Bible Reading in the New Year
Bible Reading in the New Year: Where Do I Start?
By: Brittany Shields
It’s the beginning of a new year!
With that comes a fresh start. The motivation to do something we’ve been putting off. The inspiration to make healthy habits and better ourselves.
One of those things so often put off is reading the Bible.
For some reason it’s something that is hard to keep in our schedule or stay motivated to stick with.
I’ve been there. I know the struggle.
So let me encourage you— you can do this!
Reading the Bible is the primary way God communicates with us. It’s so important to our relationship with Him that we stay in His Word. To hear His voice and bury His truths in our hearts. To keep hearing the gospel message over and over again!
So where do we start?
I wanted to share with you some options that may help you read your Bible more or more consistently.
And remember, it’s not a box to check off and it’s not something you do to earn God’s love. We do our best. We struggle. We miss days of reading. We may miss weeks or months. But there is grace every day and we try again. Set achievable expectations, push yourself— either way, any time you spend in God’s Word is time well spent.
(picture from Daily Grace Co. website)
The Story of Redemption by The Daily Grace Co.
This is a four volume series that is reading through the entire Bible. It is about 3 chapters a day with a short commentary in the book.
When you purchase the book you also get access to a digital version in their app so you can read on the go, or still read it even if you forget your book in a rental car somewhere in Arizona like I did!
I started this book in 2023 but only made it through the first volume. I’m taking a break now but do plan to return to it at some point.
You can see my Bible Reading Link in the navigation bar for some of the ‘newsletters’ I put out sharing my thoughts as I read through the first 7 books of the Bible.
Otherwise these can also be found HERE.
For the Love of God by D.A. Carson
This is a two volume ‘read the Bible in a year’ type of plan. There are a couple ways to use the plan— I opted to spend two years, which meant I read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.
What I loved about this option is that D.A. Carson provided commentary on each day’s reading that was really helpful to understand what I was reading, especially those Old Testament books that are really confusing or boring. It helped me stick with it!
A link to the second volume is part of this review linked above.
Another similar Bible reading plan option is one that my dad has put together called ABIDE: Living Daily in the Word.
It is a 4 year plan set up to read one chapter a day, six days a week. The sixth day of reading is always a chapter from Psalms.
Like Carson, he includes a devotional commentary for each reading to break down the passage and make applications.
You can download this reading plan HERE. They are entering into year 3 of this plan- you can go at your own pace or jump in where they are now.
Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story by Angie Smith
If you’re not as familiar with your Bible, this might be a really good option for you. She covers all 66 books of the Bible in a 7 week study.
This may seem overwhelming but it’s a bird’s eye view. She doesn’t get in too deep but you will learn all the main characters, themes, and how everything is part of the story of Christ.
There are fill in the blank and short answer questions throughout to help you learn what you’re reading.
It’s a great book to give you the basic framework of the Bible and see how it all fits together and why it’s important to know about. My linked review will show you some pictures from inside the book!
The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms by Timothy Keller (with Kathy Keller)
The Psalms are a favorite book of the Bible for many people. It’s one of those books where we hear the echoes of our hearts. Where we often feel seen and understood.
If you need something shorter each day or would like to meditate on the Psalms for a year, this is a great option!
Keller takes a verse or few at a time and provides commentary as well as cross-referenced passages.
We may think of David when we think of Psalms, but each day Keller points us to Jesus and shows that even in Psalms we are hearing the gospel message.
He also suggests a way to meditate each day by using these words— Adore, Admit, and Aspire— to help us think about what we learn about God, what we can repent of, and how we can act on what we read.
Lastly, he includes a prayer each day that is helpful to remind us how to pray the Scriptures!
Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks Through Nature by Francine Rivers
If doing something every day is too much, this is a more manageable option.
It’s a 52 week devotional— one per week.
FYI- It is not about Psalms. Psalms in the title is more like ‘songs’ of nature. She takes passages from throughout the Bible and reflects on how we can learn about God through nature.
It’s not super deep but it’s theologically sound and has good questions to think about throughout the week.
