• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • What We Believe
    • Privacy Policy
  • Blog Articles
    • Comfort
      • The Mercy of God in My Disease
      • Steadfast Love that Gives Us Hope
      • Where are Your Altars of Remembrance?
      • When Big Questions Leave You Feeling Stuck
    • Discipleship
      • The Ministry of a Mentor
    • Hospitality
      • God Grew Hospitality in Our Home
      • The Hospitality of Friendship
      • When Hospitality Doesn’t Come Naturally
    • Identity
      • He Calls You By Name
      • Name Your Story Faithfully
      • New Creation, New Label
      • New Eyes for a New Beginning
    • Marriage
      • Cultivating Friendship, Forgiveness, and Faithfulness
      • One Flesh, Together In The Fight
    • Motherhood
      • An Everyday Offering
      • Courage to Labor and Love Like Jesus
      • Greater Love Has No Mom
      • I Thought It Was Typical
      • Squeezed Out
      • Transformative Prayer for Your Kids
    • Obedience
      • Does Obedience Really Bring Joy?
      • He Gives More Grace Because You Need it from Him
      • Letting Down Our Nets
      • Melting Worry in the Summer Sun
      • The Voice of Truth
    • Trusting God
      • He Who Promised is Faithful
      • Hope for the Things Unseen
      • Facing the Unknown
      • Suffering In the Name of Christ
      • Waiting on the Lord
  • Podcast
    • About the Podcast
    • Season One
      • E1: Lift Up Your Eyes with Tara Dickson
      • E2 – Come to Christ, Take Up and Read with Becky Pliego
      • E3 – Let’s Chat Bible Study with Jen Wilkin
      • E4 – Getting Started in Deeper Bible Study with Angi Tuffnell
      • E5 – God Gives Us Himself with Kristen Kill
      • E6 – You Don’t Have to Be Blooming to Be Growing with Ruth Chou Simons
      • E7 – Finding God’s Kindness in the Hard Times with Hannah Grieser
      • E8 – Bible Study is for the Busy Mamas with Pam Forster
      • E9 – Fearlessly and Faithfully Pro-Life with Alissa Golob
      • E10 – Look for What is True About God with Glenna Marshall
      • E11 – The Gospel Transforms Motherhood with Emily Jensen (Risen Motherhood)
      • E12 – Ambassadors on Mission with Gloria Furman
      • E13 – When Your Friend is Suffering with Marissa Henley
      • E14 – Let’s Talk About Mentoring with Gretchen Ronnevik
      • E15 – Let’s Talk About Discipling Women with Katie Roberts and Taylor Turkington (TGC)
      • Podcast E16: Let’s Talk About Discipleship In The Local Church – Pastor Perspectives – with Matthew Kruse and Patti Rosell
  • The Conference
    • WE 2019: Whatever is True
    • About the Conference Retreat
    • WE2018: Taste and See
    • WE 2017: Consider it Joy
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Write for Us
    • Join the Facebook Group
  • view shopping cart
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
view shopping cart

WOMEN ENCOURAGED

  • Bible Reading
  • Bible Study
  • faithfulness

Sister, Read Your Bible!

3 months ago by Women Encouraged share
Sister, Read Your Bible!

From the editors : This week marks the beginning of the Bible Reading Challenge, a group that started two years ago with a simple premise: what if Christians from around the world started reading their Bibles together? What if we read more than one chapter or section at a time? What if we truly feasted on the Word of God?

 

 

It’s not a new idea, but we sometimes forget that reading the Bible all the way through is truly an amazing and transformative experience. And it truly doesn’t matter how or where you read. Whether you want to read five days a week or seven, start in Genesis and read all the way through or mix some of the New Testament in along the way, by yourself or with a group like the BRC – it just seems like there’s no reason to not jump in somewhere and get started!

 

That’s not to say that reading your Bible is always easy. I vividly remember my first attempts. As a new believer in my teens, I hadn’t grown up in the church. While I knew some of the Biblical stories, I had no idea how the narrative actually flowed. I definitely didn’t understand the importance of the Old Testament. What’s up with Leviticus anyway? I knew I was supposed to read this book, but I couldn’t do it. So I quit.

 

Actually, I quit several times. I would get a few weeks into my new plan, and then I’d get overwhelmed by my ignorance of the Biblical story and quit again, over and over and over. I became so frustrated by my inability to understand.

 

And I’m a reader. I love to read. I could read any other book no problem, but I couldn’t understand the Bible.

 

After college, my husband and I went to seminary. I still didn’t know the storyline of the Bible. I had so many questions in all of our classes, but I specifically remember sitting in our intercultural communications class. We were talking about the Biblical narrative and its importance in cultures that are illiterate or don’t have written language. I was fascinated! I wanted to know those stories!

 

So I emailed our professor and asked where I could go to learn more. His response wasn’t very helpful; he assumed I knew much more than I did. His only advice was to just “Go read your Bible.” But I had tried…and failed. I knew I needed to read my Bible, but I just couldn’t understand it.

