“I know I need to read my Bible. But it seems like I never have time to sit down and really get into it.”

My friend wasn’t the first person to make this sort of statement to me and I seriously doubt she’ll be the last.

In fact, I believe this is the reality for most of the women I know and maybe it’s your reality as well. You want to find time to read your Bible but you never seem to be able to piece together more than five or ten minutes at a time.

Girl, I feel you! And I’ve got some good news!

First of all, I want you to know—I’ve been right where you are!! There have been seasons of my life when my quiet time was anything but quiet. There were months when the only Bible reading time I had was while I was hiding in the bathroom, trying to ignore the little fingers wiggling under the door and the voice saying, “Mommy, whatcha doing in there? I come in?”

If you’re in a season where there isn’t a way to set aside twenty or thirty minutes all once, don’t feel bad! Honest. Yes, I’ve had periods of time when I was able to sit uninterrupted for an hour or two and dig deep into the Word. And yes, I cherish those times. But I’ve learned that that isn’t the reality of my life day after day. I treasure those seasons because they are often what helps me navigate through the times when I’m thankful for ten minutes to open my Bible.

{Please, hear my heart, friends! I firmly believe we need to make disciplined time in Bible study a priority … but let’s not make that into a legalistic requirement for a 5:00 am quiet time complete with an Instagram record for proof.}

The second thing I want to tell you, before we get to the tips, is this: notice small blocks of time and use them! Maybe you have 10 minutes in the morning while the kids eat breakfast to read your Bible. Then later in the day you have that unexpected 5 minutes before you have to pick anyone up from practice. And maybe your husband is watching a ball game you care nothing about so you can read or study a little bit while you wait on the dryer to finish.

See what I’ve learned is, all those little 5 or 10 minutes chunks add up. And while it’s hard to do Beth Moore Bible study homework like that, it works great for those of us who are simply wanting to find time to soak in the Word. In fact, when we make it our habit to pick up the Bible multiple times throughout the day, we are likely to find that what we’re reading sinks in deeper and has a more immediate impact on how we respond to situations and interact with people. {Just a thought!}

Now that we have those truths in place, let’s move on to the tips. Sound good?

3 Tips for Finding Time to Read Your Bible

Listen to the Bible

Do you fold laundry, nurse a baby, sit in a carline, or walk on the treadmill? Is there any point in your day when you are doing a task on auto-pilot? If so, you can redeem those moments and use them for “reading” by listening to the Bible. Here are my two favorite apps for listening to the Bible: You Version and Bible Gateway.

Lower your expectations

Let’s sit down together for this one, okay? Because there’s like a 100% chance you are a little bit like me and when you see a title like “3 Tips for Finding Time to Read Your Bible” you jump in with both feet thinking an expert is going to magically tell you how to read and journal through the whole Bible in two weeks while you keep on doing everything else you already do. Or, maybe you’re hoping I’m going to tell you to stop with the cleaning, cooking, and car pooling — also a no go.

But here’s what I can tell you — it’s really possible that the main reason you aren’t reading your Bible is because you have an unreasonable expectation about what your “quiet time” should look like. If you’ve been around here long at all, this sentence will be familiar but it’s one of those things we all need to hear periodically:

God is not interested in your quiet time, He’s interested in you!

Girlfriend, there is no perfect quiet time. Period. But there are countless ways to spend time connecting with God through the Word.

Here are a few posts you might find helpful:

Look for simple resources or plans

When life is complicated {which basically means when life is life, right?}, I crave simple. In fact, the more complicated my life is, the more desperate I become for simple. You know, like when your calendar is exploding and you just want a grilled cheese sandwich.

Sometimes we need a grilled cheese type plan for our quiet times. And I for one am so thankful to have options in this area. Here are a few of my favorite simple plans and resources:

Proverbs — one chapter a day = reading a whole book in a month {at least in months with 31 days}
Philippians, Colossians, James — these are my “go to” books of the Bible when I’m stressed and busy. I choose one and a chapter a day, also for a month. Which means, in one month, I’ve read through the book maybe five or six times which really helps me let the text sink in.
And, speaking of James, that’s exactly what we are studying in Scripture Dig this month (August 2020). Interested in joining us? Learn more here.

So, there you go … 3 ways to find time for Bible study. Y’all, busy isn’t always bad. The key is, realizing how to stay focused {or even get jump started} when life swirls with obligation and chaos. I hope these ideas were both encouraging and useful.

3 ways to find time for Bible study {and no guilt for the busy among us!} #myscripturedig Share on X