The Bible Recap's Tara Leigh Cobble on Loving God's Word: 'It's Not About Me'
Recent polling shows more than half of Americans wish they read the Bible more. The biggest excuse preventing them is not having the time. Tara Leigh Cobble, author of the popular The Bible Recap wants to help change that narrative because of the impact God's Word has had in her own life.
In an interview with CBN News, Cobble shared that, despite growing up in a Christian home, for years she lacked interest in diving deep into scripture. Then a pastor challenged her to read the Bible from beginning to end, promising to answer any questions she had along the way. Taking his advice led to a transformation of her understanding of scripture and a love for God like never before.
"I fell in love with God through this conduit of his words," said Cobble. "So, something that I always knew and admired and respected and knew was true, I then fell in love with."
Cobble admits that after reading the entire Bible for the first time she did not like it. When her pastor encouraged her to give it another try, she came to a startling realization – seeing God for who He is, not for what He could give her.
"I was looking for the character and the person of God instead of my to-do list, my takeaway, my action step, my application points. The Bible isn't about me. It's for me. It's not about me. It's about God. It's about who He is," she explained.
That revelation led Cobble to launch The Bible Recap in 2019. It offers a chronological read-through-the Bible-in-a-year plan, with a daily commentary podcast that Cobble hosts. It has seen more than 300 million downloads. It also recently topped Apple's podcast charts with 800,000 new subscribers signing on for her Bible reading plan in YouVersion.
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Cobble says of that success, "We are blown away that people want to read and understand and love God's Word and that they're finding this resource to be helpful to them."
"My prayer when I started was that 300 people would do it with me," she added. "I mean, Ephesians 3:20 'exceedingly more than you can ask or hope' re-imagined."
Cobble believes the increased interest points to a growing spiritual appetite among people from all walks of life including listeners in some 200 countries.
"It's just this word of mouth, and obviously the Spirit of God is doing something in those communities that people are finding joy in the Word of God, and they can't stop talking about it."
The mission of The Bible Recap is to equip people to read, understand and love the Bible, which Cobble says includes ensuring people read scripture in the proper context.
She says while she's not sure of the exact number of those who complete the yearlong Bible plan, she offers encouragement for those who might fall off.
"If you fall behind, just pick back up," she said. "It's a 365-day plan. When you do the Bible Recap, the book, the podcast, the YouTube, none of it says January one, January two. It says day one, day two. And if there's four days between those, it doesn't matter, pick back up. You're right on time. Lean back in. God is ready and waiting for you and has beautiful things for you in that space."
Meanwhile, Cobble also urges believers to turn to the Holy Word for help living in today's often controversial culture.
"I think the more people lean into the Word, one of the things that I've found that it does is it humbles me, the fruit of the Spirit. It's one fruit singular with nine attributes; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are things that as I lean in, and I look for his character."
"We become what we behold. And so, I want those things in a divisive world, in uncertain times. I want those things to be ever increasing, increasing fruit in me and in my life so that I am calm and peaceful and joyful in a very chaotic and unsettled world," said Cobble.
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