what I'm reading: the Bible, chronologically

I did it! I finally did it! I finished my 1-year Bible reading plan in, oh, just under 2 years.

When I had babies, I stuck to Matthias Media's Daily Reading Bible Notes, but now I figure I've got the energy for more.

I'm following in a grand family tradition. Here are 2 things I remember about my darling Nana:

1. she loved us tickling the soles of her feet
2. she read the Bible through every year.

So it's a family kind of thing.

This time, I'm using a chronological Bible reading plan. I can't tell you how it's going yet, as I'm only 5 readings in. But I'm excited, especially about seeing how the Psalms fit into the Bible story.

Already I've gone a little off course. Instead of meandering off Genesis and into Job, I ignored the reading chart and jumped straight into the story of Abraham ... oops! So I took a U-turn and I'm now knee-deep in Job, which I loved reading last year.

Next time, I want to try this thematic Bible reading plan. And then I want to write a review of the plans I've used. All in good time.

Can I encourage you to try one of these plans or this one? You can start any time of the year - I did! - and go as slowly as you like - I did!

Meredith, who reminds me of my Nana (the Bible bit, not the feet bit), gives some great hints and tips to help you here.

Why wait till after Christmas when you can start now?

What about you? How are you reading the Bible at the moment? Tell us here.

online meanderings for when it's hard to read the Bible

2 questions to ask when you read the Bible - What does it mean? What does it mean for me? A helpful little guide. Jonathon Parnell.

How to read all of the Bible - A great series introducing the Bible by Meredith. The flow chart she uses is the best ever!

A guide to the books you always get bogged down in - The ever-excellent Nancie Guthrie has just written "The Lamb of God: Seeing Jesus in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy". Sounds good. Courtney Reissig.

"I'm not much of a reader" is no excuse for not reading the Bible by Jared Wilson:

"Imagine I showed you a tent across the yard. You can see a glow emanating from its zippered door. “Inside that tent,” I said, “is God himself. He has something to say to you. You just have to go inside the tent, and the God of the Universe will reveal the mystery of the ages to you.” And then imagine you were to say, “I’m not much of a walker. I prefer sitting to walking.”

To see the rest of my links, click here (Facebook) or here.

when suffering doesn't make sense (what I'm reading: Mark Dever on Job)

I don't know if it's age. I don't know if it's experience. What I do know is that the Old Testament book of Job means so much more to me this time around. I read it in big gulps; the only way, I'm realising, that Job can be read.

You can't tame Job: reading it is like watching a Shakespearean play, the language flowing over you as the tragedy plays out in grand gestures. You enter the court-room of heaven, are repelled by Job's open sores, cling with him to the shreds of his faith. You're left face-down, gob-smacked by God's glory.

When I get to the end of Job, I pick up Mark Dever's The Message of the Old Testament, and he drives the point of Job's story hard into my heart:

Demanding that suffering have a reason and meaning that fits within the narrow scope of our human understanding prejudices the explanation that can be given...When we fail to recognize our limitations, it's like deciding that because our own car radio is not picking up any radio broadcasts, then there must be no radio stations sending out a broadcast anywhere. But why assume that? Is that the only possible explanation?...The book of Job teaches us that we do not possess all the facts.

At times, God does graciously allow us to see how He has used a difficult situation for our good. And surely we should thank Him for the consolation such moments of understanding afford. But there is danger in assuming that He must give us such understanding...The only one who is worthy of our trust is not ourselves; nor is it our own clever ability to figure out life's knotty questions; it is God Himself...

Your very suffering can exquisitely display the glory of God as you serve and worship him in a way that simply defies the world's comprehension and abilities. If you, Christian, are presently enduring a season of suffering, it may be that God is sitting in heaven right now and saying to the heavenly host about him, "Have you considered my servant?" and then pointing to you...

We often suffer. We sometimes understand. And by God‟s grace, we can always trust.

Mark Dever's The Message of the Old Testament, pages 474, 478-9.

reading through the Bible in a year (or two)

I'm doing something I haven't attempted since I was at university, many years ago. I'm reading through the Bible in a year. Make that two years: after twelve months, I'm half way through my Bible reading plan.

There's something exciting about reading the Bible in big gulps. I feel well-fed, like I've been at the richest of banquets all year long. I've discovered long-forgotten treasures, and I've seen familiar verses shine with unexpected colours in their setting. I've been reminded how, verse after verse, chapter after chapter, the Bible tells the same story. I can't wait to turn the pages and watch the history of salvation unfold.

I know you may not be in a season of life where you can read or listen to the Bible in a year - or even two.1 If your circumstances make it difficult, but you're still reading a small amount regularly, then I thank God! But perhaps you can manage more. With the new year approaching, you might like to consider using one of these plans:

• ESV Bible reading plans


• NAV Bible reading plans.

