Mobile Ministry Magazine

Regular daily reading of the Bible affords a panoramic sweep of the great themes of Scripture and helps foster a life of faith in God. In this article, you will learn how you can use your PDA to help you establish or enhance the life-changing practice of reading God’s word daily.

Two Views of Scripture

Flying in an aircraft presents a very different view of the Grand Canyon than hiking along the Colorado River’s banks in the canyon’s core. The hiker sees a dark corridor of steely cliffs, a thin patch of blue sky, an occasional huddle of prickly pears or a towering cottonwood, a scorpion scuttling out of harm’s way on the dusty trail ahead, and deep green pools interrupted by sudden shocking scenes of mud white water crashing against boulders. The flyer, by contrast, sees the whole blue dome of heaven beneath which roll wave after wave of brightly lit vermillion spires and purple battlements stretching beyond both horizons. Straight down, a quiet winding ribbon of emerald water adorns the deep heart of the Canyon’s silent majesty.

These two views of one natural wonder illustrate two views of a far greater wonder, the Bible. From one perspective, like the hiker, we can experience the depths of a small portion of God’s word by lingering over it, considering it, examining the details, touching it, even tasting it, like “honey out of the rock”(Psa.81:16). This kind of reading is devotional and concentrated. It involves personal interaction with God over a particular verse or passage of His word. It may involve careful consideration of words, phrases, and syntax. Most importantly, it fuels prayer.

From another perspective, our aim is to see the big picture. We reverently survey the entire awe-inspiring sweep of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, with its manifold themes, characters, and events—one great book at a time—as it reveals God’s plan of the ages, from eternity to eternity. We could never acquire the hands-on perspective of the hiker from the air, or the breath-taking perspective of the flyer from the ground, and both have tremendous value. To put a new twist on an old saying, we need to see both the forest and the trees.

While both experiences of God’s word are indispensable, in this article we will focus on the panoramic view of the Bible afforded by regular daily reading of chapters from both the Old and New Testaments and the Psalms and Proverbs.

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