Daily Bible Reading

This is not the normal topic of conversation for this blog, but then again, what is when you only post a few times a year.  Something I've been trying to do regularly for a few years now is daily Bible reading.  This is hard.  Life gets in the way, things happen.  The Devil is always out to stop you. 

There are many plans out there for reading the bible in a year, reading the bible in a few years.  Here are a few links.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-reading-plan/
https://www.backtothebible.org/one-year-reading-plans
https://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/

I'm not affiliated with any of these sites, I just wanted to put a few links for someone to get started in.  I have no knowledge of how well these plans actually work.  Various plans include, but are not limited to:

• Chronological
• Historical
• Old and New Testament Together
• Beginning to End
• Blended

I'm interested in trying the Chronological, and the Historical plans.  I may have to try those in a few years, when I'm done with my current plan.  Which is what I actually wanted to write about today.

I've never actually read the whole Bible in one year.  What I like to do, instead, is start at the beginning, and read 2 chapters a day starting in Genesis and ending in Revelations.  This takes several years.  There are 1,189 chapters in total.  Extrapolating the numbers, it would take 594 days, or almost two years to read the whole thing.  I will exclude Proverbs (31 chapters, convenient hey?) and Psalms (150, also a very convenient number).

My current schedule is to read, 2 chapters a day in one book, excluding Proverbs and Psalms.  I start with a chapter of Psalms.  I believe that any good quiet time with God starts with praise of His Almighty power, and what better way to praise God than to read the Psalms.

Next I like to read a chapter of Proverbs everyday (2 on the last day of every other month).  I find that by continuously rereading Proverbs, I find new insights every month, and it is amazing how relevant the advice is to your daily life.  Today, I read chapter 21 of Proverbs.  There were several verses that struck me, actually, Proverbs 21 has so much actionable advice, it's crazy.   The big one was verse 20.  "The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get."  We have been trying to pay off all of our debt over the last few years, and some days it's very, very hard to care about the why.  But then I think what will life be like without student loans and house payments.  And I realize that verses like this are very powerful motivators for everyday life.

Lastly, I read 2 chapters of whatever book is next.  Currently, I am working my through Ezekiel, and it's hard.  Ezekiel had a hard job.  Which of course leads me to realized that while I don't always like my job, God has called me to it, and I don't have to eat my food cooked over human dung.  Or lie flat for almost two years.  Yeah, I have a pretty good job.  Thanks, God, for that. 

The last bit of advice I have is to take notes.  Certain passages will ring true at different times of your life.  I use Evernote, and I have a notebook for every book, and every chapter has it's own page (or multiple pages, depending on how many times I've read it).  It's a nice way to look back and see what struck you as important on different days in the past.  To see how far you've come, or how far you still have to go.  Proverbs is rapidly getting larger and larger, as the months progress, and different verses stick out to me.  I've considered getting a paper notebook, but for me, the benefits of electronic storage outweigh the benefits of physical paper. 

Also as you read the Bible, you will start to see where certain verses come together, and where different authors had the same ideas.  Proverbs 21:3 matches perfectly with the ideas presented in Psalm 50.  God doesn't want or need our sacrifices.  He does want our obedience, and love. 

These are things I never would have put together without God perfectly matching up my daily readings today.