Reading the Bible through in a daily reading plan can feel like being on the receiving end of a fire hose. This is especially true of a prophet like Isaiah because his content swings back and forth in time, and rushes from topic to topic. You are never going to figure it all out in one reading, but you can watch for a few verses that speak to you and learn from them. Then when you read the same passages another time, you will see new things and add to your knowledge.

This is why Moses told the Israelites to read and reread the Law regularly. He wanted them to keep on learning new things and growing in their understanding.

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Time spent in the Word is never wasted. The Holy Spirit teaches us new things every time we open our Bibles.

One Way to Read the Bible

In his book, Reading the Bible the Orthodox Way, John Peck suggests using the Triple A approach.

• Aloud – Read the passage aloud to yourself. The ancient writers expected their work to be read aloud. As with any great work of literature, such as Shakespeare, reading the Bible aloud highlights the beauty and meaning of the words. Hearing the Word spoken aloud builds our faith, as Paul pointed out in Romans 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

• Apply – When you read each day you will notice verses that apply directly to your life. Pay attention to them and ask the Lord what he would like you to do about what you read. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

• Act – Immediately act upon the application you glean from your reading. Make a plan, tell a friend, write a note to yourself, but don’t let inaction keep you from applying the Word to your life. Do it today. As James says, “But the person who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25

Three A’s — Aloud, Apply, Act — these three steps are the simplest form of Bible study there is, and you can use them on every passage you read. You don’t have to be a theologian or Bible scholar to read Scripture aloud, notice its application to your life, and act upon that application immediately.

This is the Orthodox way to read the Bible, and it can be traced all the way back to the Law of Moses and the beginning of the Church.

Identify the Themes

Another way to read long passages is to look for themes. The sections of our reading have headings that give clues to theme of each passage. In today’s reading we find: Freedom from Babylon; the Lord’s Servant Commissioned; Promises of Israel’s Restoration; the Lord’s Obedient Servant; and a Call to Trust the Lord.

Woven through all of these sections are the statements God makes about himself. That’s a powerful theme to watch for.

You can choose a particular theme to concentrate on as you read. For instance, you could meditate on what the Scriptures say about “the Lord’s Servant.” Jesus fully embodies the description of the Lord’s Servant, so you can observe what Isaiah tells you about Jesus Christ.

Also, the Disciples of Christ are called to be like him, so what do these Servant passages tell us about how we should live?

You don’t have to dig very deep to learn great things from the themes in the book of Isaiah.

Favorite Verse of the Day

One of the quickest ways to gain value from daily Bible reading is to make a note of a verse or verses that stand out to you. You may find several verses, but you can usually narrow it down to one or two that you would like to think about during the day. Make a note in the margin of your Bible or, better yet, write it on a card to carry with you.

Ask yourself why this verse stood out to you. You may see something you can apply to your life and then you can take action on it. Maybe you discover a new truth about God that you want to hold onto, or perhaps there’s a promise from God for you to claim. Hold that favorite thought in mind for a day and see how it impacts your life.

A Daily Spiritual Meal

There is only so much that you can absorb from one day’s Scripture reading. Think of it as your spiritual meal, let it nourish your soul, and remember that tomorrow there will be another meal, and another the day after that. You probably hardly remember what you had for lunch yesterday, but your body is still being nourished by that meal. It’s the same with feeding on the Word. The good effects stay with you even after you forget what you read.

Personal Application

My favorite verses from today’s passages were Isaiah 50:4-5, taken from the section subtitled The Lord’s Obedient Servant. They describe Jesus, but I wanted these verses to describe me as his disciple, too.

“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.” Isaiah 50:4-5

These verses alert me to the fact that my time in the Word isn’t just for me. The Lord instructs me so I can serve others, so I can “sustain the weary”. With this in mind, I plan pay attention to the people the Lord brings across my path and be ready to encourage them with the Scriptures that blessed me.

For me, another application from these verses is that the Lord wants to meet me in the morning, before I start my day, so he can instruct me. The action I will take is to prioritize my time in the Word each morning. In this way I will “not be rebellious,” and will “not turn away.”

Diligence Pays Off

It takes a lot of diligence to keep reading the Bible day after day, but it’s like any other important thing we do for our well-being. After many days of eating right and exercising, we become physically healthy and strong. After many days of reading and applying Scripture we become spiritually strong and well-instructed.

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be ashamed.” Isaiah 50:7

Try a new approach to the Bible and see how much more you get out of your reading. And remember, diligence pays off!