Reading God's Book
At the beginning of this year, I committed to reading God's book, the Bible. (You can read about that here 'The Book That Keeps Giving' if you want to know how it all happened.)
It's been almost four months since I first wrote that post. I thought it'd be cool to give you all an update on how it's been going and share some things I've learned along the way.
At the bottom of the page, I've also included some helpful resources if you're interested in reading God's book for yourself!
What I Tried
Initially, I had decided that I would read the whole Bible in 4 weeks. I know, ambitious. I reasoned that I read on average one book every week and one book had approximately 300 pages. My Bible had 1200 pages so I could read it in 4 weeks easy. Needless to say, it didn't work. I wasn't very consistent and would reach the end of the week with more than 200 pages left to read. It started to feel like I was only reading to meet a goal or because I had to play catch-up. This approach was not realistic so I decided to try something else.
Next, I tried to read the Bible like any other book and take it at my own pace. For a while, it worked. It helped me appreciate the Bible as one continuous story and the contribution each book made to the bigger picture. It was hard to motivate myself to read the seemingly unimportant books, books like Numbers or 1 and 2 Chronicles. I would skip over boring chapters and skim-read, reading what I liked when I liked. I tried to persevere but once again, I became inconsistent and unmotivated. The task of reading God's book seemed too big and daunting.
While these approaches didn't work for me, there were some lessons I learned that helped shape the way I approached God's word.
What I Learned
Stop and be present.
We live in a culture where busyness is pervasive and glorified. We are always in a hurry, saying yes to more things we can commit to and jumping from one thing to another. I want to preface by saying I get that for some of us, that's just the reality of life this season. But when something is so ingrained in our culture, it affects everything we do including our attitude towards God's word.
Reading God's word is not like reading a news article or a post on our Facebook feed. It's not something you glance at and mindlessly scroll past, not something you look at and forget. For some of us, we might do this when we're busy and tired. For others, our minds are just not there. We're thinking about the next task to tick off on our to-do list. We get distracted by a message or notification on our phone.
It takes effort to go against the grain, to stop and be present with God in His word. Would we make time to sit with Him, put away our phones, any distractions and be present with Him? Would we enjoy hearing Him speak to us through His Word?
Read all of it.
One of the first sermons I heard this year was on the importance of Scripture, another term for God's word. Our pastor preached on 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
16 All (emphasis added) Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
He challenged us to consider what it meant for 'all Scripture (to be) God-breathed' and suggested it meant every word and all the words together. It's funny how this small word at the beginning of the sentence can change the meaning completely. If I were reading this in my own time, I probably would've passed over it without a second glance.
This passage forced me to reconsider my approach to reading God's word, especially whether I could treat it the same way I did with other books. Knowing that every word is from God changes how we read it. We should read carefully, paying close attention to the details and savouring it. It also reminds us of the importance of parts of the Bible that seem boring. Those sections are just as important.
Be consistent.
Upon reflection, it wasn't really about which approach was best as it was about my waning motivation. Consistency was an issue that I had to overcome if I wanted to finish reading God's book.
One helpful way that David Mathis puts it is to 'gather a day's portion'. This phrase describes a humble, realistic approach to reading God's word and seeking to be faithful over time, not trying to do too much at once. I feel like this perfectly explains what I was not doing. I wanted to finish reading God's book as quickly as possible, not willing to put in the time and effort to cultivate a discipline for spending time with God. Even though being consistent is slower and harder, it's worth it and is better for us in the long run. So don't give up too easily and persevere even when it's hard!
What Works For Me
I realised that I needed to make my reading the right portion size, enough that I could chew and ponder on but not so much that I would be overwhelmed and stop eating. This reminds me of when I went to a Japanese buffet with a couple of my friends and we ordered so much food (and so much ox tongue ew) that I got stressed eating, thinking we would have to pay the fee for food wastage. I also realised that I needed structure, enough to not let how I felt each day determine how much I was reading, but not too much that it would suffocate me.
As I looked for some options, I found a Bible reading chart on Ligonier Ministries that has worked well for me. It's a simple chart that lists all 66 books of the Bible and has an individual box for each chapter. It's simple to use, colourful and pleasing to the eyes.
Each day, I read one chapter of the Bible and meditate on it. When I finish, I mark the chart so I know I've read it. There are no set passages each day and I don't feel pressured to get through the whole book in a year. I've also given myself the flexibility to choose what order I will read the books and whether I will take more time to reflect on a book after I have finished reading it. It's the approach that I've found to be the best for me to sit, read and digest each day.
If you are reading God's book and feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, I hope this post will encourage you to persevere and find something that works well for you. May you be present, read carefully, be consistent and ultimately, enjoy reading God's word!