Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Cordial Catholic

Home
Catholic
I Read the Whole Bible in 30 Days (And You Can Too!)

I Read the Whole Bible in 30 Days (And You Can Too!)

Last updated on: February 1, 2019 at 7:43 am by K. Albert Little

I Read the Whole Bible in 30 Days (And You Can Too!) 2019-02-01T07:43:37-04:00 K. Albert Little

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve never been particularly big at New Year’s resolutions but when a priest friend of mine put out a call for participants in a 30-day Bible reading challenge my interest was piqued.

I’ve read the Bible many times before, but I love a good challenge.

This particular Bible reading plan was dubbed, in Jillian Michaels fashion, as a “30-day Shred”.

It looked absolutely monstrous, with an average reading load of 40 chapters per day.

I began by finding a good audiobook version of the Bible. I knew I wouldn’t have time to actually sit and read every single day; it would take at least an hour of reading and it didn’t seem feasible. Luckily, there are plenty of audiobook versions of the Bible available and I found one easily.

So, tracking with the Bible app on my phone, a thinline copy of the Bible in my backpack, and an audiobook version for home and the car I was ready to begin.

An Incredible Immersion…

The first thing I want to say about the whole experience is how incredibly immersive it was.

In order to finish the 30-day shred I had immerse myself in the Bible all day long.

I listened to the Bible first thing in the morning while making breakfast for the kids, and again at lunch. I played the Bible in the car driving around town and again while cleaning up after supper. During nap times I sat and read. In the evenings, while everyone else slept, I often held my eyes open with toothpicks to finish that last half hour or so of reading I needed to stay on track for the day.

If I’m honest with you, I even kept a copy of the Bible in the bathroom for those rare moments of solitude (if you’re a stay-at-home parent with young kids you know what I mean).

And, I should say, there’s nothing like shouting at a toddler to stop climbing on his sister with Nehemiah intoning in the background.

I’ve read the Bible before, lots of times and in lots of different contexts. I’ve read it chronologically, thematically, I’ve studied particular books or sections or authors in greater detail through study groups but I’ve never found myself so completely immersed in Scripture.

I was listening first thing in the morning and reading it just before bed. It permeated my day in a way I never thought it would, and the result was amazing.

Everything is Scripture

I found that everything began to relate to Scripture.

Throughout the course of my day, in my big and small failures, in my victories and successes, I began to see the stories of the Bible reflected. In biblical heroes, great and small, I saw reflections of my self, my own struggles, my own accomplishments, and how God returns, again and again, to offer me mercy and grace and forgiveness.

I began to see patterns and connections I’d never made before.

Typology, the study of types and prefigurements in the Old Testament as reflected in the New is an ancient kind of theology—a way of understanding both halves of the Bible revealed to us by St. Paul himself. By reading the Bible at such a great pace, by devouring it so quickly, I began to see deep connections and reflections I’d never noticed before.

How many times God uses water, wine, and the physical things of the world He created to express Himself and teach us how to believe.

How concepts of forty days, seven, and twelve occur over and over again.

How the worship spelled out by the God in the Old Testament is reflected so fully in the ancient Christian Liturgy.

How every hero in the Bible prefigures the person of Christ.

I could go on.

Not only was I making typological connections I’d never made before but my participation at Mass on a Sunday was immediately deepened when I’d recognize the context and characters from some obscure Old Testament passage or from something that Paul had written. I could place these things, in context, in the greater scheme of Salvation History because I’d read the whole thing, in one big go.

It took everything I had not to thrust my hand up in the air and shout, “Hey! That’s from the time that Ezra was reading the Law to the Jewish people from his wooden stand!”

I felt like an uncover Bible scholar.

The Ever-Present Voice of God

And God spoke.

By immersing myself in the Scripture I was open to hearing from God in a way that I truly hadn’t been before. God was, quite literally, speaking in my ear all day long.

If there was something God wanted to speak into my life it was found in Jonah fleeing the people of Nineveh for the belly of the whale. Or Job struggling to understand God in a world flipped upside down. Or Jesus multiplying bread and fish to feed the five thousand, which echos the Israelites and the manna in the wilderness.

These stories, one after another, spoke deeply into my life as I listened and read all day long. And it fixed me, firmly, in my own place in the history of God’s people. A kind of holy grounding as I read and listened day after day; that I, too, am part of this great cosmic story.

You Should Read the Bible in 30 Days, Too

By the end of my 30-day shred the benefits were tangible.

I had devoured the Word of God. It had permeated my life in such a meaningful way that, by the end, I began to miss it when I’d finished my section of readings for the day. By the next morning I couldn’t wait to begin again. I truly hungered for the Word of God in a way I hadn’t experienced since the very first time I got my hands on the Bible nearly twenty years ago.

It was like being a new believer all over again.

I was learning things. I was open to hearing from God in a very meaningful way. And I was grounded, like never before, in the history of our salvation story.

It wasn’t easy. My priest friend, who remains shamefully anonymous, still hasn’t made it out of the Psalms but he got us started, I guess, and he says that should count for something. We’ll let him off the hook.

It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. But, in the end, if you’re looking for a challenge of biblical proportions maybe this is the one for you. The Bible in 30 days was, indeed, a shred but if spiritual exercise equates, at all, to physically working out I’d like to think I’m a least a little more spiritually fit than when I started out.

Or, at least, a little more well-read in random Bible trivia—because that could be a thing.

Previous Post

January 23, 2019

Is Fake News Keeping Good Christians From Becoming Catholic?

Next Post

February 20, 2019 How Come Non-Denominational Christians Can't Agree?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Appearances Christian Living Explaining the Faith Podcast Tough Questions Uncategorized Why I'm Catholic

Select a Month January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many plagues did God inflict upon Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

14 21 7 10

Support this
Column