When Bible Reading Becomes a Struggle
So, you’re still struggling to get into God’s Word consistently and faithfully. Every intention you had at the beginning of the year of sticking with your Bible reading has fallen off more quickly than your new power pilates or bungee fitness routine. The daily discipline just isn’t there. Frustration, bewilderment, and even embarrassment are quietly taking root in your head and heart. As a follower of Christ, you know that you should read your Bible. You know that you should meditate upon it. You know that you should be discussing what you read with other believers. Yet, Bible reading, despite your best intentions, remains a struggle.
Why? Your steely perseverance just hasn’t proven strong enough. What gives?
We may try mustering up holy intentions, but many believers just don’t feel like reading the Bible anymore. We find it a consistent struggle. And, if we’re completely transparent, reading the Bible can even seem kind of boring. So, we push our thick, heavy study Bible aside. And it sits on the desk for days, weeks, or even months at a time.
Is this your struggle? Do you feel like giving up on Bible reading? If this is you, you’re not alone. According to the American Bible Society, reading the Bible is in a precipitous freefall in the United States. In their annual State of the Bible report of 2022, data revealed that 26 million people gave up reading the Bible in the past year. (That’s more than the entire population of the third largest state in the country—Florida.)
People have Bibles. Many of them, in fact! In a 2021 study, Lifeway Research found that 85% of all American households have a Bible, and the average American home has 4.3 Bibles. Accessibility to the Word of God is not the problem. The masses no longer read the Bibles they own. Why? Reasons for this lack of Bible engagement are many. Perhaps life is just too busy. Or it’s difficult to know where to start, and even once reading has begun the Bible can be hard to understand. And certainly it can be hard to stay focused. Reading, engaging, and meditating on the Word are today’s issues.
How can a believer have so little interest in reading and engaging deeply with God’s Word? For many, the answer is as uncomfortable to admit as it is simple—we find the Bible and its stories boring. Out of touch. Irrelevant to twenty-first century living. It just doesn’t seem to connect with the issues we’re facing in today’s politically charged world. Likely, the friends we sit next to each Sunday aren’t this transparent about their view or practices of the inspired Word of God. Yet research reveals that our collective reading practices tell a story that many of us are unwilling to admit.
So, what is a follower of Jesus to do? How can we work around these views and feelings in order to see the Bible as intriguing, enriching, and truly life-giving? To change our current Bible-reading patterns, it’s helpful to see what the Bible proclaims about itself.
It’s Inspired: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17 NIV).
It’s Truth: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
It’s Powerful: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12 NIV).
At its most basic and fundamental level, God’s Word is each of these things and far more!
For us to see the truth, inspiration, and power that fills the pages of Scripture, it’s helpful to consider a portion of the longest chapter in the whole Bible—Psalm 119. That’s where the psalmist helps us see how we can move beyond boring and find blessing on our journey of faith.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:9–11)
Psalm 119 is written in an acrostic format, where each stanza begins with one of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza consists of eight verses, and the whole comprises 176 verses. The length and artistic beauty alone can capture the attention of most readers, while its meaning speaks to the significance of God’s powerful Word.
The psalmist begins by establishing that God’s ways are the way of blessing. When your heart and soul and mind are guided and directed by God’s Word things will generally go well for you. You will find peace for your journey by following the law of God. If this idea seems familiar, it is. It’s the same way the psalmist began the Psalter (1:1–2), “Blessed is the man who . . . his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
As he begins the second stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist establishes the true source of life is found in God’s Word. Reading it. Learning it. Living it! And doing so at an early age, preferably. Allowing God’s Word to guide your daily path will set the course of one’s life straight. Why is this so important at a young age? Because the decisions and habits formed in our youth are often the decisions and habits that we choose to live by as we grow older. According to Barna Research, 64% of all born-again believers came to faith before the age of 18. Then, once we come to faith, it’s the Word of God that guides us into right choices. It’s God’s Word, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that helps us turn from temptation and practice godly living.
This is what the psalmist speaks of with his famous quote about seeking God with his whole heart (Ps. 119:10). He understands a truth about humanity: we seek and pursue that which we desire. Clearly, the psalmist desires to pursue God with all he’s got. His strategy is “storing up your word” in his heart (119:11).
“Hiding his Word in our hearts means not just to read it but also to study it and even memorize it,” wrote pastor James Montgomery Boice. “In fact, memorizing is precisely what is called for, since it is only when the Word of God is readily available in our minds that we are able to recall it in moments of need and profit by it” (Psalms, Vol. 3, An Expositional Commentary).
It’s very difficult to guard one’s heart and mind according to God’s Word if you don’t know God’s Word. Do you know God’s Word? Have you committed it to memory? Is it part of the rhythms of your daily life?
Consistently immersing yourself in God’s Word is the best way for it to penetrate your head and heart. But immersion is hard! There are just too many distractions that pull us away. There are excellent faith-building books to read, relationships to invest in, and opportunities to connect with friends and neighbors each week. These things are good in and of themselves, yet they may still pull you away from personal time in the Word of God.
This is also why it’s imperative for the follower of Christ to be consistent in a local church where the Bible is read, sung, proclaimed, discussed, studied, and prayed. Reading and reflecting on God’s Word with other believers who are asking the same questions and dealing with the same challenges that you are, will influence your view of the Word. It will encourage you to live out what you’re reading in tangible, practical ways. And when you engage consistently in this community—people who love God passionately—engaging consistently with God’s Word just might not be such a struggle.