I’m not sure how I acquired this book, but I decided to give it a chance. I wanted to explore the Bible more, and this seemed a great opportunity to do so, as I wasn’t quite sure where to start. In this post, I will discuss my experience with this book, as well as what to expect if you buy it for yourself or someone else.
Summary
Below is a brief summary of the contents and structure of this book.
Book info
There is no specific author of this book , but it was published by Christian Art Publishers. I have the second edition, printed in 2017, which contains Bible verses are from the NIV (New International Version) translation.
Contents
The contents of the book are separated by month, and there is one page for each day of the year, including February 29th. Each entry is typically 1-3 verses, followed by 3 or 4 short paragraphs of explanation and discussion. An example of one of the pages is as follows:
February 29th‘s page starts with this snippet of the Bible at the top:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
1 John 2:15
The first paragraph of the reflection starts by giving a list of the things we prioritize in life: “work, sleep, doing chores, and paying accounts.” It then asks us to consider if, in the midst of all these things, we are making time for God.
It goes on to attest that this advice from John is valuable, and we can’t be absorbed by the desires and ambitions of the world, anxious to “climb the ladder of success.” It finishes by quoting verse 17 of that same chapter, and sums up the passage by saying God’s simple will: “let your love for Him determine everything.”
To get give an idea of where the verses they chose are coming from, I have categorized them by number of occurrences for January through June. The books in red are from the Old Testament, and the black are New Testament:
- 23—Romans
- 17—Matthew
- 14—Psalms
- 12—Philippians
- 9—Galatians, Ephesians
- 7—Luke, 2 Corinthians, 1 John
- 6—1 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Peter
- 5—Ezekiel, Acts, James
- 4—Isaiah, Titus, Hebrews
- 3—Proverbs, Daniel, Jude
- 2—Jeremiah, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Peter
- 1—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Job, Ecclesiastes, Amos, Zechariah, Revelation
Review
By the second or third day of reading this book, I realized a verse here and there wasn’t giving me enough of what I was searching for. I decided I would look at the larger context of the chosen snippet for that given day, opening my Bible to the section of the verse(s) given, and reading the entire passage, or in some cases, the entire chapter.
This is what greatly increased this book’s value to me, as it gave me a place to start; I was no longer looking at the Bible as a large, daunting whole, but a book that could be divided into manageable pieces and read part by part. Once this practice became a daily habit, the author’s reflection faded even further into the background for me; I still read them, but then opened my Bible to gain real insight. As months went by, I was pleased with how much I had learned from the Bible, all thanks to this book giving me a jumping off point.
As previously mentioned, it is very New Testament heavy. Not only that, but there were numerous times where the author took several days to cover back-to-back verses. For example, August 12-18 covers Ephesians 6:10-18, all of which I had already read on the first day. This initially frustrated me, but my view was changed with a strange happenstance:
On June 27th, 2020, my husband and I were in the parking lot of the grocery store. The particular car we were parked behind had a bar across the middle, and we wondered if it was a light or just a piece of decoration. We looked at the car for a while, even debating whether or not to wait for the person to come out and drive off to see if it lit up. Ultimately, we decided to get our shopping done, and hoped they might still be parked there so we could get our answer.
Once we came out, put or groceries in our car, and regained our places in the front seat, we noticed the woman from the vehicle we were curious about was putting her groceries away. It was at this moment I noticed her license plate: PHIL 4. I found this strange that I just noticed it, as we spent several minutes examining the car before we went into the store.
The verses for June 22nd – June 26th were all from that chapter, and it frustrated me on those days that there was not much variety. I told my husband of the strange occurrence I was witnessing, and he prompted me to go talk to her. Me, being my shy self, begrudgingly accepted, and I explained to the woman the peculiar situation I was witnessing. She said it was an act of God, and I agreed; I told her to have a great day, and felt inspired on the rest of the ride home.
After that happened, I decided to really look into the section the book recommended, as there may be something there I should be paying close attention to. I also have decided that in those cases, I can spend my morning Bible time flipping pages, seeing what interesting things I can find.
Conclusion
If I had read this book alone and the few verses and brief passages were my only interaction with the Bible each day, I would find this book to be lacking. Although it did give me more insight to the Bible than I previously had, it contains far more writing from the author, rather than the Biblical text I was hoping to discover. That being said, if I was looking for all Biblical text and no outside input, I suppose it would be best to just read the Bible itself.
Overall, the book is perfectly fine; it’s not the most informative book I could imagine, but it helped me discover the Bible in a way I was looking for. The version I have goes for $16.99 here in the US, but earlier versions can be found online for less than $5. Currently, I have mostly moved on from this book, finding new ways to discover the Bible.
What Bible study books have you read? Were they helpful or did you find them lacking? Let me know in the comments!
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