What I Learned From Reading The Bible (2019)

This year marks my fourth consecutive year reading through the Bible. I picked ESV Story of Redemption Bible which uses a daily reading plan to read through the entire Bible in 365 days.

If you have never read the Bible in its entirety before I highly recommend purchasing this version. It has a reading plan in the back (which is what I used) and it is full of easy to understand commentary. I am going to be using this Bible again in 2020 but following a different plan.

My first time reading the bible I started with Matthew and read to Revelation and then read Genesis through Malachi. I have also used The Bible Project Reading Plan and Reading God’s Story: A Daily Chronological Bible 

Here is a quick review of what I have learned from reading the Bible in 2019!

What I Learned From Reading the Bible

I had great plans to type this post up over the year as I learned things but that didn’t happen, there is always next year :). With that being said, what is below is truly what stayed me over the course of the year.

Genesis

Earlier this year I did an in depth study on the first few chapters of Genesis and really enjoyed it. The major takeaway I have from that study was learning that Moses wrote Genesis for the Israelites as a history lesson. He was showing the Israelites where they had come from as they were moving out of Egypt and towards the promised land.

Moses didn’t write that God created the sun and moon, he implied it, but didn’t use that verbiage. The study I did suggested that this was intentional because he was trying to create a new mindset for his people.

They had been living in Egyptian culture for a long time. They were susceptibly to view the “sun” and “moon” as Egyptian gods vs. viewing the two great lights (Genesis 1:14-19) as God’s creation. Idolatry was a huge problem for the Egyptian culture and God was calling his people out of Egypt and away from this thinking.

I had always read that passage of scripture to say God created the sun and moon, and even though it implied that wasn’t written. This was a good lesson and reminder for me to slow down and really read the text. I can get into a bad habit of mindlessly reading my Bible. This year I tried to make more of an effort to focus more and be more intentionally when I am reading. That didn’t always happen but I am trying ;).

The Good Samaritan

Along this same thought pattern of reading and understanding scripture in the context it was written and the audience it was for I really appreciated my pastor preaching on the Good Samaritan (Luke 11:25-37) this year. Again, this is a super familiar passage of scripture and story that most people have heard even if they don’t attend church. I have always tried to put myself into parables like this one and assumed I was the good samaritan in the story. My pastor offered a new to me perspective on the church being the inn and Jesus being the good samaritan. That is never how I read this before but his explanation made total sense. Jesus said he was going to come back and reward the man for all his help on caring for the injured man. You can listen to the entire sermon HERE if you are interested.

I learned this year that reading scripture never gets easier. In fact I think it gets harder. Especially when the Holy Spirit keeps convicting me and showing my areas in my life that need him. And yet I will continue to read my bible because I know it is for my good and His glory. Even when it is hard.

2020 Reading Plan

In a few days I will be starting my new Bible reading plan, Read the Bible with TGC in 2020. I will be reading the Bible following Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan. This takes you through the entire Bible in a year (including the New Testament and Psalms twice). If you visit the link you can find all the information you need if you would like to do this plan also.