I recently had a good friend ask me the question “How do you pick what/where to read in the Bible?” Here’s what I came up with.
To be honest, I would not consider myself as ever having had any sort of great system for reading the bible. Over most of my Christian life, I’ve been rather hit or miss when it comes to reading the bible at all. But it still might be useful to look back over the last 30 years and see what I actually did.
How Over What
Before I get started I want to talk about the main thing I’ve learned about scripture reading over the years: how you read scripture is far more important that what scripture you read, and certainly more important that how much scripture you read.
In the last few years I’ve been amazed at the pure gold I’ve found all over the bible. Gold that I didn’t realize was there despite having read the bible several times over already. My blindness to the beauty and magic that’s all over the bible happened because I never really engaged with God while reading it. Sure I engaged with the book sitting in front of me. I’m a great reader who grew up in a house of readers. I read lots of books. Fancy in-depth books on all kinds of topics. And looking back I’m pretty sure I approached the bible the same as I did any other large, deep, non-fiction book: a pile of words that I had to conquer. And I was going to read the heck out of that pile.
So what’s different now? Well I’m certainty not the perfect bible reader, but I think there are three main things I’ve learned:
1. Slow down
When you read the section Read It Straight Through Forever below you’ll find I used to do a lot of bible cramming, reading to get the reading done. Now I give myself more time, and that time is scheduled. I have my God time first thing every day (after I make my coffee) for about 1 hour each day, every day. Having made that space ahead of time, I don’t need to rush my time in the scripture. I now very much enjoy reading slower, stopping at the interesting parts – anything that stands out to me – and pondering what that bit of scripture says to me. Right now I’d say I’m looking for three main kinds of things, and finding those things takes some time and thought:
- What can I learn about God himself?
- What can I learn about how God sees the world?
- What can I learn about how God interacts with me?
Insights into these things, even from a tiny bit of scripture, are far more valuable to me than knowing I made it through all the kings of Israel in one sitting.
2. Engage with God
What I forgot to do for many years while reading the Bible was to include God in it. Now including God, engaging with Him, interacting with Him, is a key part of my reading. Those are great sounding words, but what does that mean practically?
Well, first invite Him into your reading time. Ask Him to guide you in your reading time, pointing out the important bits for you, to teach you. It might seem corny to do this every time you sit down to read the bible, but it’s an important part of framing what’s going on for you. God is the teacher here, not you the wannabe bible scholar. Reminder yourself of what you’re really doing here: sitting at the feet of the master allowing him to guide you into the insights He knows you need.
Then, while you’re reading, talk to Him about it. If you find something interesting or hard to understand, say to him, “Lord, what does this mean? What are you getting at here?” Then spend some time pondering the possible answer to that. This gives God the time to guide your thoughts and your emotions.
Thirdly, share your emotions with Him while you’re reading. If something strikes you as particularly amazing, or scary, or unbelievable, or even boring, tell Him about it. He’s deeply interested in your thoughts and feelings. It’s OK to allow your emotions to guide you here. If you find God’s talk of His love for you to be overwhelming or even angering, spend some time in those emotions. God can teach you and guide you through them as well. For me, a really good time with God usually involves crying in some manner.
3. Don’t sweat it
If the passage you’re reading just isn’t doing it for you, if it all seems boring or uninteresting, or you’re just feeling bland and unengaged this time, don’t worry about it. That’s going to happen. Not every bit of the bible is super thrilling. And different bits will strike us differently at different times.
And if you didn’t actually read the Bible like you planned, don’t worry about that either. God is not a task master ready to smack you if you step out of line. He would love you and accept you exactly the same if you never read another word in the bible.
Remember, reading the bible is just one of many ways to engage with God. If you spend your God time just praying, or just listening to worship music, or just sitting and enjoying being with God – God loves all of those things. Engage with Him and worry less about how you’re doing it.
Techniques
Read It Straight Through Forever
The first “technique” I used was to read at least a chapter of the bible every day no matter what. And I did just that for many years (five? ten? I don’t really recall when I stopped). I’d let myself skip a day only once or twice a year. It was a big deal when it was “the day” to skip reading the bible. It’s been a long time but I imagine I started in Genesis. Then I just kept reading, chapter-by-chapter, until I got to the end. Then I started over in Genesis again and kept reading. I’m pretty sure I read the entire bible twice over during this time period. Which, at 1189 chapters, would have taken about six and a half years.
