Reading Through the Bible in 2024, Part 3

IT IS NOT EASY

In so many ways, it is not easy reading through the Bible.

Never mind doing so each and every day. But, talk about worthwhile.

DON'T BE HARD ON YOURSELF IF YOU DON'T KEEP UP WITH THE READING

This was a hard lesson for me to learn.

Life happens, no matter how hard you try to avoid this from happening. You will have times that you fall behind in your reading. This is a fact. Just catch up the moment you can that week and make sure you read the Bible all the way through in a year. That's your ultimate goal and is so every year hereafter.

Cut yourself grace. Get caught up. That's what Shabbat (Sabbath) is for and give you time to do so.

Since I refused to back down from the ultimate goal of reading the Bible through, every page, every chapter, every book, every year, this helped keep me focused and motivated. This helped me have the drive to catch up, even at one point when I was almost ten days behind in the reading.

BLINDED: HARD TRUTHS

I will not sugarcoat anything. Nor will I lie. 

This has been a hard year. Reading through the Bible, and trying to do so slowly, word for word, prayerfully, and without using any commentaries or study Bibles has been difficult. But it's not for the reason you might think.

Not referring to what man (humans; people) have said about the Word of God has actually been an easy habit to break. Allowing God to speak to me through His Word has been the difficult part. It's actually been extremely challenging.

Why I say it has been hard is because I realize how much I have not paid attention to in my reading and studying of the Bible in the past. It seems that if you go to seminary, attend church, attend Bible studies, listen to radio messages (sermons), everything is fast-paced and in a rush. There's not much time to stop and digest what you just learned before you're off and running to the next topic or study. This is a problem.

But, there's something even more of a challenge to grasp. We are all blinded to things in the Bible. 

I cannot believe how much I have been blinded to the Word of God and what it says, and what it does not say. I have listened too much to what I hear and read that I have taken on the biases of the people I listened to and read. And these biases have meant that I have been blinded to everything the Bible says.

This has been a painful lesson to learn. People's interpretations of the Bible are biased.

Our denomination's interpretation of the Bible is biased.

Our pastor's interpretation of the Bible is biased.

Bible study leaders' interpretation of the Bible is biased.

We have got to read to get to know exactly what God says in His Word, not what we think He says. We need to read exactly what the Bible says and not inject what we want the Bible to say.

We need to only pay attention to what God says in His Word. Period. No more. No less.

When we do so, this means that we will see how much we have learned and applied wrongly.

This year reading through the Bible has been a very painful time. I have cried so many times about how sorry I was for the wrongness of what I understood and what I somehow didn't read in the Bible before, though I have read every word multiple times. I was sorry for all the things I should have been doing and wasn't. I was sorry for all the things I should not be doing and was.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I have been transformed through reading the Bible through this year. Most every day.

But, it has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I wouldn't change a thing. And I cannot wait to see what happens next year.