 

That was ten years ago. This year, I’m reading through the Bible for the fourth time. This time, I get to read with my church family! So what changed? Both my understanding of the storyline of Scripture and my perspective on Bible reading.

 

How I Got Started

 

Nine years ago, when I was pregnant with our oldest child, some sweet friends gave us The Jesus Storybook Bible. In the weeks leading up to our son’s arrival, I opened it and began to read. That book opened my eyes in a new way. I had read story Bibles before, but this was the first time that I really saw the story of Scripture as one complete story from Genesis to Revelation. It’s not just a disconnected series of events! I had heard that, but I had never seen how these stories fit together.

 

Looking back, this was a pivotal moment in my journey toward Bible literacy. I had taken Old and New Testament classes. I had learned the Inductive Bible Study Method. But I had not been shown how God had orchestrated all of history to climax with the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.

 

Since then, I have learned to talk about the meta-narrative of Scripture in terms like creation, fall, redemption, and glorification. God created the world, but Adam fell into sin and in him we all fell. Because of the fall, the world is distorted and so are our hearts. We long for the world to be restored. God saw our need for redemption and sent Jesus. Through Him, our relationship with God has been redeemed! Because of Jesus, we look forward to the day when we are glorified with the Son. We look forward to the day when we will worship at the throne of God. Each story in the entire Bible fits into this bigger story.

 

Once I understood that the Bible was not just a series of unrelated stories, but one big story from start to finish, I could begin reading God’s Word with new understanding. I could see how David and Goliath pointed backwards to the fall but also pointed us to the day when the Son would defeat the ultimate enemy of God, and the same is true of every story in Scripture.

 

But reading the Bible remained hard. Despite my better grasp of the grander themes in God’s Word, I still struggled to get through the tedious passages of the Old Testament.

 

A Savings Account

 

A few years later, still frustrated with my lack of understanding, I came across author Jen Wilkin. In her book Women of the Word, she said something that really stood out to me:

“For years I viewed my interaction with the Bible as a debit account: I had a need, so I went to the Bible to withdraw an answer. But we do much better to view our interaction the Bible as a savings account: I stretch my understanding daily, I deposit what I glean, and I patiently wait for it to accumulate in value, knowing that one day I will need to draw on it. Bible study is an investment with a long-term payoff .”(p. 81).

 

Until that point in my life, my view of “quiet time” was that I should input my Bible for that day and withdraw enough to get through that day. Every day I was making a deposit and a withdrawal, so I wasn’t building anything for later. If I couldn’t immediately withdraw what I had just deposited, I became very frustrated.

 

Instead, Wilkin helped me view my Bible reading as depositing into a savings account. It won’t feel like much for a long time. But little by little, it adds up so that over time, you are able to make a withdrawal that is substantial.

 

This view of Bible reading helps me to see that it’s okay that I don’t understand every chapter of the Bible. It will take time to build up my savings account of Bible literacy. But the effort of reading Scripture (even when I don’t understand it) will lead to a greater knowledge of the text, which I trust will lead to greater understanding in the future.

 

The Fourth Time Around

 

Now that I am reading through the Bible for the fourth time, I am beginning to see the fruit of the first three times. I am starting to make some connections between different stories that I hadn’t seen before. When I get to the prophets, I have better understanding of the historical context. When I make it through Leviticus, I can sit in awe of all that Jesus has fulfilled.

 

There are still chapters that I struggle through. It is still hard to make the time to read every day. But the fruit of faithful Bible reading is increasing; seeing this growth has been enough encouragement for me to complete the Bible reading plan for this year. It has given me a vision for pushing through the hard parts. It has opened my eyes to greater depth and beauty in God’s Word that I would have ever known had I not started the first time.

 

So if we could get a cup of coffee and chat for a while, I would encourage you to start. I would tell you that yes, you will feel inadequate and that’s part of the point. God asks us to do hard things for His glory!  I would tell you that struggling through the Bible the first time is so worth it when you get to the fourth. And I look forward to how much more I will know and be able to enjoy the Lord when I get to my tenth.

 

I can’t wait to hear you say the same.

 


Megan Dickerson loves encouraging women to know God and love his word. She and her husband Drew are graduates of Southern Seminary where they grew in their love for the Lord and their desire to teach others. 

Megan has taught Bible studies and discipled women for over 10 years. She is currently living the seminary life again, this time in North Carolina with their 4 children. She’s an occasional blogger at thewinsomehome.com and frequent coffee drinker wherever she can find a mug.

by Women Encouraged
3 months ago

Related Posts

  • Podcast Episode 25 – A Marriage that Thrives with Lisa Jacobson

    Podcast Episode 25 – A Marriage that Thrives with Lisa Jacobson

    1 year ago
  • She is Broken and She is Beautiful

    She is Broken and She is Beautiful

    2 years ago
  • Steadfast Love that Gives Us Hope

    Steadfast Love that Gives Us Hope

    2 years ago

2 Comments

  1. Jana says:

    This is such an insightful post! I can relate to so much of your journey here. I’ve yet to read Jen Wilkin’s book, yet every time I come across a quote from it, I love the message. This analogy of a savings account makes so much sense. Excellent encouragement! Thank you!

