Fort Indiantown Gap

The nearby town of Fort Indiantown Gap has a rather unusual name. I know there is some history behind the name, not only because there always is, but also because a historical marker beside the highway features the town's name. I don't know what the history is, however, because I don't have any way to read the sign. There is no place to pull off to read the sign, and even slowing down to take the exit ramp, I'm not driving slowly enough to read the sign. It seems a little crazy to me to put an informational sign at the side of a four-lane highway. My only hope is to read half a dozen words each time I drive past. Even if I am able to remember what I read the previous time, however, and am able to find the starting place fast enough to read the next set of words, it will take some time before I'll be able to read the entire sign and have understanding of the name's history, especially when there are several weeks between visits.

This method is a very ineffective way to read and terrible in terms of comprehension. Sadly, this explains why our understanding of the Bible is sometimes shallow. If we think within the context of a single book of the Bible, we typically read that book in disjointed segments (a chapter at a time) separated by spaces of time (once per day). Using this (or a similar) approach, it would take two months, for example, to read the book of Isaiah (if we don't miss any days). Can we gain understanding of the book when we read it this way? Do we still remember at the end of April what we read at the beginning of March? To some extent, yes, so there is value in reading the Bible even if we can read only a little bit at a time. Like with the historical marker, however, it is an ineffective way to read if we seek any level of mastery in our comprehension.

I have found significantly more profit in a more intense approach. It is quite helpful to read an entire book all at once, or at least reasonably close to that. This method helps us to understand the continuity and flow of the book. We can still remember the beginning when we get to the end. Common themes jump out at us, or an underlying tone emerges. We might even capture the primary reason that the book was written, understand something about the group to whom it was written, or find ourselves summarizing the book's thrust in a single sentence. We use this very reasonable method when reading other books, and a front-to-back reading within a short space of time is also effective and profitable for our understanding of the Bible.

How practical is this idea? With just a quick estimation, I find twenty of the Old Testament's thirty-nine books and nineteen of the New Testament's twenty-seven books that could likely be read in less than an hour. Most of them would take a half hour or less. We might not be able to do that every day, but it certainly is not out of the realm of reality to do that once a week. Another idea, especially with the shorter books, is to read a book straight through in one day, and then to read that same book straight through every day for the next week. This method really helps a book to become familiar.

What about the twenty-seven or so longer books? If a book is too long to read all at once, we can break it down into manageable chunks. Genesis, for example, contains fifty chapters. At five chapters per day, it only takes ten days. We get enough of the story each day to grasp some of the overall picture, and it's a short enough range of time from beginning to end that we can still piece things together. When using this method, I recommend not longer than two weeks for any book of the Bible, with the possible exception of the Psalms. Most can be effectively handled in one week. Again, this method can be modified to yield greater profit if we read the book repeatedly - maybe three times in a row over the course of a month.

This should not be the only approach to Bible reading, but it is a very helpful one to use from time to time. Obviously, to get a deep understanding of the Bible's truth, we might need to spend several days or weeks on a single chapter. The concentrated reading, however, provides us with the big picture that prepares us for the more in-depth study. When reading through a book in a short space of time, I often find my interest piqued. I find myself saying, "This is a book that I want to come back and look at more closely."

"Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live." Psalm 119:144 (NASB)