One day my eight-year–old came bounding in from a birthday party with a new prize. It was a Magic 8 Ball. She said, “Mommy! Ask me any question and I will give you an answer!” So, I asked, “Am I the best Mommy of all?” She shook her new toy and then read the reply that appeared, “Not today.”
We would never admit it, but this is often how we approach the Bible. We have a question about life and expect the Bible to give us the answer. We open our Bibles with a proverbial shake and then plop our finger on a random verse. Surely, this is God’s answer to my question, right? But God and His Word are not a cosmic 8 Ball. The Bible is a book about God and His rule and reign throughout history. As we read it correctly, we will receive answers to some of life’s biggest questions, but not in the ways we would expect.
Others don’t treat the Bible like a Magic 8 Ball, but like a medicine. If we are feeling anxious, we go to the Topical Index and look up passages about worry. If we are lonely, we look up passages that show God is with us. When we are afraid, we find passages that that are about trusting God. But the Bible is not medicine that we read or apply to our lives just because we don’t feel good.
Read the Bible with a Plan
Instead of these approaches, we must come to the Bible with a plan. This ensures that we aren’t cherry-picking only familiar passages or ones that seem easy to read. This also helps us to read with the big over-arching story of Scripture in mind. We begin to see how all 66 books tell one big story of God’s creation, how sin messed it up, how God redeemed us through Jesus, and how one day He will restore it all.
There are many reading plans available! Some plans have you read the entire Bible in 90 days whereas others spread it out over one, two, or five years. Some reading plans work chronologically through Scripture, whereas others start in Genesis and read all the way through to Revelation. Some have you read an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, a Psalm, and a Proverb. The most important thing though is to pick a plan you like and stick with it! Most Bibles have a reading plan in the back, but you can always find various options online. Reading plans have shown to help us get into God’s Word!
Click here to see some daily Bibles that help guide you though reading the Bible every single day.
Read a Chapter of the Bible Per Day
Another option is to just read a chapter a day from one book of the Bible. First, pick which book you’d like to study. Before you begin to read it, do some research. Who wrote this book? Who was their audience? Why did they write it? What was happening around the same time that this book was being written? What type of literary genre is it?
These background questions are so important because the Bible has 40 different human authors who wrote over 1,500 years in 8 different genres (law, history, wisdom, poetry, prophecy, gospels, epistles, apocalyptic). Therefore, we cannot read a poetic book written by King David in 1000 BC in the same way that we would read a letter from Paul to the pastor of a small church in 63 AD. (We know this instinctively as we would never pick up a restaurant menu and read it in the same way that we would read a novel. Different needs require different genres.) If you choose this plan, maybe choose a New Testament book first. When you have read all the chapters in that book, then choose an Old Testament book. Alternate back and forth—New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, Old Testament—until you have read all the books in the Bible. Remember, first do the research on the book and then read one chapter at a time.
Try Listening to the Bible
Another option available today is to listen to the Bible being read. When you are driving, when you are folding laundry, when you are mowing the grass, or brushing your teeth, why not be filling your mind with God’s Word? On various listening platforms, you can find different audio plans. And if you listen for 15 minutes a day, you will have the entire Bible completed in one year!
Whether you chose to do a formal reading plan for the Bible, read one chapter at a time, or listen to it, it is not the method that’s of utmost importance. What’s most essential is that you are reading your Bible! But having a plan is crucial. It keeps us accountable to work methodically through Scripture. So, find a plan that you like in the timeframe that you want. And then, start reading!
Tara Dew
Tara Dew is a national speaker, author, Bible teacher, and President’s Wife at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). She has loved Jesus for as long as she can remember, trusting Him to be her Savior at the age of five years old at a Billy Graham Crusade. She felt called to ministry in the high school youth group, where she also met her husband, Jamie. They have been married for 25 years and have been blessed with two sets of twins: Natalie & Nathan and Samuel & Samantha. Her primary ministry is to her family, as many hours of each day are spent homeschooling their four children.
For more information on Tara Dew or the Women’s Initiative at NOBTS, please click here .
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