There are many plans available for reading the bible through in a year. Just google it and you will be overwhelmed with plans and apps that will help you “get through the bible in a year.” But is that the desire?

Do we want to say, “I read the bible through every year for the past 10 years,” or, “God has shown me so much in my reading through the bible this year.” Attitude of approach is key. Is reading the bible a check off box on my list of spiritual things to do, or, is it a true desire to know more about the God we serve, to understand the love He has for us, and to see how we can better serve Him?

Context is key. I’ve seen many yearly plans that bounce you all over the scriptures. I don’t know about you, but when I read like that context is difficult to maintain. So, I really don’t like those plans. The most effective plan that I have done is one that God revealed to me seven years ago.

I had never read the bible through and I wanted to do it the most effective way. Now let me be frank, I HATE reading. I had rather have a flu shot in the eyeball than to sit down and read. Just kidding, but you know what I mean. As I grew more and more frustrated with several different plans, one morning God showed me there are 1,438 pages in my bible and there are 365 days in a year. If I read just four pages a day I will have read the bible through in a year. WOW!!! Four pages a day, I can easily do that.

All was well until...let me digress. What are the most read books of the bible? Genesis and Exodus. “Why,” do you ask? Because every new year there are resolutions made to read the bible through and it is going great until, LEVITICUS!!! Oh how painful Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are, and it is on this hill that the battle for biblical supremacy is lost. (Just making a joke). These books are tough. The genealogies, the repetitiveness, the list, the numbers...it’s not overwhelming, it’s boring. Let’s just be honest.

Returning from my digression...All was well until I got to Leviticus. BORING! But, I found that if I read a page of Leviticus, two pages of Psalm and a page of Proverbs, context isn’t harmed and I am able to power through these books and gain the knowledge God intends. This works for me and possibly could work for you.

With this plan you will find yourself on many occasions reading far more than the four pages a day just because of the attitude you are reading it with. God’s word becomes alive in your life when you begin reading with a passion to know Him more.

In Christ,

Randall Hamer

P.S. Don’t just stop at the bottom of page four, find a good contextual place to stop. It may be a little shy or a little more than the fourth page.