H.H. Halley, the author of the famed Halley’s Bible Handbook, was an avid reader of the Holy Scriptures. In his article on the habit of Bible reading, Halley comments on the Christian’s regular reading of the Bible:
Once a year, we think, through the Old Testament, and twice through the New Testament, would be a good minimum plan for the average person to follow. And it would simplify matters to make it co-terminous with the calendar year, beginning with January and ending with December. Such a plan would mean an average of four or five chapters a day, and would require something like an average of fifteen or twenty minutes a day. Can’t find the time? Well, it is important enough to take time. One minute a day, or three minutes a day, for religious devotion is child’s play. If we are Christians, why not take our religion seriously? Why play at it? Let us not fool ourselves. We CAN find time for the things we WANT to find time for.
I could offer no better challenge to the believer than what Halley has offered in the above words.
Discouragements to Daily Bible Reading
Many people set out at the beginning of the year to read their Bible through, only to get discouraged and give up at some point through the year. What causes these discouragements?
For one thing, it has been my observation that many people are discouraged when they get behind. Using most Bible-reading plans, one does not have to miss too many days until the Bible reader believes that he is so far behind that he feels there is no use to try to catch up. I believe I have a solution for this discouragement.
Some are discouraged in their Bible reading when they come to a part of the Bible that they have difficulty understanding. Do not let that hinder you. Read anyway! If you read a chapter in the Bible and understand none of it, keep reading! No one understands every word of the Bible. We must put into practice what we do understand, and the Holy Spirit will open more to us as we grow in Him.
Getting Behind and the Solution for It
One of the greatest discouragements to the Bible reader occurs when he gets behind in his Bible reading schedule. I try to encourage people to read the Bible daily. The inner man needs spiritual food like the outer man needs natural food. However, nearly everyone, at some time or another, doesn’t read their scheduled portion of scripture for the day. It could be that a person means to do so in the evening, but falls asleep before reading. It could be that a person means to do so in the morning, but an unexpected event occurs, taking their time away from the Bible. It happens to the most devoted of ministers, and you need not feel guilty should that happen.
To make matters worse, most Bible-reading plans are 365-day plans that do not allow for the reader to miss even a single day. To those of you who tried to read the Bible in a year, but quit because you got behind, let me ask you a question. Would it be any encouragement to you if I gave you a Bible-reading plan that allowed you to miss a day here and there? Now, please understand something. I do not encourage missing a day here and there. I encourage you read the Bible every day without exception. But, if you got the flu for five days, and couldn’t hold your head up to read even a single sentence during those five days, would it encourage you if you knew that after those five days, you were not behind on your Bible reading at all? Sure it would! I would like to offer three Bible-reading plans that offer a little “wiggle room” for those days when life happens.
Plan 1
Read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation
Read 4 chapters per day beginning on January 1
Finish on October 25 with 67 days remaining in 2014
Plan 2
Alternate Between the Testaments
Instead of reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, read some out of the Old Testament, then some out of the New. This plan acknowledges the fact that overall, the New Testament is often easier to read than the Old. H.H. Halley recommends that Christians not go too long without reading in the New Testament. This plan will ensure that if you are reading in the Old Testament now, it will not be long until you are reading in the New. If you wish to use this plan, I recommend reading the Bible in the following order:
- Genesis – Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch)
- Matthew – John (the Gospels)
- Joshua – Job (Old Testament History)
- Acts (New Testament History)
- Psalms – Song of Solomon (Poetry)
- Romans – Hebrews (Pauline Epistles)
- Isaiah – Ezekiel (Major Prophets)
- James – Jude (General Epistles)
- Daniel – Malachi (Minor Prophets)
- Revelation (New Testament Prophecy)
Read 4 chapters per day beginning on January 1
Finish on October 25 with 67 days remaining in 2014
Plan 3
Read from Both Testaments Daily
This plan works very well if you are certain that you will read the Bible in at least two sittings daily, such as morning and evening. You will be reading out of the Old Testament in one sitting and out of the New Testament in the other sitting. Please note that if you use this plan, you must read at least three chapters out of the Old Testament daily, or else you will not finish the Old Testament within the year.
Read 3 chapters from the Old Testament each morning beginning on January 1
Read 1 chapter from the New Testament each evening beginning on January 1
Finish the Old Testament on November 6 with 55 days remaining
Finish the New Testament on September 17 with 105 days remaining
Using Remaining Days
These plans are each completed with a certain numbers of days in the year remaining. You may use these remaining days as “sick days,” if I can call them that. This gives you a little “wiggle room” should you not be able to read the Bible on a day here and there. Keep in mind you do not have as many “sick days” as it sounds. You do not have even have two “sick days” per week. You cannot use a “sick day” every other day, or you will not finish the Bible within the year. They are available, but use them sparingly! Unused “sick days” may be used to reread the New Testament a second time in 2014.
These plans are each completed with a certain numbers of days in the year remaining. You may use these remaining days as “sick days,” if I can call them that. This gives you a little “wiggle room” should you not be able to read the Bible on a day here and there. Keep in mind you do not have as many “sick days” as it sounds. You do not have even have two “sick days” per week. You cannot use a “sick day” every other day, or you will not finish the Bible within the year. They are available, but use them sparingly! Unused “sick days” may be used to reread the New Testament a second time in 2014.
Which plan you choose is not the most important aspect of Bible reading. The most important thing to remember is that we want to hide God’s word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him.
I will close with a quote by George Müller, that great man of faith:
I believe that the one chief reason that I have been kept in happy useful service is that I have been a lover of Holy Scripture. It has been my habit to read the Bible through four times a year; in a prayerful spirit, to apply it to my heart, and practice what I find there. I have been for sixty-nine years a happy man; happy, happy, happy.
