When Your Plans to Read the Bible Fall Through

Have you ever read the whole bible in a year? Or tried to?

You know what they say about the best laid plans...

The Plan

In January 2015 I decided that I would read the Bible in a year. It is easy to miss the richness buried in infrequently read books (Obadiah anyone?), and reading right through the Bible is a fantastic way to get the whole picture.

So in addition to various Bible studies I was working through, I planned to listen daily to an audio Bible plan that would take me straight through from Genesis to Revelation.

The Reality

But life isn’t always “straight through," and guess what? I didn’t read the Bible in a year. In fact, I am still working my way through now, twenty months later.

I am going to read through the Bible in two years. :-)

Failure?

I could focus on the fact that I did not read the whole Bible in a year. Better yet, I can celebrate that I am reading the Bible! Yay! Hey, I could even cheer because I am going extra fast on a read-the-Bible-in-three years plan. ;-)

Here's the thing: this is not the first time I will read the whole Bible, and it won't be the last. I will be reading this book until the day I meet my Lord face to face. And the enemy of my soul would love to discourage me from reading it by whispering: You failed. You got behind. What's the point?

Sister, any bit of the Word you can get into your heart and mind today will be expanded mightily in your life by the God of all creation Who loves you beyond reason. Any little bit.

Like this:

That right there is half a verse. Half! Believe me, if you spend a little time meditating on that half verse while you fold the laundry, I guarantee God will fill your heart. 

That is the point.

Whose Expectations?

Don’t hold yourself to an impossible standard. If you fail to meet expectations, take a moment to ask whose expectations they are? Yours? Someone else’s? God’s?

Yes, there are times when we are being wayward or rebellious. If you have fallen behind in your reading or studies for this reason, it will be a great blessing to you if the Lord convicts your heart!

But so often (especially for we first-born, type-A sorts) the demands we labor under are put on us by ourselves. Not by God.

Are you in a season of mothering small children? Probably not the time to plan to spend an hour reading your Bible every day. But you can read a passage. You can listen to the Bible app while you do the dishes. You can do something.

You don’t have to do everything.

There are seasons for the reading the bible in a year. This may not be the season.

Your Love Letter!

The Bible is a love letter from the Father. You and I have the astonishing privilege of living in a time when we can pick up a Bible at any time and read. Every word is for strengthening, blessing, and growing us.

You can choose to hold yourself to hard-to-attain standards. Or you can choose to be held.

Drink from the well of His Word in sips or gulps... no matter how much you consume at a time, you will be nourished.

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