Troublesome Topic: Hunger-driven Bible Reading

If we say getting close to God is our priority, then reading His word regularly should be one of the Big Things we make sure to do every day. Mt 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for they will be filled.” But many professing followers of Jesus spend more time on Facebook than reading their Bibles. This begs the question: What are you hungry for? What drives you?

The older I get the more uncomfortable I am with the use of devotional helps like the “Daily Bread” and the “Upper Room.” I fear they have become a crutch for many people who think they have met their obligation for rest, their obligation to connect with God, because they took a few minutes to go through one of these prepared devotional guides. Crutches are only for people who cannot make it on their own and should only be used during the time of healing. But many believers have relied on these crutches their entire lives.

By relying on prepared devotional guides people are often missing the beauty of hearing God speak to them personally from His word, something just for them. Many among us have gotten into the unfortunate habit of expecting others to provide them with spiritual food and they have never learned how to feed themselves. God’s desire is that your connection to Him be personal, strong, vital and refreshing. He wants to give you special messages just for you, not something for you and millions of others at the same time.

I must balance my comments by saying there is much we can learn from some of these guides, but they should never be used alone. If you find the writings of people like Oswald Chambers helpful as devotional material, I highly recommend that you read them in conjunction with a heavy dose of Bible reading, but never by themselves.

Read Psalm 119 and take note of the various times the psalm refers to taking delight in, or rejoicing in God’s words. Also take note of the times it speaks of meditating on God’s word.

Consider this comparison: The Hindus often memorize all of their holy book, the Bhagavad Gita (approximately 176 pages), many Muslims memorize the entire Koran (over 600 pages), and most Christians have memorized the 23^rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer. You may be one of those that says you can’t memorize well. You could do more if you set your mind to it. As you work at memorizing you will get better at memorizing.

It does not matter so much how long you read, or what part of Scripture you read. What matters is that you read with a hungry soul. The more you seek to be hungry for God the more hungry you will become. Reading out of duty produces frustration and stagnation; reading out of hunger produces humility and greater intimacy with God.

If we are not enjoying much time with God, then we might have to be honest with ourselves and admit that He is not one of the Big Things in our life, we just say He is.

Suggestions for Bible Reading

There is no right or wrong order in which to read the Bible. The important thing is that you do it, and that you do so with the right attitude, not out of duty. No matter what part of the Bible you read, no matter what order you follow, God can speak to you. With experience you will find what works for you and what doesn’t work.

 If you are struggling to get started reading the Bible, or how to do so in a consistent and meaningful manner, I encourage you to listen to what others are doing and see what strikes you. Ask believers you respect what they do.

Here is a list of possible things to consider, but it is by no means an exhaustive list:

~ Read one or two verses and meditate on them, striving to understand them fully. This works quite well in the Gospels and in the Epistles.

~ Read until something strikes you, then stop and meditate on that.

~ If you are a new believer I suggest you start by reading those parts of the Bible that are the most clear and the most helpful to a new believer. In my mind those would be: Genesis, John, James, Proverbs, and the Psalms.

~ Get a good study Bible. These have notes at the bottom of the page that help you understand the difficult or important portions on each page.

~ Read through the Bible Chronologically. The advantage in doing this is that it fits the way our brains are wired. We want to hear a story presented in the order in which things happened. But many other cultures do not present information chronologically. The Books of the Bible are not organized in a way that presents the story of the Bible in chronological order. When you read it in the order in which the events happened (or as close as we can get to that order), things make sense in a whole new way. There are several Chronological Bibles available. The one I like the best is The Daily Bible, edited by Lagard Smith.

~ And of course, the resource you are now reading is designed to help you understand the toughest parts of the Bible. Check out How to Read Through the Bible and Understand Most of it.

The next lesson is Constant Personal Worship