Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day. (Psalm 119:97)
Today's theme is "Celebrate/Selfie." Today I'm celebrating the fact that I finished reading the entire Bible this weekend. I used the M'Cheyne one-year plan, starting last December. Obviously, I doubled up quite a bit, since it took me about six months to read the entire thing.
I'm not posting a selfie, but will instead give you a "thought selfie" -- some quick thoughts about the experience.
About the plan I followed: The M'Cheyne plan has you read approximately four chapters a day, from four different part of the Bible. On Day 1, I started Genesis, Ezra, Matthew, and Acts. The plan includes reading the New Testament twice, and the book of Psalms twice.
There were some neat juxtapositions in the plan -- for instance, reading Revelation and Zechariah at the same time. And I got a lot out of my second readings of Psalms and the New Testament. The plan wasn't perfect, though; I often felt like I was being yanked from one time, and one theme, to another, four different times in the 20 or 30 minutes that I was reading. I also didn't get a good sense of which prophets were active at the times of which kings, even though my Bible had some great charts for that.
I'm planning to read the Bible through again soon, and this time I'm going to follow a chronological plan, which will allow me to remain in the same book each day, without skipping to multiple books at a time. See my "What's Next" notes at the end of this post for more on that.
Bible/translation used: I used the English Standard Version (ESV), which seems to be a good balance of accuracy to the original text, and readability. I also had access to BibleHub, an app that would allow me to read passages in various other translations. I also used BibleHub regularly to look up word meanings in the original languages, and occasionally to read commentary.
My "hard copy" was the New Inductive Study Bible. I like the NISB because it's not chock-full of commentary; in fact, other than short introductions to each book, there's no commentary at all. Now I love reading commentary, but it can be distracting if you're trying to focus on the words of the Bible itself. I have several study Bibles with lots of commentary, plus a number of books that are just commentary, but for my read-through, I wanted to focus more on the words, and less on man's thoughts about the words. If that makes any sense.
I also like the NISB because it has lots of charts and timelines and maps, and it also has nice, wide margins for taking notes. (I am a chronic note-taker.) At the end of each chapter are pages where you can make additional notes, write down themes, etc.
Point at which the project started to feel like a grind: Jeremiah felt very slow, possibly because Isaiah had gone on for so long (66 chapters!). And then Ezekiel seemed to go on forever. I can't say that I found the books boring; with Jeremiah, I think I was thinking that it was shorter than it was. And with Ezekiel, so much of it was just strange and hard to understand. So I struggled with those.
Books that was the most surprisingly interesting: Leviticus - You always hear about how boring Leviticus is, so I was surprised at how not-boring it was. I thought Numbers and Deuteronomy were harder to read than Leviticus.
I was also riveted by Revelation. ("Riveted by Revelation" -- sounds like a book title!) I thought Revelation would be so weird and "out there" that I'd lose interest quickly, but it was quite the contrary! I even cried at times.
Favorite books: I definitely have a soft spot for the wisdom literature, with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes at the top of the list.
Favorite chapter: Lamentations 3
Biggest LOL moment: 2 Kings 2:23. I also laughed out loud at Proverbs 17:28, since, as a quiet person, I've experienced this truth numerous times in my life.
Favorite Gospel: John
Favorite New Testament book (besides John): That's a hard one ... at the moment, it is a toss-up between James, 1 John, and Revelation.
Book that surprised me by being a page-turner: Revelation. See above.
Book that surprised me by not being a page-turner: Job. The poetry is beautiful, but I found it a very difficult book to understand. So I struggled with this one.
Most personally convicting passage: Proverbs 24:10-12
Nerdiest moments: When I would read a phrase and recognize it to be either a common idiom, the title of a book, or a line in a poem or famous speech. It was always such a delight to see something I recognized and realized the words had come from the Bible. Even if I already knew they came from the Bible, it was still a joy to encounter the famous words.
Biggest takeaway #1: How RELEVANT the Bible seems to what is going on today! I was particularly struck by this when reading the major and minor prophets. With no modern plague and no social unrest, without so much of today's talk of justice and oppression, I probably would not have read the prophets as deeply as I did. So much of their words seemed eerily appropriate to today.
Biggest takeaway #2: God's amazing patience, mercy, grace, and love. From the very beginning until the very end, justice is intertwined with mercy, grace, and love for those who love Him.
What's next: A chronological read-through. I'm going to use the New Inductive Study Bible again, ESV translation again. I'll also be using the Bible Recap podcast and will keep a journal similar to the one recommended there on the Bible Recap website. The podcast is set to walk you through the Bible in a year. It assumes a January start, but I'll be starting within the next few days.
What's next after that: I have two long(ish)-term goals with my Bible reading. I would like to start a "D Group," probably in January, where a group of us read through the Bible in a year. If I do this, I might try to double-up on the Bible Recap reading/listening this first time around ... but I'm not sure I want to do that. I don't want to rush.
Another goal is to read through the entire King James Version--both for spiritual reasons and for literary/cultural reasons.
That's about it! I hope you've enjoyed my "thought selfie." If you'd like to join me in reading the Bible through next year (or starting now!), let me know in the comments, and I'll put you on my mailing list. (I don't have a mailing list, but I can start one if people are interested!)