It also is a very beautifully designed book if you want pretty pictures to look at!
Romans: The Gospel of Grace by Kristin Schmucker, The Daily Grace Co.
If you would like to just focus on studying one particular book of the Bible, I would highly recommend this two volume series on Romans.
Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible because it is so rich in theology and there’s always something new to glean from it.
Each volume is 8 weeks long with 5 days of reading/homework (a.k.a 3-4 questions per day).
My linked review above includes pictures of inside the book and a link to the second volume.
One unique thing I liked about this study was that it incorporated Scripture memory so by the time 16 weeks is up, you will have memorized Romans 8 (a few verses a week).
[The Daily Grace Co. puts out a lot of devotionals for other books too if you are interested in this type of study but not this particular book.]
1 Peter: A Living Hope in Christ by Jen Wilkin
The Daily Grace Co. is a great place to get studies on particular books of the Bible, but Jen Wilkin’s studies are some of my favorite!
Her studies have a bit more homework but they go deep, doing word studies and asking difficult questions.
This one is 9 weeks. I did it as part of a church Bible study so we also had access to video sessions Jen Wilkin did for each week. I’m sure you could gain access to these online. They were a great addition to the book study.
I would also highly recommend her books In His Image or Ten Words to Live By as good devotional books. They aren’t necessarily written as devotionals but they are good biblical studies with a lot of meat!
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
This is not a Bible reading plan or a devotional book but it was one of my favorite books ever and one that is worth reading multiple times.
Packer differentiates between knowing about God and knowing God and has written this book to that end.
He covers so much. It can be dense at times but so rich with truth. I have so many quotes from this book that I come back to regularly.
He talks about the triune Godhead and goes through many of God’s attributes. He challenges us to ‘Behold our God!’ and indeed his book helps us to do that.
If you just want to grow deeper in your relationship to and with God, you can’t go wrong with this choice!
Becoming a Woman whose God is Enough by Cynthia Heald
This one is geared toward women, obviously.
I’ve read this book several times and did it as a study with a group of high school girls over the course of 5-6 weeks.
There are a lot of Scriptures to look up and questions to go with each chapter.
What I love about this book is that it reminds us why God is enough for us. It sounds simple but we don’t often live as if God is enough for us. We have anxieties and fears and insecurities and we like to have control.
This book will challenge you to see God for who he is and realize you can trust him and his promises because of who He is. He is enough for you.
You Can Handle the Truth: Making Sense of the Bible in 3 Simple Steps by Chad M. Mansbridge
If you just want to be able to read you Bible and understand what it’s saying and learn how to study Scripture, this might be a good option for you!
The simple steps referred to in the subtitle are: What does it say? What does it mean? What does it matter?
Within each of these sections of the book he provides various acronyms or pneumonic devices to help us think through a passage we are reading and be able to understand it.
There are a lot of valuable insights in this book.
It is a good introduction to this type of study, however there are some caveats to reading this and I describe them in my linked review above.
The main heart behind this book is that the Bible is for everyone, God calls us to correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and Mansbridge has written this to equip you!
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
Similar to the book above, this book is written to help readers learn how to read the Word for themselves.
Regardless of what Bible reading method you choose, this may be a good precursor to come to the Bible with the right mindset. To read the Bible the way it was intended and not reading our emotions or our circumstances into it.
This is on my to-read list this year (2024) and I plan to read it this month if possible.
It’s titled for women so I’m not sure how it would read for men. I can update once I’ve gone through it. But I always appreciate Jen Wilkin’s teaching and handling of Scripture and think this will be an excellent book to have read!
These are just a few suggestions to get you started. I’m sure I will read more in the future that I could add to this list.
In the interim, you can also browse through the buttons below.
We should never substitute man’s words for God’s Word, but there are numerous benefits of reading Christian Living and Theology books and lots of them study Scriptures specifically.
There are many ways to grow in our walk with the Lord, and all of these books will cause you to meditate on God— who he is, what he has done, and what that means for us in all areas of our lives!
Here’s to hoping something here can spark interest and can help you begin the year in the best Book there is!
Happy New Year!
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