It’s easy for Bible reading to become a rut or a frustration. The words don’t sink in, or we get tired of reading them. It’s easy to understand why. Just look at the shifts in social media over the last number of years. We went from Facebook which involves words and pictures, to Instagram which was pictures without words to TikTok and Reels which are all about videos. The trend is away from words. The direction is from static to dynamic. We’ve learned to crave speed. And it makes it harder for us to read and concentrate on anything. So, if you’re struggling to read the Bible, don’t assume that it’s just your problem. It’s our generation’s problem. Here are some things you can do.
1. Slow down
If you find yourself rushing through your reading, deliberately slow down. The Bible doesn’t TikTok well. In Psalm 119:11, the psalmist said, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Our digital scrolling trains us to skim but God’s Word needs to be stored and hidden deep within us to have its effect. That’s why just a few verses later, he says, “I will meditate on your precepts” (Psalm 119:15) and “declare all the rules” “with my lips” (Psalm 119:13). Read your Bible out loud or at least mouth the words if you need to. Try to memorize what it says or churn the meaning out of the passage long enough until it has sunk down into your soul. If Jesus needed to memorize the Bible to fight off Satan’s temptations (Matthew 4:4), surely, we do!
2. Lean in
The internet has given everyone a voice. Or at least it gives that impression. We’ve become used to hearing a sea of opinions that we select from. God’s voice can not only be drowned out by the crowd but treated like something we pick and choose. If you read the Bible the way you would a post or a blog, you dull its impact. Paul commends the Thessalonians in this way: “that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). We approach God’s Word with reverence as the voice that stands above all the others. As God says in Isaiah 66:2 “this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
3. Battle your unbelief
As you open the Bible, the real challenge isn’t trying to read it, it’s trying to believe it. Each time you sin, you’ve first doubted that what God says is true or good. You convince yourself, “That was then, but this is now.” You tell yourself, “I think I know better on this one.” While there is some work to do in correctly applying words that were written thousands of years ago, the Bible speaks into our lives today. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Look for anything in the passage that you struggle to believe. Remind yourself of Scripture’s promises. As Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” Learning to trust the words of God as truth and live them out in response is the heart of a life of faith. Confess your unbelief. Declare your conviction that God’s way is right. And find your peace and reassurance in walking in His ways.
If the Bible is “pure spiritual milk” that helps spiritual “infants … grow up into salvation” as 1 Peter 2:2 says, then the struggle to make Bible reading work can’t be one that we lose or give up on. Work at slowing down as you read the Scriptures, lean into the message, and battle the unbelief which keeps you from believing what you read. May God give you help as you do!
In awe of him,
Paul
