by We’re finishing up our A Life Well Lived DVD Series (Tommy Nelson) and last week, Tommy shared a quote from Spurgeon, something similar to my title, I tried finding the exact quote, without success. But be sure to check out the link above for many thought-provoking quotes of C.H. Spurgeon’s.
The point Tommy Nelson made, was that reading/studying the scripture is so important. If we don’t make it a priority, then we’ll be at sea when the trials come. And it isn’t enough to rely hearing it once a week on Sundays. His encouragement went something like this (again, from my notes, not verbatim!):
“Moses came off the mountain and told the people what he’d learned–their faces didn’t shine, his did. He’d been in the presence of God.” (Wo-ow!)
Rev. Nelson then challenged us to:
“Live life on purpose! Get up at 6 A.M., and get you an addictive substance.” (That would be coffee) “5 pages a day will get you through most Bibles in a year…”
This is an area I yearly fail in. I see the blessing of reading the entire Bible in a year, but often I get in a rut of reading quickly for the sake of getting in my daily quota. I’m much more likely to stay in my favorite New Testament passages, and just take my time with them. The problem with that is, I’m missing out on having a familiarity with the entire picture. So much of the Old Testament is needed for the New Testament to make sense…
What are your thoughts on this, and have you any encouragement for those of us who struggle?
Btw, the video version of A Life Well Lived is on sale currently for only $25.oo. It’s a steal, people!
I think that for each person it’s different how much of the word they can take it and absorb each day. I personally concentrate on maybe 2-3 verses a day and that way I get time to ponder on them and learn what they mean.
Amy’s last blog post..Sinking or swimming
Hi there, Mary,
A couple of suggestions that have helped me in this area of OT intake… First, I study a different book every month. That way, when I go to the Word, I know right where to start, I have time to soak in what I’m reading, and I don’t feel rushed (with longer books like Genesis or Matthew, I give myself two months). I try to alternate between NT and OT, so that I’m taking both in. This has been helpful for me to not feel overwhelmed, not feel like I’m trying to reach a “quota” like you mentioned, but to also STAY IN the Word.
The other thing I would say is that, for me, it’s been helpful to read books like Francine Rivers’ series, “The Lineage of Grace” to get a longer, fuller, richer picture of God’s plan throughout the OT. (It’s the stories of the five women in the lineage of Christ- Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary). Also, “Her Name is Woman”, by Gien Karssen is an EXCELLENT way to get to know biblical women- and so many wonderful ones in the OT.
Anyway, these are a couple of the ways that the OT has become more precious and real to me. Hope this helps…
~Jess
It is helpful for me to
Jess @ Making Home’s last blog post..Why I Love Him
What a wonderful title! When I’m hurt, tested, grieved, cut, tired, depressed at the possibilities of our national future, misunderstood or disillusioned, do I bleed the Bible? God’s viewpoint is only found in His Word and “all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable…”. ALL of it! There are so many ways to read the Bible through in a year. I mean, that’s 365 days! In the Old Testament, I see God revealing Himself to man over and over and over. I can’t live without that. I ‘bleed’ Philippians 4:6-8 lots of times. I ‘bleed’ 2 Corinthians 4:15 and Romans 8:28 lots of times. Mary, I personally thank God for the concepts you brought to the surface with this post. Thanks, honey.
I realized that I’m at the point where I’m reading to just get my daily pages in for my year goal. However, I have been WAY behind, so SR was able to get me an audio of the old testament and I just “read” for about 90 minutes and it was great. I actually got more outta of it reading more at one time. I know that I’ll need to read through it again more intently, but it’ll be nice to have read it all straight through.
http://bibleplan.org/ is where I get my “daily rush through the Bible in a year.” This online plan e-mails me a link to the reading in whatever Bible translation I want. I’ve read through the Bible many times over the years. The first time I did it I read 2 OT chapters and 1 NT chapter each day. It took me almost 1 1/2 years instead of 1 year. That’s okay, it’s not a race. It is profound in 2 main ways to me. First I was surprised to find how incredibly relevant to my life the passages were even though I wasn’t necessarily reading Psalms when I was grieving, or Romans when I wanted an in depth study of doctrine. God can and will use the scripture to bless His people if we just manage to read it! The second thing was how I saw more clearly the character of God and the plan of salvation in every book. Now I love the Old Testament. The stories are like old friends. And the people God used for amazing things were so ordinary, and even sinners. This has given me confidence that he can use me, my husband, our children, our church friends, etc.
