I’m in the middle of reading through the Bible in a year. It’s amazing how as many times as I’ve read it, the story is just as compelling as it has ever been. I see how the people of God who were called to represent God on earth constantly failed Him, but God remained faithful.

Right now, I’m in 1 Kings and Luke. I’m up to Solomon building the temple and Jesus being led away to be crucified. I used to get frustrated and angry at the unfairness of the mock trials and the punishment Jesus went through, but the older I get I understand that He went through it all willingly. He chose the nails. He chose the cross. He chose to lay down His life for us so that we could live.

I read all this, but I don’t want it to be more information that I’ve learned. I want it to renew and transform me. I want to gain wisdom. Most of all, I want to obey what God is speaking to me through these words.

I found a beautiful prayer for reading Scripture. Hopefully, this can be something you pray every time you open God’s Word. We need to remember that the Bible isn’t just another book, but The Book. It’s the only one that is inerrant and divinely inspired, or as 2 Timothy 3:16 puts it, “breathed out by God.”

Here’s the prayer:

“Lord Jesus, these are the Scriptures that testify about you. I come to you now as I read them.

Open my eyes to see you, my ears to hear you and my heart to understand you.

I ask to drink living water and never thirst again.

Amen” (Tim Kay).