One Simple Way to Reinvigorate Your Bible Reading

To revive your bible reading, shift your focus away from distractions, dive into Scripture, and grow in wisdom and connection with God.

Switch Your Phone for Your Bible

A couple of years ago, I felt dry in my Bible reading. I’d read through the Bible several times, utilizing one of those one-year Bibles. I varied it between reading straight through a normal Bible and reading a chronological Bible. Like many, I got a bit bogged down in places, particularly through Ezekiel. 

Enter brisk reading. I’m not sure where I first saw the concept, though my friend Keith Ferrin has spoken and written about it before. But I’m pretty sure it coincided with a deepening distaste for how often I found myself phone-gazing each day. 

What if I were as intensely focused on my Bible as I had been on my phone screen? Could I read the Bible in a couple months? 

I assumed I would get bored. Who wouldn’t?

Not only did I not get bored, but my fascination level grew with each daily reading session.

Instigate a Life Reset

Here’s what I’ve learned as I devoured the Bible: This practice will instigate a life reset.

We’ve been battered by the world. We’ve sunk into cynicism and despair. In short, we’ve saturated ourselves in the fickle ways of humankind. 

Reading the Bible in three months will help you wrest yourself away from the siren call of the world so you can stop worshiping the opinions of others and reorient your heart to worship the One who died for you.

This is a significant leap, an important investment in the next years of your walk with Jesus. It’s a choice to give your future self an incredible gift—the gift of wisdom and a settled knowledge of the Word of God.

As you read the Bible briskly, ask yourself these questions: When people and creation are not functioning properly, when they are not tov (the Hebrew word for good), how does God respond? How does he feel? Have you considered that God knows grief?

Did God grieve when he discovered Adam and Eve hiding in the garden?

Did he grieve when Cain murdered his brother without provocation?

Did he grieve as people attempted to become like him, building a tower to the sky?

How Do You Think God Was Feeling? How Would You Feel?

As you rapidly go through the Bible, your reading will deepen if you see it through the lens of the grief of God. God processes his grief through the pages of Scripture, yet even in pain, his heart always bends toward redemption. 

One of the most powerful practices I’ve implemented in a brisk reading of the Bible has simply been to ask the question: How would that make me feel? Whether I was reading about Eve, who took that first bite of forbidden fruit, or wondering about how Adam must have felt when his son bled into the earth or how Noah’s nameless wife experienced life on a boat, I asked myself, How would I feel if that were me? This simple exercise places me squarely in the story and helps me remember that these people are not characters in a novel; they were living, breathing human beings who felt, broke promises, worried, hid, and attempted to love.

Reading the Bible in ninety days will be time well spent. You’ll be able to look back on your life before this brisk-reading experiment and call it “before.” The “after” will be a transformed you, better attuned to the very Spirit of God, in love with the Scriptures penned by his hand.

For example, how would you answer these questions?

Do you want to grow?

Are you battling cynicism or excessive worry?

Has your passion for Jesus ebbed?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, welcome to the adventure of brisk Bible reading!

Reflection: 

How often do you read your Bible currently? Are you happy with the amount of the Bible you read in a week or a month? If not, make a plan to read more of the Bible. Keep in mind that listening to the Bible counts as reading it!

Did this post inspire you? Check out 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge: Read the Whole Bible, Change Your Whole Lifeby Mary DeMuth. Mary gives you a comprehensive reading plan for reading the whole Bible in just 90 days as well as key insights on each day’s reading.

Author bio: Mary DeMuth (MaryDeMuth.com) is an international speaker, podcaster, and author of over forty books, fiction and nonfiction. As an avid Bible reader, she has guided many people into the Scriptures to supercharge their faith. Mary lives in Texas with her husband of 33 years and is mom to three adult children.