It took me 4 years, but I did it! In January of this year, I finally finished reading the entire bible. Chapter by chapter and sometimes just verse by verse and I can say I read every single word in the Bible for the first time in my life.
The more I read, the more I saw how absolutely EVERYTHING does tie together. I know it sounds bizarre, but when I read the last verse, I felt like I had finished a book or a movie and it finally all clicked together. Up until that moment it was easy to think of everything I had ever read in the bible as separate stories. There is David and his insane life from tough shepherd to mighty king. There is Abraham and his epic adventure. Noah and his pivotal moment in the world's history. Jesus and his ministry. Pau, Peter, and the others writing letters to baby churches. Evil kings destroyed, miracles for the good, and growing stories like Job and Jonah. But when I read the last verse in Jeremiah, (my final book,) suddenly it wasn't individual stories anymore, it was an epic multi-part story that was all one story.
I don't know if you were like me at Christmas in 2001. I had just watched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. But after the 3-hour adventure, I still didn't know what was going to happen. (Yes, yes, I know, read the book. But seriously, the second book was SO DRY it took me a year to get through it!) We had to wait a whole year to see the next part. And then again, the next year after that to see how it ended. I remember walking out of the theater on Christmas of 2003 and finally knowing that they got the ring to where it needed to be, who didn't make it through to the end, and who got a chance to move forward in their lives.
Honestly, after finishing the bible, I had the same feeling. Suddenly all of it was complete. All the promises were kept intact and fulfilled (or being fulfilled right now,) the evil did what evil did and never stopped. God was the same and faithful through every page. It is one gigantic adventure love story.
And you know what? It's my adventure love story too. And it's yours! God has called us to live this wild, crazy adventure love story with Him. We can tell the tales of those before us to remember to follow their example, (or not... I see you, Solomon.)
I felt closer to God's heart after finishing. I felt a peace for the future I can't explain. I really truly know I'm not just one of the adopted ones, but I am a chosen one, and God wants me to live side-by-side with him on many more epic adventures.
If you've never read the bible cover to cover, I challenge you to do so. Do it slow, soak it in. Take notes! We retain when we write. Get excited about it and tell people what you read that day. You don't have to read it in order, in fact I found it easier to jump from Old Testament to New Testament and back again. It let me see the Old Testament promises and history reflected in the New Testament, and it made it all tie together. People in the New Testament look different when you see they are the same as the Old Testament people. (For example, John the Baptist started to look an awful lot like Elisha the Prophet and not just some edgy, crazy bug eating speaker.)
Oh, and a word of advice. Use a study bible, or three or four! Read different versions on the confusing passages. Don't just read it, dwell on it. Dig in and do some research. And use a bible study plan that you like. Personally, I used the First 5 app from Proverbs 31 Ministries, and I highly recommend it! The driest of spots still had nuggets to gather up and learn from.
Are you up for this challenge? If so, let me know in the comments so I can cheer you on!
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