Through the Bible in a Year

I don't know about you, but I've tried several different times to do one of those "read through the Bible in a year" plans, but I've never been able to stick with it.  For a while, one of those plans was actually included in each day's Daily Verse.  But let's be honest... when you have to read 7 chapters of Numbers in one day, it gets rough.

I've started a new plan, though, that I think is actually going to help me do this once and for all.  It's one of the reading plans from Discipleship Journal, and it's got a lot of things going for it that make it better than any other plan I've come across.  For starters, instead of reading all from one place (which is okay in Psalms but, as I said, gets really hard in places like Numbers and Chronicles), it divides the readings into 4 sections- one from the Old Testament law and prophets, one from the Old Testament wisdom literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, etc), one from the Gospels, and one from the Epistles.  The reading from the OT law and prophets is usually 2-3 chapters (that includes the Numbers stuff), but the other three sections are relatively short-- usually one Psalm, about ten verses from one of the Gospels, and about ten verses from one of the Epistles.  I'm really enjoying that balanced approach, because I get to see the unity of the Scriptures more clearly, and it's keeping me from getting bogged down in one spot.

Another nice thing is that, to prevent you from falling behind, it only has 25 days of reading a month, which gives me days to catch up on when I oversleep my alarm, or days to go back and meditate more on certain passages.  And also, it gives you four different bookmarks to print out, put in your Bible, and check off each day, which helps keep me accountable.

All of that said, the bigger question is, why?  Why am I reading through the whole Bible?  Who wants to read Numbers anyway?  Well, 2 Timothy 3:16 says that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable."  Profitable.  As in, there's great gain to be had here-- even in Numbers.  So I want to pursue my joy in the Word of God.  Also, although I've read almost all of the Bible at one point or another, I'm so much more familiar with the Epistles than the rest of God's Word.  I've recently been very humbled listening to various sermons and hearing pastors drawing on their deep knowledge and love of the whole Bible, quoting "obscure" verses that still carry the transforming, joy-producing power of the Spirit.  I want to preach like that.  I want to know God like that.  So I'm reading all the way through the Bible.

If you want to join me (I think I'll start including this in the Daily Verse come January) and many others who are also on this plan, go to www.hopeingod.org/biblereadingplan.aspx to find out more.