Ready to Read Through the Bible?

Ready to read the Bible through in 2010?

Here are the numbers:

read 7 vv of Psalms today;
read 2-3 Proverbs today;
read 55 other Old Testament verses today;
read 22 New Testament today.
(Thanks to: deafmissions.com)

Even simpler: read about 65 Old Testament (including a psalm and proverbs), 22 New Testament verses a day.

For convenience, I’m using the NIV One Year Bible, published by Tyndale House.

William Tyndale was an English scholar, the first to translate large portions of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek originals into English. The invention of print allowed wide distribution. For this crime in 1535 he was strangled and burned at the stake.

People I’ve told about reading the Bible through have shown interest, so I’m looking forward to what God has in store for us this year.

My friend Carole has a Jewish friend whom I want to invite to come on Tuesday night and talk about her Jewish faith. This will help me a lot, because I’m still clear that I don’t get the full meaning of the Old Testament lessons.

I recommend that you mark your Bible:

• a question mark beside a verse you don’t understand
• a flag beside something imporrtant
• a heart beside a verse you’d like to memorize

Also, on a blank page list pages and phrases to remind you why you want to remember the page. For example Jan 28 — Psalm 23.

One reason to read through the Bible is to identify people, topics, passages that you want to come back to later and study in depth, so your personal index can help that a lot.

Another list could be passages that console, challenge, or address issues (like money, worry, or life after death).

Just as God inspired the original authors as they spoke and wrote, so God’s Spirit illumines us as we read. Without inspiration there would have been no Bible to read; without the illumination of God’s Spirit,there’s no point in reading the Bible.

I love a prayer Sandy called to my attention years ago, during a read-through-the-Bible emphasis:

“Beyond the sacred page, I seek thee, Lord!
My spirit pants for thee, O living Word!”

God bless you as you read.