well, it was more like 35 days, but who’s counting amiright?
Honestly though, I read the whole bible, in it’s entirety in a little over a month. It was by far one of the hardest and rewarding things I’ve ever done. It taught me so many thing about myself, the Lord, and how to see the whole bible in one context.
You see, the bible is a story. From beggining to end, this book has so many nuggets of truth that live in between its pages. In my bibles preface (ESV version) it says, “This book is the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom: this is the royal law; these are the lively oracles of God.” This statement is so beautiful, and speaks so much truth. The bible is God-breathed, here as an example and a tool for us to live as Christ.
Reading all 1,042 pages in that short of time was no easy feet. It required early morning and late evenings…. with about 1-2 hours of reading a day. Some questioned how I could get anything out of what I was reading by reading so much and reading quickly… but when you look at it as a story and read whole books in one sitting, the central themes almost leap off the page.
Here are a few of my favorites:
In Genesis, we see the Lord as a creator. Before we knew him as Lord, helper, defender, savior, we saw him as an Artist. Over and over in this book he shows how he will always PROVIDE for his people, and how even though he is a just God, he will be obeyed.
Leviticus… everyones favorite book. Yes, the good ‘ol Law. we see over and over how the Lord set apart Isreal from all other nations. He wanted them to be cleam and Holy just like He is holy… because He is the LORD.
Judges! The endless cycle of the disobedience of Isreal, and the Lord continuing to provide and save them from harm-over, and over and over. The people of Isreal did what was evil in the Lord’s sight… they lived for themselves, and forgot about the Lord. Until they had no other choice but to call on Him name, and He ALWAYS saved them… every time.
Psalms is the beautiful book of (mostly) Davids poetry. The imagrey used to show the Lords creation, omnipotence and glory is so beautiful. Ahh I love it. David calls on the name of the Lord in all situations: happiness, frustration, sadness, content- and He praises the Lord, no matter his circumstance.
Lamentations shows how the Lord is always faithful, and He will provide for us even in the midst of grief. ( Seeing as last week was Christmas and lots of homesickness occured this one was really helpful)
and the list goes on and on. It was hard and there was many times I wanted to throw in the towel, but we perservered and finished it!
So if you would like a challenge, I challenge you to read the bible in a month! you wont regret it.
Heres a few tips:
1. Make sure you still make time for normal devos and things you enjoy doing
2. know what you need. if you have a hard day and need to spend time with the Lord, take a rest day… Tis why it took me 35 days haha
3. make sure to take notes and underline lots! look for main themes.
4. cool extra things I did: write down examples of the 3 O’s ( Gods omnitience, omnipotence, and omnipresence)
5. another cool thing for OT- #justoldtestament things. These are things that are totally normal in Old Testement context, but are humerous to us. A few of my favorites include: -when Samson tied 300 foxes together and set them on fire so they could burn down a field of wheat ( see judges 15:4)
– when Sarah denies laughing at the Lord, but God
straight up calls her out. ( see Genesis 18: 15)
– When Elisha gets made fun of for being bald and then commands two Bears to kill the kids who teased him? ( see 2 kings 2:23)
ahh, good times.
but for real, this was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had, and it IS possible to do. So I challenge you!!
