M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

by Robert Murray M'Cheyne

M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan. Daily Bread, the bible study plan by Scottish preacher Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843). The layout enables you to read the bible over a year, with daily readings headed Family and Secret (private closet prayer). A month per page view. M’ "Let our secret reading prevent the dawning of the day. Let God's voice be the first we hear in the morning. Mark two or three of the richest verses, and pray over every line and word of them."

18 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2013

About the author

Robert Murray M'Cheyne a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1835 to 1843. He was born at Edinburgh, was educated at the University of Edinburgh and at the Divinity Hall of his native city, where he was taught by Thomas Chalmers. He first served as an assistant to John Bonar in the parish of Larbert and Dunipace, near Falkirk, from 1835 to 1838. After this he served as minister of St. Peter's Church (in Dundee) until his early death at the age of 29 during an epidemic of typhus.

Not long after his death, his friend Andrew Alexander Bonar edited his biography which was published with some of his manuscripts as The Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne. The book went into many editions. It has had a lasting influence on Evangelical Christianity worldwide.

In 1839, M'Cheyne and Bonar, together with two older ministers, Dr. Alexander Black and Dr. Alexander Keith, were sent to Palestine on a mission of inquiry to the condition of the Jews. Upon their return, their official report for the Board of Mission of the Church of Scotland was published as Narrative of a Visit to the Holy Land and Mission of Inquiry to the Jews. This led subsequently to the establishment of missions to the Jews by the Church of Scotland and by the Free Church of Scotland. During M'Cheyne's absence, his place was filled by the appointment of William Chalmers Burns to preach at St. Peter's as his assistant.

M'Cheyne was a preacher, a pastor, a poet, and wrote many letters. He was also a man of deep piety and a man of prayer. He never married, but he did have a fiancée at the time of his death, Jessie Thain, who died heartbroken.

M'Cheyne died exactly two months before the Disruption of 1843. This being so, his name was subsequently held in high honour by all the various branches of Scottish Presbyterianism, though he himself held a strong opinion against the Erastianism which led to the Disruption.

M'Cheyne designed a widely used system for reading through the Bible in one year. The plan entails reading the New Testament and the Psalms through twice a year, and the Old Testament through once.

Reviews

[Josie Seto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard work but was worth it for discipline and big picture. Would do again after a break 😅

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great reading plan. I appreciated the breakdown of OT and NT readings for each day.

[Lakeisha Heeringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Granger Smith frequently referencing this Bible reading plan on his podcast, I thought I'd give it a try. I've been reading the Bible daily for the past few years so it was easy to get used to. However, if you are not a disciplined Bible reader, the M'Cheyne plan will probably be too big a task to handle - you might want to start with something a bit shorter.
I used the plan on my phone, but read most of the scripture from my hard copy Bible. The reading evens out to 4-6 chapters a day - completely doable if you divide the reading up between morning and night. Each day features at least 2 OT passages (one historical, the other from the Psalms or prophets) and 2 NT passages (one from the Gospels, the other from the epistles). As stated in the description, you end up reading the OT once and the NT and Psalms twice in a year.

Pros: The balance between books was great. It can be easy to get bogged down in genealogies and passages on ceremonial laws, but when the rest of your reading is comforting Psalms or passages from the life of Christ, it is more motivating to keep going. I also loved seeing themes across the four different passages. God is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

Cons: Yes, there can be cons to a Bible reading plan. I won't be doing this plan again in 2025. I love history and the M'Cheyne's constant jumping from book to book was frustrating. While the overarching story is the same no matter which section of the Bible you're in, it was hard to stay invested in the micro stories.
Some of the pacing also didn't make sense. I understand pushing through the census passages, but clumping 2-3 long chapters of endless Biblical names together can get mind numbing.

Pro Tip: If your New Year's resolution is to read through the Bible, "cheat" and start at the end of December. That way, if you fall behind a day or so, you'll still end on time.

[Barb Hegreberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the last several years I have read through the Bible at least once. Each time I use a different translation. For 2022 I read the ESV using M’Chyene’s plan.

Though I understand the theory behind it:

Read more parts than one at a time. For example, if you are reading Genesis, read a Psalm also; or if you are reading Matthew, read a small bit of an Epistle also. Turn the Bible into prayer.

… I doubt that I will employ this plan in the future. I find it jarring to read one chapter from four different books. I would rather read four chapters from the same book.

NOTE: I typically use an audio Bible when reading larger blocks of scripture.

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent way to read the bible in a year. Four readings per day from 4 different books. It keeps the rewarding fresh each day and enables you to get though really hard books without it being too difficult.

This is my first time to use this and can say it keeps me in the bible every day, so anything that makes you read your bible more can only be a good thing.

[Lois Trapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book or read ever!! The BIBLE.
Nothing better!!

[Trevor S · Rating 5 out of 5]

After doing this plan probably 8 of the last 10 years, I still love going through this Bible in a year plan.