    2 months ago · Reply
    1. Bethany Barendregt says:

      Praise God – so grateful this blessed you, Jana! Thanks so much for reading!
      – the WE team

      2 months ago · Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Podcast Episode 37 – Perfectionism is not the Gospel with Jennifer Brogdon
Podcast Episode 38 – Practicing Discernment with Hannah Anderson

Sign up to get updates in your mailbox, the WE newsletter, and more!

* indicates required

Recent Posts

  • Podcast Episode 44 – The Beauty of God’s Word with Katie Guiliano November 1, 2019
  • Podcast Episode 43 – The Bible Transforms Teens, Too with Katherine Forster October 27, 2019
  • Podcast Episode 42 – Freedom to Flourish in Christ with Lydia Brownback October 19, 2019

Follow @womenencouraged

  • We’re thrilled that @gretchen.ronnevik will be joining us at our PNW Whatever Is True conference in Feburary. We found her latest blog post on conversation topics insightful and inspiring. She shares how different styles of questions can be used to gain further insight from a bible passage or to start a conversation with someone new.  To read it, check out gretchenronnevik.com  What’s your favorite question to ask when you study the bible? 
#womenencouragedpnw #womenencouraged #womenencouragedpnw2020 #womenencouraged2020 #whateveristrue
  • “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 15:5-6⁣⁣⁣
⁣
There are so many opportunities during Advent and Christmas to live in discord. Whether it’s plans for where you’ll spend Christmas Day, how much to spend on gifts, where to drive for the best Christmas lights, what kind of lights to hang this year ... ⁣
⁣
We will never run out of things to argue about, and this season of celebrating and festivities can amplify our sinful nature to insist on our own way. ⁣
⁣
What good news Christ is to us, then, who need Him so much. Apart from Him, there is no peace, no harmony. Let us, then, live in accordance with Him. ⁣
⁣
And look who our encourager is! God! The God of steadfastness and encouragement - apart from Him there is no steadiness, no encouragement. ⁣
⁣
What good news this is to us!⁣ Seek Him today in His Word. He is faithful, He is steadfast, He is true, and He is for us. ⁣⁣⁣
#womenencouraged #womenoftheword #instagramforchrist #inaccordancewithChrist #GoodNews
  • We're so excited that @glennadmarshall will be speaking both days at the PNW Whatever is True conference! 
We love that Glenna posts her blog articles in audio form, so you can read or listen to all her latest posts @ glennamarshall.com

#womenencouragedpnw #womenencouraged #womenencouraged2020 #womenencouraged2020 #whateveristrue
  • Think of it! God, in the humble form of a human, with real human needs of comfort, protection, food, and clothing. ⁣
⁣
What a gift Christ is, the Word Incarnate. ⁣
⁣
He came, and dwelt among us. ⁣
⁣
How can we reflect Christ’s character this Advent season? Let’s join in with our children and friends  and family this season - partake of the cookies and milk, crank the music up and put decorations on the tree in no particular order, organize the sledding party, volunteer to bring the hot chocolate! ⁣
⁣
Christ came as the Comforter - bring real comfort! Deliver a meal to someone in need, send a gift to a loved one who is struggling. ⁣
⁣
Delight in the everyday, humble tasks that God has given today. They are a gift from Him! ⁣
⁣

#womenencouraged #womenoftheword #advent #Christmasiscoming #givethanks
  • “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Is. 11:1-2, ESV⁣
⁣
Happy Second Sunday of Advent!
  • Thank the Lord today - His mercies are new every morning. Thank Him for the good and generous gifts He has given. ⁣
⁣
And thank Him for the hardships - He is using them to refine us more into His image every day. What a gift that is!

#womenencouraged #instagramforchrist #womenoftheword
  • A voice cries;⁣
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;⁣
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.⁣
Every valley shall be lifted up,⁣
and every mountain and hill be made low;⁣
the uneven ground shall become level,⁣
and the rough places a plain. ⁣
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,⁣
and all flesh shall see it together, ⁣
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:3-5, ESV
  • We are so excited for our first ever Pacific Northwest Women Encouraged event! ⁣
⁣
Tickets are available now, you can click on the link in our bio and click on Women Encouraged Pacific Northwest to get yours! ⁣
⁣
“Finally brethren, whatever is true... think on these things.” Philippians 4:8⁣
⁣
⁣
⁣

#womenencouraged #womenoftheword #pacificnorthwest #instagramforchrist #womenencouraged2020

WOMEN ENCOURAGED

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

©2019 Designed with love by Teleo