How quickly could you read through the entire Bible? Depending on your reading speed, it would take most people around 65 to 80 hours. So, if you did nothing else for three days straight (without sleeping), you could read it. Or, if you took two 40-hour work weeks, you could read it.
Of course, that is not the way that folks normally read the Bible. For many people, they follow a one-year plan, which schedules them to read about three chapters per day, to finish the Bible in 365 days. The number of different reading plans that have been created is impressive. Some read through the New Testament every month (reading about nine chapters per day). Some take a slower pace and read through the Bible over a period of three years. Again, the variety of options is plenteous.
Here’s something to keep in mind: The Bible does not tell us at what pace we need to read the Bible. There is not a verse that says, “This is too slow” or “This is too fast.” So, what does the Bible say about a reading schedule?
Consider that the Bible urges us to pray, at the very least, “daily” (Matt. 6:11) or “day by day” (Luke 11:3), and gives us multiple examples of praying three times a day (Dan. 6:10; Psa. 55:17). If we talk to God one, two, three (or however many) times in a day, would it not also be appropriate and beneficial to let God talk to us (through the Bible) that often?
The Bible likens itself to “milk” and “solid food” (Heb. 5:12-13; 1 Pet. 2:2). David said that it is like “honey and the honeycomb” (Psa. 19:10), and Jeremiah said that when he “found” God’s “words” that he “ate them,” and found “joy and rejoicing” in them (Jer. 15:16). How often do you eat any kind of food during the day? If we are feeding our physical bodies multiple times in a day, how often should we be feeding our souls? Of course, our physical sustenance varies each day from full meals to light snacks. So, could not our spiritual sustenance do the same—reading a chapter or more at certain times, but maybe only a verse or two at other times of the day?
The Bible does not place as much emphasis on the amount of reading that we do each day as much as it does on the effort that is involved in it. We need to be “diligent” in our study (2 Tim. 2:15). We need to “desire” it (Psa. 19:10), “delight” in it (Psa. 119:47) and “love” it (Psa. 119:97). We need to see God’s Word as so “sweet” to our “taste” (Psa. 119:103) that we cannot get enough of it. We need to write it on our hearts (Psa. 119:11) and “meditate” on its wonderfulness (Psa. 1:2).
It doesn’t matter how quickly you can read the Bible! What matters is how much it transforms you as you read it!