a new year, at Bible Study Tools we wanted to look back on what Bible topics and themes our readers searched the most in the previous year. We dove into the statistics and broke down the numbers to see what resonated with you in Scripture. We think you’ll find this deep-dive insightful and heartening like we did, since it underscores how God’s Word truly can speak into every situation we experience as humans.
Here are the top 20 themes and topics you searched on Bible Study Tools this past year:
1. Inspirational Bible verses – This was the top search and reminds us that Scripture is a wonderful place to turn to be inspired every day.
2. Healing Bible verses –We live in a fallen world, and that fact is so evident when we face an illness, disease, or injury. While the Bible doesn’t say that God will heal every illness or injury this side of heaven, it does provide comfort to us when we or someone we love is in need of healing.
3. Bible verses about homosexuality –This issue is still a hotly debated one in our culture, and many Christians turn to the Bible for guidance.
4. Encouraging Bible verses –We weren’t at all surprised by this one – the Bible is full of encouraging words from the Lord.
5. Bible verse about God's promises –From God promising Noah never again to send a flood on the earth to promising Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation to New Testament promises that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us and that he is faithful to forgive our sins, the Bible abounds with God’s promises to us.
6. Bible verses about worry/anxiety –Anxiety is rampant in our culture, and Christians aren’t immune to it. The Bible offers comfort and hope. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7) is just one of many verses that speak to worry and anxiety.
7. Strength Bible verses –Whether God’s strength or his ability to give us strength to get through a trial or Paul’s assertion that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10), the Bible assures us that though we daily come face to face with our human limitations, God is our strong tower and is holding the world (and us) in his hands.
8. Friendship Bible verses –Friendships are so integral to being human. As Christians, we know that friendships within the Body of Christ are especially important.
9. Prayer Bible verses –Scripture has so much to say about prayer, especially when we look to Jesus’ teachings about coming confidently to our loving Heavenly Father and the Lord’s Prayer.
10. God’s love Bible verses –John 3:16 immediately comes to mind, but there are a myriad of other verses about God’s love. In fact, all of Scripture is the story of how much God loves his people.
11. Bible verses about blessings –Every night I say a blessing over my son that comes from Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you. The Lord be gracious to you and give you peace.” This and so many other blessings and benedictions are truths we can hold onto. I also love how biblical blessings are used at the very end of many church services.
12. Peace Bible verses –In so many ways, our world (and many times our inner world, too) seems so very far from peace. Turning to Scripture to ground ourselves in God’s peace can help still the storm.
13. Protection Bible verses –We pray God’s protection over our loved ones, our travels, new endeavors, and everything in between. The Psalms was the most-read book of the Bible on Bible Study Tools in the past year, and many of the Psalms are filled with words of God’s protection over us.
14. Bible verses about overcoming grief –Whether or not we experienced the death of a loved one this past year, we assuredly experienced grief in some form. Grief over a lost friendship, grief over a missed opportunity, grief over a wayward child – human grief comes in so many forms. Thankfully, God’s Word is a balm that speaks to each and every one of them.
15. Marriage Bible verses –We can’t know if you were searching Bible verses about marriage to celebrate a wedding or because your marriage is in trouble and you need encouragement or guidance, but either way, we know that God instituted marriage and he cares deeply about it, which is clear in his Word.
16. Forgiveness Bible verses –The Bible has much to say about forgiveness, whether God’s forgiveness of our sins or Jesus’ teaching to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
17. Faith Bible verses –"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" – so says the famous passage in Hebrews about faith (Heb. 11:1). 2 Cor. 5:7 also says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We wait with hope for the day when God will make our faith sight.
18. Hope Bible verses –"Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us,” says the triumphant passage from Rom. 5. We have ultimate hope in the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12-21) and that Jesus will make all things new.
19. Worship Bible verses –The Bible provides guidance on Sunday church service worship, but also on worship in our day-to-day lives.
20. Bible verses about fasting –Fasting is not very common among most Christian communities these days, so we were surprised that this topic made the top 20, but Scripture certainly does have a lot to say about fasting in the Christian life.
We found this breakdown of the top themes you searched in the past year so enlightening. We hope you were encouraged by this list, which truly underscores the fact that Scripture is relevant to every era and every situation. Nothing surprises our Heavenly Father, and we can be sure that he desires to speak into our lives in this new year just as he did in the previous one.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/pcess609
Veronica Olson Neffingeris a Content Editor for Salem Web Network. When she is not writing or editing articles, you can find her listening to baseball games, enjoying the outdoors, reading, or engaged in some form of home or garden care. She lives in Richmond, VA with her husband and two young sons.
