So How Should You
Read the Bible?
Today’s Verse—Proverbs 2:2
Let your ears listen to wisdom.
Apply your heart to understanding.
Joey decided to try something different. He decided to read a book out of order. He figured, if the words were all there, it shouldn’t matter what he read first, right? So he did it. It was a book of fairy tales. He started on page 64. Then he went back to page 14. Then he decided to see how it ended, so he skipped to the last chapter. Then he turned to page 43. After fifteen minutes of reading like this, he summarized the book:
There once was a girl named Goldilocks, who ate too much porridge, so she couldn’t go to the ball with her wicked stepsisters and a goose that laid poisoned apples. Then the wolf blew down her house, made out of candy. So she went to visit her grandmother, who was actually a frog in disguise. But she had to get back home, because at the stroke of midnight, her hair would grow up into the sky, and a boy named Jack would climb up and find bears in her bed. The end.
Not a very good way to read a book, is it? Yet this is often how we read the Bible. We open it up to any page, start reading, and hope we get something out of it. But when we do this, we miss out on one of the great things about the Bible: the big picture.
There are events at the beginning of the Bible that affect events at the very end. There are stories in the second half of the Bible that mean so much more when we remember stories in the first half.
Connie’s Corner
Sometimes I’m a moody Bible reader. When I’m feeling sad, I read the Psalms. When I’m confused, I turn to Proverbs. And I love the book of Ruth because I’m a pushover for a good romance. But most of the time, I read the Bible in order. Lots of times I’ll read a verse, and then I’ll think, That reminds me of something I read the other day ... And the two verses connect in interesting ways. I get so much out of the Bible when I do that.
Here are some suggestions for how to read the Bible. If you’re reading the Bible for the first time, a good way to begin is to read through the Gospels—the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But start at the beginning of each book. You won’t see the big picture as clearly if you start in the middle. The beginning of the Old Testament is a good place to start too. Genesis and Exodus tell fantastic stories. If you’re a slow reader, you may want to skip Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and come back to them later. These books are about the Law, and it can be easy to get bogged down in all the details. Psalms and Proverbs are full of beautiful poetry and wisdom. Reading a bit from either of those books every day might be a good idea.
The important thing is to see the Bible as the rich book that it is. When you read it all, you’ll see the wonderful story of God’s love for us, from start to finish.
Daily Challenge
Pick a very short book of the Bible (for example, Philippians is only four chapters long) and read the whole thing. Write down what that book was about.
• • •
Bible Theme Memory Verse—Psalm 119:89
Lord, your word lasts forever. It stands firm in the heavens.