I don’t know how many sermons, teachings and lessons on reading the Bible regularly I have sat through. Very rarely do they do anything but make me feel guilty for an hour or two. I can only think of a couple of times where a teaching of any kind has inspired me to spend more time reading my Bible; usually the teaching wasn’t about Bible reading.
In the summer of 2006 I experienced God in a way that I thought was impossible. Up until then my time studying the Bible alone wasn’t much more than a joke. I was hit and miss at best. That summer I worked in outside Grand Rapids, Michigan at camp for at risk children and adolescents. The pace of every day was crazy. I spent every day from about 7:30 A.M. till around 10:30 P.M. with misbehaving, wild children trying to show them the way to Jesus and everlasting life.
I spent the entire day with these kids except for an hour break. Most days I longed for my break. Breaks were a time of quiet alone time. At first I tried to sleep on break but I could never fall asleep. After a couple of sleepless breaks I started reading my Bible. I was inspired by my co-counselor Sam who was already on his second read through of the Bible that year. Not to mention the fact he had spent the last few months memorizing the entire book of Galatians.
I started reading at the beginning in Genesis and worked my way through the historical book by the end of the summer. The hour a day I spent reading changed me in ways that I can’t fully describe. When I think about it all I can think is the words of Joshua 1:8 “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
