Beyond Hit-or-Miss
Theme of the Week: Read the Directions First
Thursday, September 17, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: "People do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Bonus Reading: Ezra 7:10; Nehemiah 8:1-3
Imagine picking up a history of the United States and starting with the chapter on the Great Depression. Finishing that, then suppose you turn to read of the War of 1812, and then of putting Neil Armstrong on the Moon. Not a good way to understand history, is it?
But that's how some people read the Bible. A chapter of Genesis today, one from Romans tomorrow, a couple of psalms the next day—such a haphazard approach is not the way to understand the message of Scripture.
To read the Bible purposefully requires a plan. The plan can be as simple as starting in Genesis and reading a certain number of chapters each day straight through to Revelation, or as involved as reading in multiple books at a sitting.
If we're to live by "every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord," then surely he intends for us to at least read every word. And the best way to do that is with the help of a Bible reading plan.
Even if you aren't attempting to read through the entire Bible, but are reading books at random, there's no better—or simpler—way than chapter by chapter, book by book, in a purposeful and orderly method.
—Donald Whitney in Simplify Your Spiritual Life
My Response: Is there a pattern to my Bible reading? What adjustment is called for?
Thought to Apply: The Bible is to be read … one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity.—John Quincy Adams
Adapted from Simplify Your Spiritual Life (NavPress, 2003) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Thank you, Lord, for revealing yourself and your will so completely. Please whet my appetite for your Word.
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