Woman to Woman: When Reading the Bible Feels Hard

“This God—his way is perfect;the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

Psalm 18:30

From the moment I opened my eyes I knew. “Challenging” was my new word attempt at fending off the negativity of describing things as “too hard”. But truthfully the anxiety swirling in my stomach spoke more of overwhelm than “challenge”.

Perhaps better planning may have eased the burdens of the day. But despite my best efforts I still had no idea where to even begin. As Alexander of children books fame lamented, “Today was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.”

Have you ever had a day start off in this way?

Gently offering guidance over the past two weeks for developing a regular Bible reading habit, we can still feel much Like I did upon waking up to my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, regarding our Bible reading! Having no idea where to begin or make sense of it.

Truthfully, the Bible feels intimidating to some, while others, new to the faith simply have little understanding of it.

At times life batters us about and in our weariness connecting with the Bible feels hard.

Other times life’s demands extract so much mental energy we have little left to engage scripture in a meaningful way. And then there are those times when we have no plan and our random readings provide little in the way of encouragement or direction.

Ultimately, the Bible is God’s Story, his memoir if you will.

From beginning to end He intimately shares His Ways, His Thoughts, His Identity, His Love, and His Penultimate Plan for dwelling with us for all of eternity. Reminding us that,

“All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2Timothy 3:16-17-KJV

Therefore reading the Bible becomes fully necessary for our spiritual well-being, growth and service for God. But perhaps more importantly, reading the Bible forges intimacy with God as we learn more about Him through the pages of His inspired story.

We cannot truly know God without reading His Word in its entirety, and I encourage you in that direction. W2W Ministries has Bible plans for reading through the Bible in a year or reading through the Bible in three years.

But, methods for reading scripture abound, especially for those times when checking off chapters in a larger plan feels “challenging”.

Today, I share an easy Bible reading plan I have used over the years for those dry seasons, or hard to navigate paths life throws our way sometimes.

The Psalms and Proverbs reading plan is designed to be completed over a one month period according to the calendar days of the month. Ideally a thirty-one day month works best, but it certainly can be accomplished in a thirty day month.

Begin on the first day of the month reading Psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121. Read also Proverbs 1. The second day of the month you read Psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, and 122. Read also Proverbs 2.

You are taking the day of the month for the first psalm read, then adding “30” to that number for each subsequent psalm, totally five psalms per day.

You proceed in this fashion through the thirty days of the month, ending on Day 30 with Psalms 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150. Reading Proverbs 30.

Except on Day 29, you skip Psalm 119. On day 31, you read Psalm 119 and Proverbs 31.

Reading the Psalms in this fashion allows you to view the connection between the themes of the psalms which are not visible on reading them through in chronological order. If adding Proverbs feels burdensome, skip them. You can do just a Proverb each day on another month.

I love reading psalms this way by reading two-three of the psalms in the morning, and the remaining psalms at night. The psalms provide much encouragement and reveal many of God’s attributes. Making this Bible reading plan truly helpful.

Let me know in the comments if you have tried this plan before or if you plan to give it a try!