Here are six of the best, trialled by me or people I respect.2 (Whichever you choose, you'll find it more meaningful if you read or listen to an introduction to each book as you come to it, especially with tricky books like the prophets.3)

• My friend Melanie likes the ESV Chronological Bible Reading Plan, where you read a few chapters in one place a day. The chronological order means you can see, for example, how the different psalms fit into Bible history. I'm looking forward to trying this one!


• Meredith enjoys the ESV Daily Reading Bible plan, where you read in three places a day - Old Testament, New Testament and a Psalm (she talks about her experience in my Bible reading plan, mid-year review and this interview-with-self).


• Justin Taylor recommends the ESV Study Bible Plan, where you read in four places a day: Psalms and Wisdom, Pentateuch and History, Chronicles and Prophets, Gospels and Epistles (you can even print out four snazzy little bookmarks to mark the places in your Bible!).


• John Stott faithfully used the M'Cheyne One Year Bible Reading Plan, where you also read in four places a day, chosen to give the big picture of salvation history. He said, "Nothing has helped me more to gain an overview of the Bible, and so of God’s redemptive plan". Don Carson's For the Love of God gives you daily readings to use with this plan.


• I'm using the NAV Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan, with two readings a day: a short reading from the wisdom books or Isaiah, and a longer reading which swaps between testaments and spreads the gospels through the year. I like the variety and the focus on one book at a time, and it's very forgiving, with twenty-five readings a month; similarly forgiving is the four-places-a-day NAV Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan.


• A great method to get young Christians started (it got me started) reading through the Bible is the three-year Bible reading plan from Tim LaHaye's How to study the Bible for youself, which is designed to introduce newcomers to regular Bible reading (first year gospels and epistles, second year wisdom and epistles, third year the lot).

Happy reading!


1. When I had babies and toddlers, a shorter passage was all I could handle; I enjoyed using The Daily Reading Bible.
2. If you want to know more about the different plans available, I recommend Justin Taylor's Bible reading plans.
3. Try Mark Dever's book-at-a-time overview sermons, one for every book of the Bible: you can download the audio versions at Capitol Hill Baptist (search: the message) or read the print versions in The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made and The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept. Another option is to read the introductions to each book in a study Bible or William Dumbrell's The Faith of Israel. Graeme Goldsworthy's Trilogy and According to Plan will help you see how the different bits of the Bible hang together in Jesus.


This post first appeared at The Briefing.

image is by jjreade from flickr

the Bible and joy

I love the Bible. It's the honey on my tongue and the fire in my belly and the sword in my hand and the joy in my step.

I love reading it on those dull days when I'd rather pick up a novel, and watching it works its magic in spite of me. I love memorising passages, and seeing God's Spirit bring them to mind exactly when they're needed. I love nutting out difficult verses, and realising they're nutting out me.

Of course, there are mornings when the newspaper wins the reading contest. There are days - sometimes months! - that pass by without much Bible. There are plenty of moments when the words drift through my eyes and spiral straight out the top of my head. There are times when the words on the page don't touch the way I'm feeling.

But God's Word changes me even when I'm not noticing. It nourishes me even when I don't feel it. It gives me what I need even when I'm hoping for something else. It helps me see the glory of Christ and transforms me by the seeing until he is, at last, my highest joy:

God has chosen in this age to reveal himself to the world mainly through the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, by means of the written Word, the Bible ... It may take the Word of God to show us what we really need, and then to give us the power to get it. In the end what we really need is Christ. (pp.96, 100)

So how do we read the Bible? How do we keep reading the Bible? The best advice I've ever received is Piper's: plan how, plan when, plan where. If this sounds like legalism to you, Piper's The joy of duty will set you right - and The Quiet Time Performance will remind you to stay in God's grace. Use Jennie Baddeley's practical theology for women to assess how your Bible reading is going. ...

Here's some ideas for engaging with the Bible. ...

You can read the rest at EQUIP book club today - just click here.

image is from Tigerlily at flickr

online meanderings: The Best Book Co-op

Today I want to point you in the direction of another blog, called The Best Book Co-op. In this blog, Cathy McKay generously gives us the fruit of her thorough, thoughtful, personal study of God's word. On occasion, she's said things which have dug so deeply into me that I've printed them out so I can reflect on them further.

Really, this blog is not about Cathy at all, although she humbly shares her struggles in it - it's about God and his word. It's written by a woman who clearly loves God's word and loves sharing its riches with others. It's one of the most self-effacing blogs I've ever read. It's just Cathy opening up the Bible with us, so that God's Spirit can speak his word more powerfully into our hearts.

This blog would be a wonderful aid for your daily Bible reading! If you're struggling to keep your Bible reading fresh, why not print out Cathy's reflections on James or the Psalms, or read them on line, and open up God's word with her.

