When You Don't Feel Like Reading The Bible

Every Christian knows Bible reading is important. But if we are honest, there are times we say: “I don’t feel like reading my Bible”. We may say this for various reasons. Perhaps we are in a busy stage of life and we have little time to read. Maybe we struggle to understand what we are reading. Perhaps entertainment seems more pleasurable with its instant gratification.

Whatever the reason, every Christian will face the days when Bible reading is not their default desire. Here is my encouragement for you:

1- Understand the why

Uncovering the why behind what we do is foundational in keeping us committed. We do this subconsciously for a lot of our daily actions that we might not feel inclined to do easily. Think about the hundreds of hard choices you make each day.

You go to work, because you need to feed yourself and your family. You work out because you want to be healthy. You cook and prepare food because you need to eat each day. Even if the why is unthought of, we do these actions because of the why. The issue with a lot of our spiritual disciplines is we’ve never sat down and considered the why.

If you don’t know why you should read the Bible, you will never read the Bible when it is hard to do so. I will offer a few of my whys, but I encourage you to think through your own.

In the Bible I fellowship with God, which is the delight of my life. (1st John 1:3)
In the Bible my faith is fed to be obedient in my daily temptations. (Hebrews 12:1)
In the Bible I am rebuked and disciplined when I go wrong. (Hebrews 12:3-12)
In the Bible my often distraught heart is comforted by My God. (Psalm 119:24)

The Bible gives us ample whys for Bible Reading. Why not memorize a scripture to recount to yourself when you know you should read, but it isn’t coming easily? This past week this verse has helped me:

“Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.”
-Psalm 119:24

2- Stop being lazy

If you wait to read the Bible when it is easy and desirable, you will only be a healthy Christian when it’s convenient. Unfortunately, Satan doesn’t run on that time table. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1st Peter 5:8) Hopefully the lion is as lazy as you. (Spoiler: It’s not, and it will shred your spiritual body into pieces.)

3- Discipline yourself

I was in a season of my life where I was running 3 times a week in the difficult Georgia summer heat. Near my house there is this massive hill that leads to where I would end my runs.

It’s difficult because of it’s incline but also because it’s at the end of the run. I’ll often tell myself silly things in my mind to encourage myself to push it through the hill. “Those people you use to play soccer against are sitting at home drinking beer and getting fat, push it!” Or another favorite mental encouragement is “Dang, I really love bread.”

I remember getting to the top of the hill that sweltering day, sweat pouring down my face. My lungs gasping for oxygen. My body telling me how foolish I was. Suddenly, this verse popped into my head- “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” I was cut.

I push myself through difficult bodily discomfort for the gain of bodily health. And yet, when it comes to spiritual things, at any hint of discomfort or displeasure, I throw in the towel. Do you see how crazy this is? I was willing to be uncomfortable for “some value” in this present life, while I was being lazy when it came to greater matters of godliness which hold promise for the life to come, which is eternal.

I haven’t been perfect since that moment. But I have tried to be disciplined to choose the spiritual disciplines even amidst discomfort since that profound revelation. Let us not work hard in temporal matters and then neglect discipline in eternal ones.

It’s called spiritual disciplines for a reason.

From Why to How

When the spiritual disciples are seeming not “to work” it’s not a problem of content but of method. Even when we have our “why” answered, sometimes we don’t get a lot out of our Bible reading because we do it poorly.

4- Mix it with prayer

Do you mix your Bible reading with prayer? I learned a lot about this from Don Whitney’s small book Praying The Bible. Essentially Bible Reading is to be married with prayer. For me, this has been one of the most fundamental shifts in enjoying Bible Reading. Because as I pray while I read, I communicate with God. I fellowship with Him. Not only this, but it helps me meditate on what I am reading. It helps me interact with it.

We are all familiar with reading the Bible and then getting to the end of our session and saying “I have no idea what I even read…” — but if married with prayer, which forces us to think, chew, and meditate on the text. We will have interreacted with it in such a way that it sticks with us. We will not be nibbling on the word but feasting on it.

5- Daily intake, not chug

It’s not a coincidence that God taught Israel to depend on him daily in the lesson with the mana. As well as Jesus teaching his disciples to pray for “daily bread”. We cannot treat our spiritual disciplines like we treat Netflix. Waiting all week to binge one day to catch up. It doesn’t work that way. You are daily assaulted with temptations. You are daily drifting into faithlessness. You are daily prone to anger and pride. You must daily be in the Bible and Prayer.

If the word is “the pure spiritual milk” (1 Peter 2:2) you must drink daily. You cannot chug a gallon of milk on Monday and except it’s benefits all week. You must drink a daily amount.

Love is cultivated

Yes, Bible reading can be hard some days. But if we mix the why and the how we will begin to understand what couples have experienced for thousands of years. That deep love is cultivated in small, daily choices. Your daily submission to fellowship with God through the spiritual disciplines will lead you to love the spiritual disciplines. Not because you love reading or because you love spending precious time praying. But because in the reading and in the praying you meet God. You fellowship with Him. In them He will encourage you, discipline you, warn you, build you up, and comfort you.

This is what we were made for. Go, my friends, and cultivate love for God with daily spiritual disciplines.

Cultivating love of God with you,

Josh.