Bible Reading and Vain Vows

Every year around the first Sunday of the year, I pass out Bible reading schedules to the people of our church. I had it in my head that I did the same thing here on P&D each year, but in searching for it I found the last one was posted at the beginning of 2020. Let’s pass the buck to Covid! I hope you all have made Bible reading a habit nonetheless.

As I get ready for the emphasis in our church this year, I thought I would search the Bible for references to reading, especially reading the Scriptures. The first reference to reading that I can find is Exodus 24.7, where Moses reads to Israel the portion of the Law God gave him up to that point, namely, I think, Exodus 20.21-24.2.

After conferring with God on Mount Sinai, Moses came and “recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances” the Lord gave him (Ex 24.3). In verse 4, we find Moses reducing the words of the Lord to writing, then leads Israel in a covenant making ceremony (vv. 4b-6). Next comes the first reference to reading anything in the Bible:

Ex 24.7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”

In this verse, the people echo their vow from verse 3, where after a verbal report from Moses, the people likewise say, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!”

This brings me to the title of our article for this year: “Bible Reading and Vain Vows.”

We know the history of the people who made that vow at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Almost all of them ended up dead for disobedience and never set their feet in the promised land. They swore to do everything God told them to do, then they didn’t do it.

We also know our own history when it comes to New Years Resolutions. These aren’t necessarily “vows,” unless we actually vow something to the Lord, but we know that we are as frail as ancient Israel was. The spirit might be willing, but the flesh is exceedingly weak.

What can we do?

I hope you won’t make “vain vows,” but I do hope you will make a plan to read your Bible in the coming year, even if you find yourself falling behind at points. I always counsel our people to simply pick up and start again. It is a good thing to read your Bible. It is through the hearing of the word (and the reading of the word) that God brings grace into our lives. First, the gracious message of salvation, then the many graces that bring about sanctification.

With that in mind, I’ll offer you some links to Bible reading plans (for systematic reading of the whole Bible or at least the New Testament), and links to two previous articles we’ve published.

There are many ways to read the Bible, from very intense volume Bible reading (where you get through large portions of Scripture quickly) to concentrated Bible study in one book or passage, read repeatedly for a period of time. Personally, I’ve followed this latter approach since September in preparation for a new preaching series in the Book of Hebrews. I am not sure how many times I’ve read Hebrews in these four months, but focusing my attention here certainly helped as I began the preaching series in November.

Some years ago, a pastor friend told me about an intense schedule he was following at the time. He would read five chapters out of the Gospels & Acts, five out of the Epistles, and five out of Revelation for the first four days of the month. On the fifth day, only two chapters of Revelation remained, so there would be 12 chapters of reading that day. The rest of that week and the next two weeks maintained the five Gospels/Acts and five Epistles reading, until the 21st day of the schedule. That left basically four chapters a day to finish off the book of Acts and the rest of the epistles, completing the whole New Testament in 28 days.

With that schedule, my friend would concentrate on looking for a theme, “love of God,” “miracles,” “righteousness,” and the like, making quick notes as he read.

I’ve followed that schedule in the past and developed a similar one for the Old Testament. (The OT takes three full months to complete.) When I was doing that, I could read the Old Testament twice in a year and the NT six times, alternating between OT and NT each month. That is a heavy schedule, but it has its rewards. It requires discipline, but it also allows some “breathing room” as you get towards the end of the month. You can find a pdf copy of this schedule here.

Without further ado, then, here are the Bible reading schedules and links to other posts for your benefit:

Three from the Discipleship Journal at the Navigators site:

The 5x5x5: a plan for reading the New Testament in one year – if you aren’t in the habit of daily Bible reading, this gives you a good start.

Book At a Time: this plan alternates between one OT book and one NT book with additional one chapter a day readings from the Wisdom literature and Isaiah.

DJ Bible Reading Plan: this plan has you reading four different portions each day, giving you a well-rounded look at all the Biblical message from different perspectives.

Each of these plans includes at least one flex day in the week. These enable you to catch up if you fall behind. (All three plans are now available on the one page at the Navigators site.)

My own Chronological Bible Reading Plan. This plan came from a time in our church when we preached chronologically through the Bible in a seventeen-month period. I keep tweaking this plan as I use it regularly, but no doubt some errors remain. The idea is to read the Bible chronologically, with the prophets in line with the history so, as I say, “you can see what the prophets were mad about.” I’ve also included a flex day in the latest edition of this plan.

The Murray McCheyne plan. Many disciples use this plan, it might be just what you like to use.

Links to our two previous articles posted just at the beginning of 2020:

My Yearly Bible Reading Journey by Kristopher Schaal

Some years ago, I began an epic journey. I started reading through the Bible every year.

During my senior year in college, reading through the Bible once per year had become a requirement for Bible majors. I was a church music major, so that requirement didn’t apply to me, but it did catch my attention. However, during my four years of seminary and first year in ministry, I hadn’t yet made that a habit in my life.

My primary reason for starting in the spring of 2015 was that I was concerned I was reading so slowly in my daily devotions that I was not retaining an accurate picture of “the whole counsel of God.” …

Bible Reading Challenges from Local Church Pastors

… Today we have two brief challenges from pastors for alternate ideas for Bible reading. These challenges aren’t “the whole Bible in the year” but rather “systematic purposeful Bible reading.” …

UPDATE:

The Chronological Reading Schedule linked above originally had the dates for 2017. I have uploaded a corrected version, although the calendar is exactly the same for both years. My apologies for any confusion! – dcsj


Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.