The creator and host of The Bible Recap Podcast, Tara-Leigh Cobble, wrote a one year guide to reading and understanding the entire Bible. The Bible Recap – following a chronological Bible reading plan – recaps, explains and connects the story of Scripture, section by section.
Cobble dedicates The Bible Recap to every person who has tried and failed countless times to read the Bible, who has almost given up on understanding God and His Word, and who is here, trying one more time – with equal parts hope, fear, and skepticism – to draw near to the God of the universe. She hopes her readers will come to know and love Him more and to understand that despite all their failures, He has never given up on pursuing them with love.
There is a letter from Cobble on pages 12 to 14. She writes: “For years I struggled with Bible reading even though I was in full-time ministry. Not only was Scripture challenging to understand, but the challenge also left me with a lack of desire. Every day I felt defeated before I even started, and many days I didn’t start at all. I learned I was making three primary mistakes that held me back from understanding and loving Scripture. She then goes on to explain these mistakes and advises on how to correct it. Her approach is less like a scholarly Bible commentary and more like an overview and a highlight reel rolled into one. “I am less inclined to tell you about archaeological details and more inclined to point to the character of God” (14).
The Bible Recap, a hard cover book of 752 pages, takes you chronologically through the story of Scripture as it happened. You read the day’s Bible chapters and then come back to this book to get a summary and highlight reel along with some explanations of the more confusing parts of the text. “Each day in this book ends with a section called Today’s God Shot, which points to one place where God’s attributes are on display in that day’s reading. It’s called a God Shot because it’s a snapshot of God’s character” (16). Cobble encourages: “As you begin each new book, take time to research who wrote each book, to whom they wrote it, when they wrote it, and the literary style in which it was written. Those details may seem unimportant, but they set the scene for reading it as it was meant to be read, which is the only way to truly understand it.”
I found The Bible Recap an easy, interesting and very helpful read. The D-group team, an international network of weekly discipleship and accountability groups, built a list of free resources that correspond to the days of The Bible Recap’s reading plan at thebiblerecap.com/links.
More about the author: Tara-Leigh Cobble is the creator and host of The Bible Recap podcast. She is also the founder of D-Group. Learn more about her at www.taraleighcobble.com.
The Bible Recap is published by Bethany House Publishers. Get your copy here.