Bible reading ideas for mums and other busy people

Today we continue the theme of Bible reading ideas for mums, or for anyone else who's busy and distracted.

Here are some approaches my fellow mums have tried and found helpful:

- my own personal favourite, as you know if you read yesterday's post, is The Daily Reading Bible, also found in the "Bible Brief" at the back of The Briefing. These studies are deliberately kept short so they can be done easily during a busy life. They are theologically insightful and question based, encouraging you to read the Bible closely. The readings are mercifully free from guilt-producing dates which leave you reading July 3rd's reading on December 22nd.

- update (18 months later!) I have a new favourite - Explore Bible notes by The Good Book Co (see sample) which work through the Bible systematically over a 5 year period using 28 undated readings per month. These follow a fairly traditional format for subscription Bible notes with a passage to read, some comments on the text, and a few questions. The theology is generally excellent, the comments are readable and encouraging, and it's really helpful to have questions for reflection (not all Bible study notes have these). This is a great way to read the Bible in small, manageable bites that still get you thinking.

- from memory (I did it long ago) Search the Scriptures was a similarly helpful guide, with an introduction to each book, and 2 or 3 questions (with notes) on each passage. This gets you through the Bible in 3 years, so it's not too ambitious for busy mums. It uses a similar format to The Daily Reading Bible, but covers the whole Bible systematically, although the questions are quite complex, and the language formal and old-fashioned.

- the "highlight the box" method. One of my stationary loving friends uses this approach. She prints out every chapter of the Bible in order in a table (she uses a funky font, being that kind of gal). When you read a chapter, you get to colour in the box. This works best if you have just bought a new pack of good-quality coloured pens and want to use them - an excellent use of money if it motivates you to read the Bible! She has successfully used this method off and on through many years of child-rearing, and since she's one of the more consistent Bible reading mums I know, it obviously works well.

- you can combine this with reading introductions to each book before you study them e.g. Fee and Stewart's How to read the Bible book by book (I haven't read this one) or William Dumbrell's The faith of Israel (I read it, I loved it).

- study a book of the Bible as you would when preparing a Bible study, perhaps a chapter a week (e.g. read it once through quickly, once to divide up the passage, once to work out major themes, once for application, and once with a commentary). A very energetic older mum told me she has done this for many years. But her children have grown up, so maybe she's forgetting how hard it is to do this when you have young children, or maybe she's just got more energy than me (well, that's true, she does). I find this intimidating, but inspiring.

- use the 3-year Bible reading plan from La Haye's How to study the Bible for youself. This will get you through the Bible 3 times in 3 years at the rate of about 4 chapters a day, so it's not for the faint-hearted, and probably not for most mums, unless you're unusually dedicated! But it's a great way for new Christians to get to know the Bible (the first year focusses on the gospels and epistles, the second on wisdom literature and epistles, and the third covers the whole Bible) and it has introduced more than one person I know to the habit of reading the Bible daily.

- and while we're on the subject of 4 chapters a day, there's the well-known M'Cheyne Bible reading schedule . This will get you through the New Testament and the Psalms twice, and the rest of the Bible once in a year. M'Cheyne believed you should read chapters from different parts of the Bible each day, in order to link various passages in your mind, and to carry you through some of the harder-to-read bits of the Bible. Like LaHaye, it's probably too ambitious for most mums. If you successfully complete it, I am truly impressed!

- alternate Bible reading plans (including lots of printables with boxes to tick!) include Tim Chester's Edge Network Bible Reading Plan, 10 ESV Bible Reading Plans including the ESV Study Bible Daily Reading Plan, the Daily Reading Bible, The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan, and the Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan (there's a helpful introduction to these plans at Justin Taylor's Bible reading plans)

- Don Carson's For the Love of God is based on the M'Cheyne readings, accompanied each day with a thoughtful discussion of 1 of the chapters. I'm a great fan of Carson - one of our sons is burdened with Carson as a middle name - but I became a little frustrated that he only comments on 1 chapter of the 4, and not necessarily the one I was most curious about. Did I read this as a mum? I can't remember, but I doubt it. If so, I did pretty well, didn't I?!

- I was encouraged by Barbara Hughes' Devotions for ministry wives during a time last year when I lost energy for close Bible reading.

- pick a book, read a chapter, find something which strikes you as inspiring, write it in a journal. (LaHaye encourages you to find a promise, a command, and a "timeless principle" in each chapter.) While this has the benefit of being achievable, it's not very thorough, easily leads to taking verses out of context, and encourages a focus on your own hobby horses. You wouldn't want to do it without a good grasp of the Bible from more careful inductive study. Still, it has worked well for me at times.

