A Case for Reading the Bible Book by Book
It was a Sunday in March two years ago that found me and my family ministering to a vibrant church in the Southwest. The people were warm to us and responsive to the preaching. Some responded to the preaching with an “Amen!” or “That’s right!” One gentleman repeatedly responded to points in the sermon that spoke to him with a plea to the Lord: “Help us!”
I didn’t think too much about that expression, but my eight-year-old son had never heard it before; and what my son had heard was a little different than what the brother in Arizona had actually said. We didn’t know that until two days later as we absent-mindedly watched billboards pass as we drove across I-10.
One billboard in Louisiana featured a car-sized headshot of a man with a full head of black hair slicked back, an upturned collar, and the caption Elvis in bold letters.
“Hey, Dad!” Weston exclaimed. “That’s what that man kept saying in church the other day! He kept saying ‘Elvis’!” What the man said and what my son heard were obviously two different things!
Confusion is easy to come by. Have you ever been misunderstood? Maybe someone thought he knew or understood you, but he did not. Maybe he heard only part of a sentence or knew only half of a story.
We do this to other people and their written communications, as well. If you read an email that is not yours, if you begin reading Charles Dickens halfway through Great Expectations, if you accept the comments that others make about the Constitution having never read it yourself, you may well misunderstand these written words.
No words are more vital for you to understand than God’s words in the Bible. But most people, even God’s people, don’t read the Bible as they could. They read it as something written for the people of antiquity. They listen to others comment on it. They read fragments of it, a psalm here, a chapter of John there. And they are missing out!
You can read the Bible, all of it. You can comprehend the Bible, more of it. And you can begin right now!
While there are many profitable methods of reading the Bible, I would like to suggest one in particular for your consideration. I would like to challenge you to read your Bible through in book order. By that, I mean begin where the Bible does in Genesis 1:1 and thereafter begin your reading each new day where you left off the day before. Why?
IT KEEPS YOU FRESH.
In the first place, reading in book order will keep you fresh! Very often, when you read in this way, you will find yourself reading what you otherwise would not. The Bible has more to say than we have the knowledge to search for!
By disciplining myself to read the next chapter each day, regardless of where that leads me, I am forced to take the time to think about passages that would otherwise never command my attention. This helps to keep me fresh because I am reading something new every day! Rather than searching the Bible only when I wish to verify what I am already thinking about, it is better to let the Bible itself determine what I am thinking about.
Let’s consider for a moment the book of Leviticus. Is it part of God’s Word? Yes, it is. Do you suppose God put it in the Bible for a reason? Well, yes! What purpose could God possibly have for this book?
Now, there can be no doubt that there is a compelling reason why God gave us Leviticus, but most of us don’t know what that reason is, if we have even given it a thought. In the meantime, we are missing out by ignoring this book! Reading the Bible in book order will help you read books in the Bible you might otherwise never get around to reading.
Bible applications to your life are there, if you will take the time to think! When you think as you prayerfully read, you may find yourself in new territory. The best ideas will come to you when you come to the text as if it were for the first time. The best ideas are God’s.
On many a morning, I have thought to myself, “If God will only teach me from His Word this morning, so much of what I need for the day will also be supplied.” What a blessing to know God’s opinion about the issues in my day by reading the words in His Book!
IT KEEPS YOU IN CONTEXT.
If you will read the Bible in book order, not only will you read what you otherwise would not, but you will also read the Bible in a way that you otherwise could not. Reading the Bible through in book order will give you context for the book you are reading as well as connections to the rest of the books in the Bible.
What is context?
What do we mean by context? We are referring to the elements surrounding the text that help us better understand it. For instance, perhaps you once memorized the Gettysburg Address for school.
Who gave the address? When did he give it? Where? Why? The Gettysburg Address is nothing more than a flat speech without purpose until you understand the story surrounding it. When you know the story, the words come alive! The same principle applies to the Bible.
How does context help?
Back to the book of Leviticus, how in the world can you expect to tell a sabbath from a sacrifice if you start reading chapter one without any time to “warm up”? Leviticus is not well-suited to the brief or unconnected “sound bites” of information that make up so much of our daily intake.
Leviticus defies being chopped up into a series of “proof texts.” It is not going to be a prime candidate for “today’s daily portion” along with a psalm, a verse in John, and a profound quotation from some brilliant dead guy.
