A Bible Reading Exercise {that you should try!}

No matter how many times we read God’s Word, there will always be something new for us to learn.  We will never understand all of it, perhaps not even when we stand face-to-face with its Author in our glorified bodies.   For, while we will understand more perfectly those glorious things spoken of in Scripture, we will still spend all of eternity learning about our awesome God. 

While I many times do fail to spend time in the Word every day, I am learning to cherish this precious Book, written so that I might know Him better.  Isn’t that a humbling thought: The Most High God has revealed Himself so that I might know Him?  “What is man?!?!?”

Anyway, big news: I am *almost* done with my chronological reading plan {that I think I started over 3 years ago.}  I am finally in Revelation! woot woot!  Anyway, while my reading plan is nothing more than a list with what chapters/books to read when, I was recently challenged to do something new with my Bible reading habit hat works alongside my reading plan.  And since I’ve started doing it, it has been so helpful to me! 

Here’s what it is:

Read until you learn something about God (and then write it down.)  And if you don’t find something by the time you’re done reading, go back and read it again…and again…and again…until you do find something about God. 

That’s it.

That may sound like a no-duh statement, but I think if we’re honest with ourselves, there have been many times that we’ve closed the Bible after reading for our quiet time and probably couldn’t recall one thing that we just read!  While there are many things that may factor into why we don’t always get much out of reading the Bible, one of them, undoubtedly, is because we often read without much purpose.  We’re just reading to read.

However, if Scripture is God’s revelation to man, then shouldn’t we, at the very least, be reading to learn just one very small detail that has God revealed about Himself in the passage we just read?

So why not actually read with that very question at the front of our minds: What does this passage teach me about God?

And that’s what I’ve been working on as I finish up my chronological plan. 

This approach has been so incredibly helpful to me because, and I’ll be honest, Bible study is often overwhelming for me.  When I do try to do an in-depth study of a passage, I get bogged down with all the journalist’s questions, observations with colored pencils, commentaries, and word studies. 
And I never get past the first few verses. 

In reaction to that, then, I tend to just read the Word, without putting too much more effort into it.
 
While I do agree that there is no shortcut for hard-work in studying God’s Word, this incredibly straight-forward exercise of slowing down enough to make just one observation about God/Christ/the Spirit and writing it down has been super beneficial in helping me retain what I’m reading!  {And yes, the statement about reading it again until I find something keeps ringing in my ears, forcing me to slow down and read it again and look a second and third time!}

You should try it out!