This year I am reading through the Bible on a schedule for the first time. I have read the Bible more than once and most of it several times, but I have never before made a point of reading all of it in one year. The only scheduled reading I do is one chapter per day from the Old Testament Wisdom books. I am continuing that as well.

I have looked at various reading schedules, but I haven't liked any of them because they split the reading into small portions of the different parts of Scripture, destroying continuity and context. The least problematic are those that simply split the daily reading between Old & New Testaments. That scheme works fairly well, I think. Others call for daily readings from the Old & New Testaments and Psalms & Proverbs. Worse, some plans give readings from The Old Testament, Psalms & Proverbs, the Gospels, and the Epistles. I once found one that had further divisions such as Historical, Poetic, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets, etc. I wanted something simpler, so I made my own schedule.

My plan is nothing if not simple. It will take me straight through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in 344 days, finishing on December 10th. Why not 365 days? Figuring it out to 365 days would have been too complicated. I took my favorite bible, noted the number of pages of actual Scripture (1280), and divided by 365. That gave me 3½ pages per day. I rounded that up to four pages, and went through the Bible and wrote down the last chapter heading on every fourth page. Each day’s reading takes me through that chapter.

I did adjust the daily readings a little. For example, when a day’s reading crossed from one book into another, I cut it off at the end of the book. Then, If that day was reduced to only one chapter, I moved a chapter over from the previous day. Psalm 119 crossed over into two days. 1st, 2nd, 3rd John and Jude were each assigned to separate days even though they weren’t separate originally.

Today’s reading is the book of Ruth. At first sight, Ruth seems rather incidental. Of course, it contains an account of God's providence and sovereign control in the Messianic genealogy, which gives it purpose enough, but someone with only elementary knowledge of Scripture could read it and see little more than that. However, there is much more.

In Ruth we see redemption for Gentiles as well as Jews. Ruth models virtue, Boaz honor. Some time ago, Pastor Mark Loughridge posted his sermons on Ruth. I encourage you to read them along with the text.

Studies in Ruth (1)
Studies in Ruth (2)
Studies in Ruth (3)
Studies in Ruth (4)
Studies in Ruth (5)
Studies in Ruth (6)
Studies in Ruth Chapter 2
Studies in Ruth Chapter 2(2)
Studies in Ruth Chapter 2(3)
Ruth Chapter 3(1)
Ruth Chapter 3(2)
Ruth Chapter 4 - The Redeemer Redeems
Ruth Chapter 4 - The Redeemer Redeems (2)
Ruth Chapter 4 - The Redeemer Redeems (3)