Recently a question was asked about how to read the Bible when it seems boring. I know I’ve experienced this, and my friends have too. I think it’s more common than many people are willing to admit.
So, what helps you with this?
Here are two ideas from me to get us started:
Before reading the Bible, “warm up” my heart by listening to a favorite worship song. When my heart is prepared to worship God and experience his care, that helps me read the Scriptures.
Instead of forcing myself to read a passage of the Bible that’s boring me, I give myself permission to return to “an old favorite” - Psalm 23, the book of Philippians, a Gospel, 1 John.
I feel so encouraged as members join in this community with a sincere desire to grow in their devotion to the Lord. God has given us His Word to know Him, to know the experiences of people who sought to follow Him, to gain wisdom to live in this broken world, and so much more. So, it makes perfect sense to start having goals to read the Bible. But as we open the Bible and start to read, we may lose enthusiasm as we are not able to relate to the cultural context, we may have many questions, we may not have a community to engage the bible with, we don’t find immediate solutions to our situation, we seek special spiritual revelation which doesn’t happen, we may not find time, or we may have other doubts. These are some obstacles I have faced in trying to keep up with my Bible reading goals. I can share some things that have helped me grow in my Bible reading habit.
To remember that I read the Bible to have a deeper relationship with God than as an end by itself. It doesn’t matter if I don’t meet my Bible reading goals, it matters more that I understand what I read. Going to the Bible daily to read one verse is better than not going to it at all. If I want more of God, my attitude as I go to the Bible can’t be what I want to get from the Bible but what God wants for me.
When on a Bible reading plan, we may encounter times when our soul needs a different kind of spiritual nutrition than the assigned reading. It’s fine to take a pause with the plan, read other portions of scripture to have our hearts ministered and then return to the reading plan when ready.
I have not gone through the Old Testament as many times as I have been through the New Testament, mainly due to a lack of knowledge and exposure to its teaching for many years. Gaining understanding of the overarching story of the Bible as that of God’s plan of redemption unfolding over the ages and reading difficult texts along with commentaries or teaching videos to understand the cultural context, have greatly enabled me to go through the Old Testament. Cross referencing between the New and Old Testament was also helpful for a unified understanding of the text. The more we understand, the more we see the beauty of God’s plan, and the more is our appetite for the Bible.
God used Daniel 6:10 to lead me to reconsider my prayer habits. Daniel had a secular job in the king’s palace yet got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks to God. More than ticking off my bible reading time, I realized the attitude of my heart through the day is important. As often as I repented of unholy attitudes that arose during the day, the easier it was to keep up with Bible reading. When I struggle with prayerlessness, faithlessness and joylessness, instead of trying harder to pray or read the Bible, I confess and seek God’s help.
I have found that reading the Bible in community, finding a place to share/teach what we learn, seeking biblical answers to questions we or our friends face can also motivate us to study the Bible more.
Finally, when it comes to timing, whether it is in the morning or evening, I try to make sure that at least once in a day, I have enough time to pray without feeling rushed, to be able to come to a state of deeper reflection on God and His word and find time for praying for different needs. In my prayer time, I am intentional about prioritizing the Bible over other Christian material and let the word of God sink in. We can rush earthly things to meet deadlines, but we cannot rush our spiritual growth.
It took me many years to grow in my consistency in reading the Bible because I didn’t always receive God’s grace. When we experience His love through the Word, it becomes easier. God can give us a deep hunger for His Word by His Spirit. I remember experiencing this soon after I became a believer and later in life after some major life changes. May God greatly bless our time with Him in the Word.
There are 2 ways to approach the Bible. Head knowledge or interactive approach.
I remember dissecting a frog in high school. When we were done, we had a dead frog. If we watched it catch bugs, heard it croak, watched it jump, or even held it, we would have had a better understanding of its life. Interact with the scriptures, old and new testaments. How would I respond if I were Joshua? What was Bartemaus feeling? What was Herod thinking? Get inside the people and the situations. See the scriptures come alive.