- memorise, memorise, memorise! Now here's a forgotten spiritual discipline that is incredibly suitable for mums. Learn individual verses using a topical memory system, verses related to particular struggles (e.g. over-spending, worry, envy - God's Spirit still brings verses to mind I learned 10 years ago), or whole passages and books (I find this easiest, oddly enough). Between children I printed out Philippians and Ephesians, folded them small, and took them with me on walks, where I could be seen muttering to myself like a demented woman while I plodded along and peeked at them occasionally. Can't say I remember them word-for-word, but they inspire many meditations and prayers when I'm finding regular Bible reading difficult.

- and make sure you don't forget creative ideas like these suggestions from a mum, which fit well into a busy life: listen to sermons on CD or iPod, use visual aids like maps, read alongside a sermon series at church, or listen to Sons of Korah CDs while reading the Psalms.

- no doubt there are many other great Bible study resources out there, please add your own ideas to the comments! I just came across these free downloadable NavPress Bible studies and Bible reading plans which I've only glanced at briefly, but which look promising. There are 3 reading plans to suit different understandings and energy levels, and boxes to colour in. Get out those coloured pens!

I feel so inspired by all these different ideas that I might try some of them myself.

This blog is dedicated to my Bible reading fellow mums, especially my friend who wrote a study on this topic years ago, which I have borrowed from liberally. You know who you are.

quiet, please! mum reading Bible.

I'm reading Zechariah at the moment, and I'm enjoying it so much that I don't have to force myself to do it each morning.

This astonishes me, because I don't remember reading the Bible with such pleasure for some time now. It's been a real struggle to read the Bible regularly since Lizzy, the first of my 4 children, was born 9 years ago.

Perhaps my brain is returning after 4 children. Perhaps my attitude has changed, since Andrew is probably our last child, God willing (there's something about not steeling yourself to face yet another pregnancy which frees the mind). Perhaps returning to ministry, even of the on-line variety, had inspired me to keep feeding myself from God's word. For whatever reason, I find myself actually looking forward to opening the Bible each morning.

In my limited experience this is unusual for a mother of young children. One of the unique challenges of being pregnant or breastfeeding is that your brain turns to mush. I don't know the scientific basis for this, but I have witnessed it many times. Women who graduated from difficult and demanding university degrees suddenly find they can no longer sit through a sermon or read a chapter of the Bible without their minds drifting.

And it's incredibly difficult to concentrate on the Bible while 1 to 4 children climb on you, or cry from a cot, and loudly demand your attention. I managed it with 2 relatively quiet, compliant children (other mothers were always amazed) but with 3 and 4 turning out to be more strong-willed and attention-seeking (i.e. normal) calm Bible reading over morning coffee is now a thing of the past.

Add to that the effects of sleep deprivation, and the minute amount of time and energy left after meeting the demands of small children all day, and it's not surprising that Bible reading is often put on the back burner of a mother's life.

So it was no great surprise to me when my attempts to regularly read the Bible petered out last year.

I was reading Zechariah using volume 7 of The Daily Reading Bible. This is the only aid to reading the Bible (along with its forerunner, the "Bible Brief" in the back of The Briefing) which has worked well for me long-term as a mum (other mums use other methods, I will share them with you some time).

Brief yet theologically astute, each reading includes an excerpt from the Bible, with 3 questions to answer, a point for pondering, prayer ideas, and useful pointers. Just about as much as my limited time, energy levels and concentration span allow for.

But last year my breast-feeding addled brain was becoming increasingly bogged down in the complications of Zechariah, when it was completely stymied one day by the mental gymnastics required by Reading 26 on Zechariah 4.

The reading required me to "draw Zechariah's vision" and answer the (for me) unanswerable question, "Does the lampstand represent Zerubbabel, the temple, God, or the community of God's people with God in their midst? (Hint: Who or what requires sustaining from outside itself? See also Revelation 1:20." So confused was I by the hint, that I tentatively wrote"God??" (well, God doesn't need sustaining, does he?) knowing this had to be wrong, and put down the notes in despair.

I dabbled in various unsatisfying devotional books and occasional random Bible reading during the intervening months. But a week ago I picked up the notes on Zechariah, and found that suddenly the question made sense. Of course! Option 3! "The community of God's people with God in their midst!" (Hopefully I am right about this, or I am really making an idiot of myself in print, not that this is a new experience.)

It should be noted that I stopped breast-feeding somewhere between my two attempts to unpack the mysteries of Zechariah 4, which says something about the effect of breast-feeding on my mental processes.

I have now enthusiastically returned to the challenging study of Zechariah. This morning I was encouraged to read these words:

On that day the LORD their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
(Zech. 9:16-17a)

How wonderful to have my eyes taken off my small concerns, and to be reminded of God's certain and glorious salvation!