I finished my Bible in 90 Days challenge back in April right before the Titus 2:1 Conference. It was definitely a challenge!! It’s not a bible study, it’s just a reading plan to give you the overall scope and sequence of things–to let you see the big picture. And it was both amazing and a little overwhelming.
There was so much stuff in there that I didn’t know! Entire books that I hadn’t really even known existed. (Nahum anyone?)
{Sorry no pictures today. I’m having some trouble between my poor, overworked camera and our Macbook. I’ll have some for ya tomorrow!}
And can I be completely honest here?
There were things in there that were not nice. Things that were hard to read. There were a few times that I just put it down because it was too much for me. God does get angry. God’s people do act wildly inappropriate and suffer for it. There’s a lot of war and destruction in there and children crying for food and alters dripping with sacrifices.
It really deepened my understanding of the whole story, but it also left me with tons (and tons) of questions. The Lord put everything in there for a reason, and now I really want to know why! What was he trying to tell us with the chapters and chapters of construction details for the tabernacle? (And where did they get all that gold?!) What did all those crazy dreams about bones, and wheels, and candles, of the prophets mean?
And I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, but now that I’ve actually read the whole bible, I want to know the truth about things for myself. The truth about Jesus’ childhood (the bible says very little!) and the truth about who each of the apostles were before they were chosen (again, the bible says little). I know there’s other history out there to be found. And why did God only tell us the little bit that he told us? Why are these the things that were most important for us to know?
A couple points if you’re thinking about doing it too…
- I read the King James version. They don’t recommend it. It is hard! But don’t be afraid of it. You can do it. No matter what version you read you’re not going to get it all the first time, so don’t be intimidated!
- I’m an avid reader and it was still an hour a day, give or take. I found that it could be hard to have a whole hour at one time. (And getting behind is soooo hard!) So first thing in the morning I stuck a bookmark at the beginning and the end of the day’s reading. Then I would read as much (or as little) at a time as I could snatch. 15 minutes at lunchtime. 15 minutes while waiting for dinner to cook. Once I started doing that, it was much easier to keep up.
- It is not a bible study! Put your bible dictionary and concordance away or you’re never going to get through! I started making a list of passages and words that I wanted to go back to and even that eventually got overwhelming. Just consider bible study a completely separate activity.
