I mentioned previously the book Unto A Good Land: A History of the American People. Written by six American historians the book is massive — a little over twelve hundred copy-paper sized pages. It’s too big and heavy to hold on my lap, so I read with it open on my desk. When I began, I found myself taking copious notes. There was so much I didn’t know! I needed to keep track.
But at that rate, a little each day at lunch, I’d never finish. Perhaps, I thought, I should just read. Absorb as much as possible, and then read it again – or read another book covering the same ground. The idea was to improve my over-all understanding of American history.
For a similar reason I encourage you to read the Bible through every year. Wouldn’t it be better to just pick a book of the Bible and read it several times, or spend your time in a detailed study of a small section?
There is a place for both of those efforts. But unless you are able to seat your study in the entirety of the text, you’ll probably go off course. You can’t be a “specialist” without first being a “generalist.” The history of anything is inseparably connected to the history of everything, and every book of the Bible is connected to the whole.
We are coming to the end of 2020. If you didn’t read the Bible through this year, or tried but fell off the wagon, determine to pick it up and begin anew. Four chapters a day will get you through by the end of 2021. Give it a whirl. A year from now you will have developed a habit that will expose you to everything God has revealed. And if you don’t get it all the first go round, you’ll get more the second.
By the way . . . I finished Unto A Good Land this week. Six to ten pages a day got me through, and I learned a lot. Set a goal, lay a plan to accomplish it, and don’t let anything get in your way.