It is my meditation all the day. (Psalm 119:97)
Today's theme is "Celebrate/Selfie." Today I'm celebrating the fact that I finished reading the entire Bible this weekend. I used the M'Cheyne one-year plan, starting last December. Obviously, I doubled up quite a bit, since it took me about six months to read the entire thing.
I'm not posting a selfie, but will instead give you a "thought selfie" -- some quick thoughts about the experience.
About the plan I followed: The M'Cheyne plan has you read approximately four chapters a day, from four different part of the Bible. On Day 1, I started Genesis, Ezra, Matthew, and Acts. The plan includes reading the New Testament twice, and the book of Psalms twice.
There were some neat juxtapositions in the plan -- for instance, reading Revelation and Zechariah at the same time. And I got a lot out of my second readings of Psalms and the New Testament. The plan wasn't perfect, though; I often felt like I was being yanked from one time, and one theme, to another, four different times in the 20 or 30 minutes that I was reading. I also didn't get a good sense of which prophets were active at the times of which kings, even though my Bible had some great charts for that.
I'm planning to read the Bible through again soon, and this time I'm going to follow a chronological plan, which will allow me to remain in the same book each day, without skipping to multiple books at a time. See my "What's Next" notes at the end of this post for more on that.
Bible/translation used: I used the English Standard Version (ESV), which seems to be a good balance of accuracy to the original text, and readability. I also had access to BibleHub, an app that would allow me to read passages in various other translations. I also used BibleHub regularly to look up word meanings in the original languages, and occasionally to read commentary.
My "hard copy" was the New Inductive Study Bible. I like the NISB because it's not chock-full of commentary; in fact, other than short introductions to each book, there's no commentary at all. Now I love reading commentary, but it can be distracting if you're trying to focus on the words of the Bible itself. I have several study Bibles with lots of commentary, plus a number of books that are just commentary, but for my read-through, I wanted to focus more on the words, and less on man's thoughts about the words. If that makes any sense.
I also like the NISB because it has lots of charts and timelines and maps, and it also has nice, wide margins for taking notes. (I am a chronic note-taker.) At the end of each chapter are pages where you can make additional notes, write down themes, etc.
Point at which the project started to feel like a grind: Jeremiah felt very slow, possibly because Isaiah had gone on for so long (66 chapters!). And then Ezekiel seemed to go on forever. I can't say that I found the books boring; with Jeremiah, I think I was thinking that it was shorter than it was. And with Ezekiel, so much of it was just strange and hard to understand. So I struggled with those.
Books that was the most surprisingly interesting: Leviticus - You always hear about how boring Leviticus is, so I was surprised at how not-boring it was. I thought Numbers and Deuteronomy were harder to read than Leviticus.
I was also riveted by Revelation. ("Riveted by Revelation" -- sounds like a book title!) I thought Revelation would be so weird and "out there" that I'd lose interest quickly, but it was quite the contrary! I even cried at times.
Favorite books: I definitely have a soft spot for the wisdom literature, with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes at the top of the list.
Favorite chapter: Lamentations 3
Biggest LOL moment: 2 Kings 2:23. I also laughed out loud at Proverbs 17:28, since, as a quiet person, I've experienced this truth numerous times in my life.
Favorite Gospel: John
Favorite New Testament book (besides John): That's a hard one ... at the moment, it is a toss-up between James, 1 John, and Revelation.
Book that surprised me by being a page-turner: Revelation. See above.
Book that surprised me by not being a page-turner: Job. The poetry is beautiful, but I found it a very difficult book to understand. So I struggled with this one.
Most personally convicting passage: Proverbs 24:10-12
Nerdiest moments: When I would read a phrase and recognize it to be either a common idiom, the title of a book, or a line in a poem or famous speech. It was always such a delight to see something I recognized and realized the words had come from the Bible. Even if I already knew they came from the Bible, it was still a joy to encounter the famous words.
 |
| A nerdy moment from the book of Amos. |
Biggest takeaway #2: God's amazing patience, mercy, grace, and love. From the very beginning until the very end, justice is intertwined with mercy, grace, and love for those who love Him.
What's next: A chronological read-through. I'm going to use the New Inductive Study Bible again, ESV translation again. I'll also be using the Bible Recap podcast and will keep a journal similar to the one recommended there on the Bible Recap website. The podcast is set to walk you through the Bible in a year. It assumes a January start, but I'll be starting within the next few days.
What's next after that: I have two long(ish)-term goals with my Bible reading. I would like to start a "D Group," probably in January, where a group of us read through the Bible in a year. If I do this, I might try to double-up on the Bible Recap reading/listening this first time around ... but I'm not sure I want to do that. I don't want to rush.
Another goal is to read through the entire King James Version--both for spiritual reasons and for literary/cultural reasons.
That's about it! I hope you've enjoyed my "thought selfie." If you'd like to join me in reading the Bible through next year (or starting now!), let me know in the comments, and I'll put you on my mailing list. (I don't have a mailing list, but I can start one if people are interested!)
Cant say i understood it all myself. But i loved your insights. I am still trying to grasp the whole god thing. But knowledge helps me try to understand. Keep writing , I'll keep reading your takes. I like it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBeth
Beth, thanks for your comment! I struggled with the God thing for years, and will probably continue to do so at times. I agree that knowledge is so important--reading the whole Bible through has been a huge step for understanding "the big picture." Thanks for reading the blog! Message me on Facebook if you ever want to chat. Hope you are well! --Nina
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