The nice thing for me, because I have stuck with reading every page a few times, is this online plan goes on without me. In other words, if I miss Tuesdays reading I’ll just go ahead and read Wednesdays on Wednesday. I don’t feel rushed or behind all the time, I just do the best I can.
Going through a Bible study book with our ladies study group from church, reading online in the early mornings, and reading a 1/2 chapter a day to the kids at the beginning of school, is my usual Bible diet for me. Although I just changed my online readings to the Amplified Bible, which is new and fun for me. Well, that made me want to read James in the Amplified version, so I do that online at night…And we dwell on and try to memorize the kids verse of the week from their youth group meeting on Wed night.
If I remember the Moses story correctly, the people didn’t really like seeing his glow, they wanted him to cover his face with a veil. I’ve also had our pastor say, “What if Moses kept the veil on longer than the glow lasted? Do we ever fake our passion for God, when we’re not really spending the time in prayer and quiet?” Ouch.
This is good stuff Mary.
Amy, I think you make a good point. Being in the word consistently doesn’t have to mean several chapters a day. Whatever we can do is better than nothing.
Jess, thanks for the encouragement. I have read those Francine Rivers books, and you’re right, they sure bridged a lot of gaps in my mind, making several thing in the OT make sense for the first time. Especially her series on the OT men.
Mom, I’m so glad you commented. I wanted to take this post further, to make some of the points you made in your comment, but didn’t have the time (plus was starting to get sick!)…you said it just perfectly. It’s a very thought-provoking quote.
Colleen, how nice of SR! That would be a great use of time commuting, or trying to fall asleep at night. I’ve never had an audio of the Bible, but my mom really loves hers.
Cena, really enjoyed your perspective on both the daily Bible reading (Thanks for the link to bibleplan.org!) and your pastor’s thoughts on Moses! Wow. I think things like that are proof that continual reading and rereading of the scripture will bring out new thoughts on passages each time. So many ways to apply it, just like you said.
Wow…nice to know I’m not the only one that has a hard time with this. I just got my Bible finally!! So excited, so I have been reading each day. I always have had a hard time in the past though with keeping focussed so I am trying not to overdo it and just read a little at a time and absorb what I do read. The Bible is a lifetime Book so it doesn’t need to be read within a year anyhow.
“Live life on purpose! Get up at 6 A.M., and get you an addictive substance.” (That would be coffee) “5 pages a day will get you through most Bibles in a year…”
I like that! Definitely going to try it…as long as I have my coffee I am a much more focussed person LOL.
I’m so glad you got your Bible, and that you’re making it a priority! Yes, coffee is good, or tea! 😉
Have you gotten your Mommy Diagnostic book yet? No pressure, just curious if you like it!
I am so glad too! I should try tea, I did have it all the time before I had to chase around Kyle…now I NEED my energy LOL.
Yes, I have been meaning to email you about the Mommy Diagnostics, but I haven’t even had a chance to read it. I received it last week and then on Friday we had to travel (6hrs both ways!) to pick up our side of beef. All weekend (Saturday to Tuesday) was spent travelling between here and my parents, because of Wade’s hockey…lol Joy! Joy!…needless to say it was a long weekend…so I will try and sit down and have a look at it and then get back to you. So far I have skimmed through it and the one thing I have noted it there is no index (I am a huge fan of indexes) so it’s a bit harder to find stuff. However, in place of that there is a more complete Table of Contents, which sort of makes up for it. You just flip to the front, rather than the back of the book. Still is a little difficult though, because you don’t know if the same topic is discussed in different areas of the book. So it’s a book that you would have to read through before using as a reference. However, in saying that I have found a few VERY useful things in it…I will go through it more and I will write up a little something on it for you. Is there anything in particular you would like me to focus on, or just a general overview of the book?