Early Mornings, Hot Coffee & A Hungry Cat
8 Ways Reading the Bible Every Day Can Change Your Life.
I’ve read the Bible everyday for the last 100 days.
Here’s what I’ve learnt.
The alarm goes off at 5:45 am, but I snooze until 6ish.
I wrap my robe around my shoulders, pull up the covers of the bed and walk downstairs to make a coffee. The cat meows impatiently for his breakfast, completely oblivious to the fact there are still people sleeping and my shushes do nothing to dissuade him.
The house is quiet and it’s dark outside.
My favourite time of day.
I seat myself at the small desk in the spare bedroom, light a candle, and pray that the Lord would “open my eyes to see wondrous things from His law” (Psalm 119:18). I open my Bible as the Kookaburras sing in a new day—and God speaks.
This really is how I start my day most mornings now, but it’s a little more human than that. Sometimes I’m up right on 6 am ready to go, other times I sleep right through the alarm and catch up on my reading before bed instead. The cat has a bad habit of attacking my ankles in the middle of my reading, and we’ve recently had renovations in our home so my time in the Word has sometimes been interrupted by the sound of jackhammers.
It’s never perfect, but it is consistent.
I have tried multiple times over the years to read the whole Bible through in a year, only to put it down and never pick it up again. But I’m nothing if not determined.
This week sees 100 days in the Bible! A small milestone but one I’m pausing to consider and celebrate.
So, what have I learnt from reading the Bible everyday for 100 days in a row? I honestly think more than I can count. But here are a few ways my life (& thoughts & actions & soul, I feel) have changed.
SOME REFLECTIONS
While reading the Bible is a fantastic spiritual discipline with fantastic spiritual benefits, I have found that these benefits extend beyond the spiritual, into the practical, to the downright wonderful.
I now wake up naturally around 6:30 am even on the weekends.
“Oh, how horrid!” I hear some of you say, but in all honesty I absolutely love it. The house is quiet and so are the streets. There is a coolness in the air that refreshes the spirit when breathed deeply (coffee in hand). And even after an hour or so of study there is a whole day in front of me which I’m ready for.
I get to give the Lord the first-fruits of my day; the best of my focus, of my time, of my undistracted mind and He meets me there each morning. I now can’t think of a better way to start my day.
I’m learning the big story of the Bible.
While I’ve been reading the Bible for years, I am finding that going from beginning to end —Genesis to Revelation— is giving me a greater understanding of the bigger story of God’s history; a story I feel I’ve previously missed by giving preference to reading the New Testament over the Old.
The life of Jesus in the Gospel’s now sits within this vast story of redemption that spans thousands of years (and continues to this day). Threads of the promise of the Saviour are woven throughout each book, and the beauty and character of the Lord shines forth from every page. The God of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is the same God today. The God of the Bible is the same God for me, today, and I can rest my hope and faith on Him because of the witness from history found in Scripture.
I’m getting answers to questions I’ve had for a long time.
This year I have chosen to focus on studying the Word rather than just reading it. In the past I would choose a book or passage to read that was either easy to read or one which made me feel good, but that didn’t help me equip myself when bigger questions arose.
For example, I’ve had quite a few people ask me why the God in the Old Testament is full of wrath and the God in the New is full of love, and I’ve never had a great answer for that —but now I do. Reading Scripture, not just in a ‘spiritual’ way, but with an open mind and commentary in hand has meant I have answers to the tougher passages from the Old Testament, and now I have an answer: I can say with every fibre of my being that the God in the Old Testament is just as loving and kind and as gracious as the God in the New.
You can’t hide from passages you don’t like.
This goes hand-in-hand with my previous point and it’s one I am so grateful for. Reading the Bible from cover to cover means you can’t hide from books like Leviticus or Judges. You can’t hide from passages like David and Bathsheba. The full weight of scripture crashes over you like a wave, and you are forced to come face to face with the truth of sinful humanity, and by God’s grace, recognise it in yourself (what a gift repentance is to the believer)!
At times, I’ve struggled with the rawness of the Word, but how refreshing to have a text that doesn’t lie to you! And what I’ve found is while there are tough passages to read, God’s grace and forgiveness is on the very next page — and sometimes, it’s in the very next verse! Yahweh has never left His people to fend for themselves, and He wont leave you either.
(Amazingly enough) I feel a greater sense of emotional stability.
This is a very cool benefit to write about, but I actually feel so much more grounded in my everyday life, as though there’s an emotional buffer or barrier around me giving me grace when I need it. We’re only four months in to 2024 and it has already been a tough year; a death in the family, the insecurity of working for a business on the brink of bankruptcy, and major sicknesses of loved ones, but oh! the depth of comfort I have received from Jesus!
In those moments, my time in the Word has been a lifeline to me to the point where I would rather spend time in the Word over watching TV. This shows me that when it comes to Bible reading, it doesn’t matter what we read, it’s *who* we read about.
I have passages I can turn to and pray from.
This is such a practical benefit from my daily Bible reading. I’ve struggled with prayer over the years, not just finding the time but finding the right words to say when praying for myself and others. So finding verses (and making tabs in my Bible to reference those verses) has meant I just turn to the page in the Bible and pray the verses back to God.
I find prayer so much easier now because I have the words to say. No matter the need; healing, salvation, wisdom, finances, marriage, faith, praise — the Bible has the words! There is nothing more beautiful or powerful than praying Scripture.
I am more willing to repent and ask to be changed to look more like Christ.
One of the biggest dangers for me is reading the Bible and coming away unchanged. It’s so easy to be fed through Christian media and Bible adjacent things (like sermons or worship music or Christian living books or 5 minute devotionals on an app), and not actually look anything more like Christ.
Good Bible reading isn’t just you reading Scripture—it’s Scripture reading you.
If there is one thing I’m learning more and more each day is the beauty of repentance. Scripture is clear that I am a fallen human being, but it is also clear that the sacrifice of Jesus purchased my forgiveness. Repentance is good news and a brand new start for the believer (see the beautiful Psalm 103:10-14).
God really does speak—every time.
But not in the way that you think. I’ve been in Christian circles that have encouraged “hearing” from God in your spirit, and I do believe He speaks to us like that, but the Bible is God’s words written down and preserved for us. Scripture is God’s self-disclosure which means every time we open the Bible, He speaks.
I think most of us would love to hear the voice of God spoken directly to us in some grand, divine way (and if that’s His will to do that, He will). But the best, most clear voice free from fallen human nature is the Bible, and each day that I open the Word I train myself to hear and respond to God’s voice, for all of Scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Holy Spirit does speak to my heart during the day, and over the years has spoken to me through dreams and pictures and people (and He probably will again), but all of that is filtered through the truth of Scripture and lived out in repentance and Christian fellowship.
The alarm goes off at 5:45 am, but I snooze until 6ish.
The Autumn breeze sends the trees dancing outside, and I wrap my robe tighter around my shoulders. While it’s sometimes difficult to leave the warmth of my bed I know that each morning is another invitation to take the Lord’s hand and have Him shape me according to His Word, His will and His Son.
As the days grow darker and the world fills with confusion, for the Christian, Scripture is our lifeline. It’s our direct path back to the heart of the Father and it’s my prayer that God leads you (as He has me) further into all truth, boldness, and great, great comfort.
All my love,
x Zara
Contemplation is this:
Finding the place in you where you are here and now being created by God.
— Thomas Merton
“At times, I’ve struggled with the rawness of the Word….”
I agree. Facing the Word raw and unfiltered has been an exercise in humility.