The program kicked my butt this weekend, and I almost fell behind. By the grace of God, I’m back on track.
I fell asleep mid-sentence reading Deuteronomy Friday night, so Saturday morning I was 20 chapters behind schedule. I squeezed in reading when I could Saturday to catch up, but by Sunday I had finished Friday’s but was behind on Saturday’s. Thankfully, my afternoon was free and there was no AWANA recreation last night, so I had some extra hours to read and meditate. It’s nice to be on schedule and know that I’m about 20% finished.
Please don’t be mistaken. I’m not doing this for any self-glory, but for several other reasons.
- To get in the grove of getting up early enough to spend at least an hour with God.
- To grow in my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
- To read all of the Bible (Which I can’t say that I’ve done before. I think only lack some OT Books.)
- To encourage those around me who struggle with having time set aside for Jesus. (Not motivate, Jesus should be the motive.)
- To complete a challenge. I like challenges.
Note to self, get a notebook. There’s a lot of stuff I need to write down and even more I need to revisit with help. However, one thing I’m sure I don’t need to look up is “ephah”. I can confidently say that an ephah is about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters. I wonder if the people who put together the ESV got tired of putting that footnote in…
Some thoughts on the reading:
Israel can be very disappointing and very helpful in seeing your own sins of idolotry. Judges was awesome, Ruth was sweet, and 1 Samuel could be a movie and they all point to Jesus Christ.
October 12th, 2009 —
It was a little tougher to get up this morning, but I’m glad I did. It means I did it even when sleep was tempting. Very tempting.
Leviticus 13:40
‘If a man loses the hair on his head, this is baldness. The man is clean.’
via – The Brick Testament
Leviticus made me thankful. Reading about all of the different sacrifices and laws really made me appreciate my freedom in Christ. There is so much that must be done and in such a particular manner. I’m convinced that when it was all said and done, I wouldn’t have had any animals left.
Looking at Leviticus from today gives some insight into the reasoning and wisdom behind the law. The “unclean” things that the Hebrew people were no to touch/do/tolerate were things that posed a threat to their health. For instance – isolating those with suspicious rashes and checking them after 7 days was effectively teaching them quarantine practices.
I think many people, including myself, don’t fully grasp the hash punishments for stuff that doesn’t seem to important. However I think we forget the context in which this is taking place. God is growing a nation. It is very important that everyone strive together. One person can rally and split a small nation like the growing Israelites. I’ve heard the illustration of (back some years, of course) stealing lumber being punishable by fine, but during war-time punishable by death.
Numbers is proving to be filled with numbers, but I hear there’s some grumbling and murmuring coming up soon…
I thank God for giving me focus and teaching me from the text and from the effort to do this challenge, and I pray He continues; that I may walk by the Spirit.
Tomorrow I must finish up Numbers, chapters 9-36, and go all the way through Deuteronomy 27. I have a feeling that I won’t get through that by just the morning alone, so prayers are appreciated. (Perhaps I will get a head-start this afternoon.)
October 8th, 2009 —
Wow. That was a lot of Bible. Genesis 1 – Exodus 15.
“It’ll probably not be the most “devotional” trip through God’s Word” – Those are the words Matt Henslee struck through on his blog after starting this regiment, and I would’ve done the same. Although I’m sure there are finer points and subtle nuances( is “subtle nuances” redundant?) that I missed, but looking at it from a Christ-centered perspective, I can see all sorts of things pointing to Jesus that I may have just glazed over before.
What most stuck-out to me was Joseph’s representation of the Christ to come. Joseph began serving directly under Pharaoh when he was 30 (The same age as Jesus, when he began his ministry). Genesis 45 : 5,7 & 8 says
5And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” …” 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.”
Joseph tells his brothers that everything he endured, blessings and trials, were all in God’s plan to bring about “a great deliverance”. So it was with Jesus. God sent him, that he might save a remnant (those who would believe) for his Heavenly Father and give us life, rather than preserve it. I love it!
There is more detail there to me than I explained, but I digress…
I can’t wait to see what truths the Holy Spirit shows me throughout this study or what I’ll have to seek further study on.
If anyone has more to add to that please do, I am by no means an Old Testament scholar and my interpretation may be flawed, but I see Jesus clearly in that text.
October 6th, 2009 —
