I read through the Bible in 2022 using the One Year Bible: New Living Translation. In 2023 I intend to do the same thing following the reading plan in the Ryrie Study Bible. This year it will be the New American Standard Bible. (Reading different translations of holy scripture heightens my respect for the inspiration and preservation of God’s Word, and sometimes prompts fresh perspectives and questions as I read.)
Reading though the Bible in a year is not as daunting as it may seem. You can do it in as little as twenty minutes a day. It’s not too late to get started. Do a Google search of Bible reading plans, choose one and go for it!
I was saddened to read in the current issue of Christianity Today a report from the American Bible Society that regular Bible reading declined in 2022. It is unclear why. “That means that amid record inflation, threats of nuclear war in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the ongoing debates about the state of democracy, there were about 26 million Americans who stopped reading the Bible.” Is this one of the indicators that the U.S. has become a post-Christian nation?
There is a wonderful story in the Book of Nehemiah which gives us some of the benefits of Bible reading. The teaching priest Ezra led the people of Judah in a solemn assembly to revive their interest in the written Word of God. In Nehemiah 8-9 the “people came together as one” to hear the reading of the scriptures “which the Lord had commanded for Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1).
A great crowd of men, women and children listened attentively as Ezra read all morning long (8:3). The readings were punctuated by expressions of praise to the Lord (8:6). Then Ezra sent other teachers out among the people to explain the scriptures and give clarity in understanding what was being read (8:7-8).
What followed were outcomes we might expect to see in our own lives when we read the Bible with humility: (1) conviction and confession of sin (9:1-4), (2) worship and praise to God (9:3), (3) remembrance of and thanks for the great works of God (9:5-37), (4) heartfelt surrender to God (9:38-10:39). In other words, their lives were regulated and shaped by the holy Word of God. These are reasons why we should be reading God’s Word every day.
I heard Warren Wiersbe say, “When I open my Bible and read it, God is speaking to me.” The Old Testament prophets thundered, “Thus says the Lord!” They were given the conviction that what they wrote and preached was the very Word of God. God had called them to be his human messengers, conveyors of his Word.
So if God speaks though the scriptures, shouldn’t we be paying attention?
Dr. Bruce Waltke was invited to bring a series of chapel lectures at a leading church-related university. His assigned topic was “What do evangelicals believe?” (This was before the label “evangelical” was hijacked by political opportunists!) He began by saying that “evangelical” is related to the “evangel” or the good news of the gospel. The evangel is based upon the Bible. He noticed that nobody in the room had a Bible.
He said to the president, “I won’t continue to teach until you have Bibles!” Naturally the president got upset. But he dispatched a search party to find Bibles for the members of the audience. The janitor found a quantity of unused pew Bibles in a basement storage room. The next week they brought these Bibles to the chapel for Waltke’s lectures.
Why did he do that? Because the Bible was the basis of authority for his teaching. It is the Word of God written, and the source of any truth we can know about God and his will for us. Maybe your Bible is not gathering dust in a basement storage room. But where is it right now? I suggest that you open it and let God speak to you.
Pastor Randy Faulkner