Now, don’t misunderstand me; I don’t begrudge a “daily portion.” And this is definitely not to say that Leviticus is dry, dull, or irrelevant. It is not! But to go from the Gospel of John one day to an address in Leviticus the next is like shifting your Corvette from first gear to fifth gear just as you are beginning to climb the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains! You are going to stall out!
Reading book by book will help you with this problem. You will gain momentum you would not have otherwise, if you approach Leviticus close on the heels of Genesis and Exodus. Each book naturally leads into the next.
Context is an important aid to our understanding of many things we read every day. For instance, I used to skim the Associated Press and Fox News every morning and then read the editorials in the Wall Street Journal in the evening. Many of the stories I skimmed in the morning had been developing for weeks, months, or even many years! If I hadn’t been following the story line right along from the beginning, the latest dose of news on a subject wouldn’t have made a lick of sense!
Suppose I am reading about the latest development in the Middle East when my youngest child takes note of my keen interest. Of course, this snippet from years ago is no longer “the latest,” but it is like many conversations we have had.
“Whatcha readin’ about, Dad?” His voice pulls me out of my iPhone and back into Murfreesboro.
“Uh, I’m reading about Momar Kadafi,” I reply.
“Mopar Daffy?” He raises an eyebrow.
“You know,” I explain, “He was the dictator of Libya.”
“The tater of what?!”
Now, I can remember news stories about the tyrant of Libya from when I was my son’s age! In order to get “Buster” up to speed on the morning’s news, I would have to recite a crash course on the last forty years of North African politics!
The best way to understand the headlines is to keep up with the news surrounding them. The best way to understand what you are reading is to do so with context.
OTHER ADVANTAGES
In his wonderful little book How to Study the Bible, Dr. R. A. Torrey explains several different methods of Bible study. One of the methods he explains is the one we are talking about here, reading the Bible in course, or reading the Bible through book by book. Let me list the advantages he saw in such reading:
1. First, it is the only method by which you will get an idea of the Book as a whole.
2. It is the only method by which you are likely to cover the whole Book, and so take in the entire scope of God’s revelation.
3. It is the best method to enable one to get hold of the unity of the Bible and its organic character.
4. It is a great corrective to one-sidedness and crankiness.
5. Every other method of study should be supplemented by studying the Bible in course.
Even if you choose to use another method of study, I believe that you may find what follows in subsequent posts to be beneficial.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Now, I certainly understand that this method may be daunting, particularly if you do not yet have a Bible reading routine. I sympathize but persist in my challenge to try reading sequentially. Here are some ideas that may help you get started and keep going.
- Start in the New Testament. It is shorter than the Old Testament, and it may be more familiar. Just determine not to neglect those tricky books when the time comes; they will bless and probably surprise you.
- Take small bites. (We’ll talk about this again later.) You wouldn’t attempt to eat a T-bone steak in one gulp, so don’t take in more Bible at one time than you will digest. While it is generally good to read at least a chapter a day, it is better to read less if that will help you to digest more.
- Get a good reference Bible. I am usually reading in a Bible with good-sized print and helpful notes. Notes at the beginning of a book give me a general context for the book, and definitions of difficult words help me to understand what I am reading. The notes of godly men are not inspired like the words of God, but I read them with a “grain of salt,” and they usually help me.
- Keep your place in the Bible with a bookmark. The entire point of reading in book order is to see things in a certain sequence, so don’t lose your spot!
- You might use a good devotional commentary. I am not talking about a ponderous book intended for in-depth study; I am talking about the concise variety that spurs thought, explains context, gives insights, and helps you to make sense of it all.
- Listen to the audio version of the chapter you have read. I am amazed how I absorb the Scripture in stereo when I listen in the evening to the same Scripture that I have read in the morning. Alexander Scourby is known for his recorded readings of the King James Bible, and I have found a great app for my smartphone that allows me to listen to the Bible. Incidentally, this is one way to learn how to pronounce difficult words!
Of course, there are many other Bible-reading plans. Don’t get hung up. But don’t tell yourself you can’t or shouldn’t do it simply because it is a challenge. Whether or not you read sequentially, I hope the following posts will help you to get more from God’s Word!