“God does not intend Bible reading to function simply as a drug for fretful minds. The reading of Scripture is intended to awaken our minds, not send them to sleep. God asks us to approach Scripture as his Word—a message addressed to rational creatures, people with minds, a message we cannot expect to understand without thinking about it. ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ said God to Judah through Isaiah (Isa. 1:18), and he says the same to us every time we take up his book. He has taught us to pray for divine enlightenment as we read. ‘Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law’ (Ps. 119:18). This a prayer for God to give us insight as we think about his Word. But we effectively prevent God from answering this prayer if after praying we blank out and stop thinking as we read. God wants us to read the Bible as a book—a single story with a single theme.”
J. I. Packer, God’s Plans for You, 19.
The book I recommend to better understand how to read the Bible is Reading the Bible Supernaturally, by John Piper.