Sometimes reading the Bible is amazing. It’s life-giving. Something clicks, and I’m reminded why this book matters.
But honestly? A lot of the time, it’s a graft.
Sometimes I have to read the same passage five times because the first four literally sent me to sleep. I do love a sleep, but ideally not during an act of worship. Napping is a family trait. In my family, we don’t take naps. Naps take us.
But as a church leader, there’s a pressure to have an amazing spiritual life. Bible reading should apparently be like a spa day every time. I should emerge refreshed, radiant and overflowing with insight. Meanwhile, I’m trying to work out where I got to before my eyes closed.
You’re allowed to find it hard
Finding the Bible difficult doesn’t automatically mean you don’t love God. Being able to concentrate for forty minutes isn’t a spiritual gift listed in Corinthians.
We bring tired bodies, busy minds and different ways of processing information to the page. Those things don’t disappear because the book has “Holy” on the cover. If you struggle to concentrate elsewhere, reading a genealogy or list of obscure levitical laws probably won’t suddenly fix that.
Then we add another difficulty: the belief that we shouldn’t be struggling. We lose our place and start questioning our faith. Someone else describes an amazing revelation, and we wonder why we only discovered that we need an earlier bedtime. We end up judging our relationship with God by how easily we read.
Even Peter acknowledged that some things in Paul’s letters are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). Scripture itself admits this takes effort. God can help us understand through his Spirit, through careful reading and through other people. Needing an explanation isn’t evidence that something’s wrong with you.
There’s also a cultural gap. We’re reading ancient writing addressed to people whose world was very different from ours. Sometimes it feels like joining a conversation halfway through. Everyone else knows why the donkey matters. You’re still looking for the donkey.
Context helps. Who’s speaking, to whom, and why? Is this poetry, history or a letter? You wouldn’t read a parking ticket like a love letter. Unless your relationship with the council is very unusual.
Give yourself permission to be a learner. You can love God deeply and still find a passage confusing, your attention wandering, or the whole thing hard work. That’s a reason to seek help and keep learning, without treating every difficult morning as a verdict on your faith.
God appears to be discussing curtains
We often open the Bible wanting something immediately relevant. We need help with anxiety, parenting or the colleague who keeps replying to everyone.
Then we find detailed instructions about the tabernacle. We wanted help with Tuesday. God appears to be discussing curtains.
But those passages help us understand God’s holiness, his presence among his people, and how sinful people can approach him. Those themes matter enormously when we come to Jesus.
All Scripture is God-breathed and useful (2 Timothy 3:16–17). That doesn’t mean every paragraph is equally easy or immediately exciting. Sometimes it builds understanding that helps another passage make sense later.
Missing a day means you missed a day
One of the biggest changes for me has been my mindset. I finally realised that missing a day doesn’t mean I have to catch up. It doesn’t mean I need to restart next Monday.
It means I missed a day.
That sounds obvious, but reading plans can become spiritual debt collectors. Miss Tuesday, double up Wednesday. Miss Wednesday, avoid your Bible until Monday, when you’ll apparently become an entirely different person.
Romans 8:1 tells us there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our acceptance rests on what Jesus has done. An unbroken reading streak adds nothing to his finished work.
God isn’t sitting on his throne checking who completed their chapters. He wants a relationship with us, and reading Scripture is one of the best ways we grow in knowing him.
So persevere. This matters. But missing a day isn’t a fatal spiritual failure. Get back to it tomorrow.
Give your curiosity a job
I find reading much easier when I have a specific purpose. Preparing a sermon gives me questions to explore and something to understand.
So here’s an idea: write a list of every weird Bible thing you can think of. Every doubt you have about your faith. Every question someone’s asked that left you saying, “That’s a really good question,” while hoping they wouldn’t expect an answer.
Then pick one and investigate it.
Why does God seem different in different parts of the Bible? What does that strange saying of Jesus mean? How do we make sense of suffering? Who decided circumcision was a good idea?
Read relevant passages. Look at their context. Ask someone who can help. You don’t have to hide your questions before opening Scripture. Bring them with you.
But go looking to understand, rather than collecting verses that support the answer you already want. Let the Bible challenge your assumptions. Some questions won’t have tidy answers.
Let curiosity get you started, then keep reading beyond your favourite topics. There are things God wants to teach us that we haven’t thought to ask about.
Make it easier to engage
Choose something manageable. Try ten minutes with a complete paragraph or story. Pick a time when you’re reasonably awake, silence notifications and read what comes before and after.
Get a little help. A study Bible introduction can explain the background. BibleProject’s How to Read the Bible videos explain literary styles and context. bibleproject.com
Use language you understand. Try the NIV or NLT. Compare a confusing passage in another translation, using a resource such as Bible Gateway. You don’t earn extra holiness points for being confused in seventeenth-century English. www.biblegateway.com
Notice, understand, respond. Ask what the passage says, what it meant in context, and how you should respond. Write down one observation or question. A scruffy sentence is fine. Nobody’s marking your handwriting.
Listen and talk. Try an audio Bible while walking, or listen while following the text. Read a passage with a friend. Compare what you notice.
Turn your reading into prayer. Thank God for what you’ve seen of him. Ask for help where you’re challenged. Admit what you don’t understand. Psalm 119:18 asks God to open the reader’s eyes.
Keep coming back
None of this means every reading will become a spiritual spa day. Sometimes Scripture comforts us. Sometimes it confronts us. James 1:22 reminds us that hearing needs to lead to doing.
But we don’t have to manufacture excitement to prove we’re faithful. Ordinary, repeated encounters with truth matter. We can persevere without condemning ourselves whenever it’s difficult.
Some days will be amazing. Some will be a graft. Some days you won’t make it to your reading at all.
You’re still welcome to come back tomorrow.
Preferably somewhere slightly less comfortable than the sofa.