How to Study the Bible

I just got home from the final session of a 3-week class my husband taught at church, entitled How to Study the Bible.  Ahh…it was fabulous on so many levels.  As a wife, it was thrilling for me to see my husband doing what he’s passionate about.  Teaching God’s Word, and specifically equipping people to study God’s Word on their own, is his foremost passion.  Especially tonight, I couldn’t help but fall in love with him all over again.  His love for the Savior is what made me attracted to him in the first place. It was great to see it again.

On another level, it was a refreshing reminder of the power of God’s Word.  I get absolutely silly with excitement at seeing people “get it”, seeing things click for people in such a way that they feel empowered to read and study the Scriptures on their own.  Tonight I could see light in people’s eyes. I could see that that little flicker had begun. Curiosity welled up, interest was piqued.  Heads nodding every so slightly, people lost in thought–they’re getting hungry, I thought.  Spiritual appetites were whetted.  That is a glorious thing,

So how do you study the Bible? When Jeff makes his resources available online I will link to them here.  For now, here’s how God got me hooked on His Word:

I grew up in a fabulous Christian home, and prayed to receive Christ when I was 5.  I stayed out of trouble, followed God, so on and so forth. But I never read my Bible. I had no idea. It’s sad when I think back. I think I knew the NT had Jesus in it and OT didn’t.  I knew the stories and I really did have a relationship with God, I just never read His Word.

Right before I started college, a huge life change made me desperate and I turned to God’s word for help.  It wasn’t Bible study, it was just sheer desperation, and I developed a hunger for it, but still not a discipline. I was amazed at its power and loved to spend my evenings just soaking in the Psalms, but still didn’t understand a lifestyle of steeping in God’s Word.

A few months later, I went to a little Bible study that my brother and I and a couple of our friends put together.  I still remember the revolutionary moment. The guy leader said, “Ok we’re going to try something. It’s called 30-minutes-a-day-with-God.  That means that every day we spend 30 minutes a day with God, reading the Bible and praying. Every day.”

WHOA! This was revolutionary.  I had never heard of such a thing.  Yes! That made sense. If this Bible thing was so great, I should read it every single day. So I did.  It was that simple. I just did it. Every day.  We’d check back in each week.  People were hit and miss.  I just did it. Every day.

Then, a few months later, another revolutionary moment occurred. I was reading a book by Anne Ortland, who said that her habit, for decades, had been to simply read through the Bible every year. Cover to cover. Genesis to Revelation.  She just read it, every year. That simple. She figured that if she just did that, slow and steady, that by the end of her life she would have really steeped in it.  My response? Of course–I’ll do it. That simple. Right there, in that moment, I realized that if I did that (I was 19 at the time), then if God graciously gave me 75 or 80 years or so on this earth, I could actually have read the Bible like 55 or 60 times!! That just sounded remarkable to me. Why not do it?!

So I did. Just like that. Genesis to Revelation. Slow and steady.

That was almost 12 years ago–and in January it will be 12 times through the Bible.  Twelve isn’t a lot, but that’s 12 times more than if I hadn’t made that simple plan! I’m so thankful for her simple challenge to me, in the form of that book, that has literally changed the course of my life. I know I am a different person than I was 11 1/2 years ago, because of that simple commitment.

Now, I add other Bible study on top of it.  Sometimes, I’ll admit it does feel like a lot when adding church studies, studying for teaching, and trying to fit in the reading-through-the-Bible thing. But you know what? What a good problem!  I don’t think I’ll ever regret having read the Bible too much. You think?

So I share this because perhaps for someone, all you need is a little suggestion.  A little “this is what I do” moment, for you to embrace a plan and begin the slow and steady pace of growing with God. That’s all it took for me.  One day, one book, reading of one woman’s plan at reading through the Scriptures.  Your plan may look different, but do you have one?

I challenge you, today, to ask God what His plan is for you. A chapter a day?  (BTW, 4 chapters a day will get you through the whole Bible in a year. It’s actually really easy.)  Through the Bible every year?  However God leads you, do it. You’ll never regret a moment spent in the Scriptures, mark my words.  Or, better yet, mark His.