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| Source: pakobserver.net |
I am sure you have heard of binge-eating on sweets and junk food.
And now a days you can binge-watch your favorite television show, thanks to Netflix.
But have you ever heard of binge-reading your Bible?
As we've discussed before, there are multiple ways to read the Bible: devotional reading, where you do a deep-dive into a passage of Scripture to thoroughly understand what it means and how it applies to your life, and read-through-the-Bible approaches where you undertake to read through the whole of Scripture over the course of several months or a year.
But in today's post, I am talking about yet another way to read the Bible: sitting down to read an entire book of the Bible in one or two sittings. This will usually necessitate reading around 15-20 chapters at a time. For example, to binge-read the Book of Revelation, you would sit down and read all of its 22 chapters from start to finish. For Isaiah, a book consisting of 66 chapters, it might take two or three sittings, over the course of two or three days. However you slice it, binge-reading involves taking in an entire book of the Bible in a very focused, intentional way, over a relatively short amount of time. Instead of spending 10 minutes a day reading through a yearly Bible plan, you might spend 45 minutes consuming an entire book at once.
Now, I know what you are probably thinking...why would this be a good way to read the Bible? Don't you miss a lot of detail and understanding of the Scripture? Yes, yes you do! You will definitely pass over lots of details that you will not understand. However, something else will happen that is very important...
Themes will jump out at you.
You will be left with a lasting impression of the book that you might miss by reading through it verse by verse, passage by passage.
For example, when I binge-read the book of Isaiah last month, I was just overwhelmed with the idea that God declared, "You are mine." In sixty-six chapters, there is a LOT of historical details and prophecy, etc, but I couldn't help but meditate upon this particular truth as I consumed the book as a whole.
It is sort of like when you read through C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. There are lots of characters and plot details in these seven books, but when you look at them as a whole, you are just consumed with the character of Aslan, the Christ figure--who he is, and what he stands for.
It is sort of like the aerial view that you are rewarded with when you scale a large hill--a beautiful, panoramic vista to appreciate the entire landscape.
Now, should you go back and reread that book of the Bible more slowly?
Absolutely!
But I would make the argument that binge-reading a book of the Bible offers you a unique perspective. One that is worthy of your time and attention, as you endeavor to read the Bible through annually and devotionally, one passage at a time.
So, next time you have a free afternoon or a quiet morning before the kids wake up, I'd encourage you to crack open the Bible and sit down to a binge-fest on God's Word. If you don't have a long stretch of time, try one of Paul's epistles or a minor prophet, like Amos or Jonah. If you have longer, try Revelation or one of the Gospels. If you have a few days to devote to this project, try a major prophet, like Isaiah or Ezekiel, or a longer narrative book like Genesis or Exodus. I trust you will be encouraged by the insight God has for you when you feast on His Word in this way, dear one!
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