But back in those days, reading that chapter a day was pretty much the only time I spent with God. And it wasn’t scheduled at any particular time of day. So in the end it usually meant cramming in a quick chapter read right before I went to bed. Now I’m sure I picked up some stuff by reading in this manner, but looking back I don’t imagine it was really a whole lot. While I read lots of words about God’s love and care for me, none of it ever really registered with me. Witness my coming to understand God’s love for me only 20 to 25 years after I stopped using this “technique”. This speaks to How Over What in the section above. Sure I read a lot, but it had little impact on me.
Read the Same Passage for an Entire Season
A few summers back, in my God time I read (almost) nothing but the book of James the entire summer. I didn’t have a set amount I read (see Slow down above) so sometimes it was only a few verses. Sometimes it was the entire book. When I got to the end of the book, I started over at the beginning of the book. There’s lots of great stuff in James and this let me really dig into it. Reading the same bits again and again with some time in between lead to some great insights. That “digestion” time in-between really seems to help.
Now there were days I didn’t really feel like reading James so every now and then I’d switch to my backup scripture for the summer, which, for some reason, was Psalm 20.
What “passage” you read is up to you, and how long the “season” lasts is up to you. Medium size books would be good candidates. So not Genesis, where you might forget everything you’ve read by the time you start over. And not Jude, where’d read the exact same thing every day. The smaller letters in the New Testament are good (like James). In the Old Testament, Daniel, Esther, Ruth and Jonah are good candidates. Try a minor prophet if you’d like a challenge.
Depending on how much you read in one sitting, a week might be a good time frame, or it might be too short. A month is probably a good starting point. As I said I did an entire season, basically defining “summer” as I wanted to. You can also have no pre-determined period of time. Just keep re-reading until you feel it’s time to move on.
Have a List of Your Favorite Chapters or Sections
In the back of one of my journals I have a list of bible chapters, mostly Psalms, that have really spoken to me about how God lives life with me. When I’m uninspired by what I’m reading, or don’t know what to read, I can pick anything from this list and know that I’m going to read something that’s meaningful to me.
To have this list, of course, you have to make it. So start a list somewhere (journal, phone) of bible passages that really stand out to you.
Since I mentioned it, here’s my list: Psalm 23, Lamentations 3, Psalm 73, Psalm 139, Isaiah 46, 2 Samuel 22, Hosea 6, Psalm 16, Psalm 91, Psalm 27, Psalm 37
Read the Stuff You Haven’t Read
There’s value in every part of the bible. If you haven’t read the entire bible yet, it would be a good thing for you to do so. I find for many people there’s various chunks of the Old Testament that they’ve never read. And I can understand why. But if you’re avoiding something that God has provided for (and He’s provided the entire bible for you), it’s probably better so start on that sooner rather than later. The thing you’re avoiding is often how God can teach you best.
Now plowing through a bunch of Old Testament books (if that’s what you’ve not read) may not be a lot of fun. So don’t make yourself do it all at once. Pick one book. Or maybe half a book. Read that. Then go on to something else for a while. Then come back and work some more on the stuff you haven’t read yet.
Bible Reading Plans
There are lots of bible reading plans out there. Your bible or bible app probably has some. There are tons on the Internet. There are plans designed to help you read the entire bible and plans oriented around a certain topic.
Here’s a bible reading plan generator: https://biblereadingplangenerator.com
Some plans from the BibleProject: https://bibleproject.com/reading-plans
YouVersion has tons of plans. You’ll need to login though. I just used my Gmail account.
https://www.bible.com/reading-plans
Do a Topical Study
If there’s a particular topic you’re interested in, like grace or forgiveness or obedience, do a study on that topic. For this you’ll need some reference materials beyond the bible text.
Many physical bibles have a topical index in the back. Find your topic there and then read all the verses listed. If a verse stands out, read the surrounding text for context.
I have a printed Nave’s Topical Bible. I also love to use my exhaustive concordance. It lists every word in the bible every time it occurs. It’s heavy duty but great if you’re a completist like me.
Many bible apps and websites and also have topical reading plans. There’s lot of stuff on the Internet. See Bible Reading Plans above.
If you like the idea of a topical study, but don’t know what topic to study, look through your reference materials for one that strikes your fancy. No need to have a great plan ahead of time.
Read Your Underlines or Highlights
This might seem silly, but if you’ve had your bible (book or app) long enough, and you like to underline or highlight key passages, then you can always page through your bible looking for and reading those highlighted passages. This is a great way to remind yourself of truths that are important to you – because you already know they were important to you before!
When You’ve Got Nothing Else
This is probably what many people do, but when I have no other good ideas, I randomly pick a chapter is Psalms. Or I flip through it until I find one with lots of underlining; if I liked what was there before I’ll probably like it again!
Amos 5:6 