So obviously this isn’t Deuteronomy. Again I made the decision to move to a smaller book. As we prep for vacation, a trip to Centrifuge with my students and carving out some time to celebrate our 10 years of marriage my days are getting fuller and fuller! So Habakkuk it is! This book started off a little differently than the other minor prophets I’ve read so far- it started off with Habakkuk’s complaint! Through the book he has 2 complaints for the Lord. When he receives the Lords reply to those complaints he ends up praying and praising God! Both of his complaints center around the wicked. Fi ..read more

Today I used my ability to switch books again and ended up in the book of Malachi. In this brief message God brings 4accusations against his people: 1. They are offering defiled sacrifices. After spending so much time in the Old Testament lately, this is pretty horrifying to be honest. There was a time where kings and prophets offered hundreds of animals to the Lord, and did so joyfully! David and Solomon are some great examples. To see that the people clearly no longer offer their sacrifices with joy but merely out of duty is devastating. 2. The priests have left God’s path. God specifically ..read more

This book is very appropriately named. It has covered the counting of God’s people and the counting of wealth of Israel. It also included how many animals should be used for which sacrifices, what tithes should be paid, and lists of the physical provisions God had made for each tribe. But one of the biggest things I noticed was Moses’s brother Aaron. He served as Israel’s high priest during their wilderness wandering and after reading this I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit! Moses was clearly the one speaking directly to God (Numbers 12:8), but Aaron was responsible for the day to day ..read more

Greeting! We are officially 1/3 of the way through this challenge- only 43 books left to go! My reading in this first section have focused heavily on the Major and Minor prophets, with occasional forays into the New Testament. So I’m really starting to get a clear picture of the nations of Israel and Judah before the exile to Babylon. For example, yesterday when I read 2nd Chronicles it talked about Josiah one of the faithful Kings of Judah. Then today Zephaniah opened up by stating that it was written during the reign of Josiah! As I read further I was a little surprised. Because Josiah’s rei ..read more

Tonight as I read 2nd Chronicles it felt a lot like a history book for the kingdom of Judah. This king ruled for this many years and did evil/good in the sight of the Lord. Pretty straight forward right? So I tried to look a little deeper- after all this is right before the people are carried off into exile. There has to be something more than just a historical record there. Then something in chapter 25 caught my eye. Verse 2 says: “Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, but not wholeheartedly.” As I skimmed the previous chapters most of the King’s of Judah (or the people during t ..read more

First off some of you following may have realized that this post is a day late. My challenge has been to do one book of the Bible everyday for 66 days and up until yesterday I’ve managed that. Part of it was poor planning on my part- I thought the holiday would be a slower day. But once I got closer to the time I would normally be reading or writing we were heading to fireworks and I made the choice to skip a day. Family is sacred too and lately work schedules have made that time scarce. Additionally in a week our family will be splitting up- the kids to go visit grandparents, my husband will ..read more

In this challenge so far I’ve found that the major and minor prophets in the Old Testament are some of the hardest to read. Ezekiel was no different but it did have one powerfully overriding theme that jumped out at me. God is Sovereign. God calls himself Sovereign, nations and people address him as Sovereign and Ezekiel declares it multiple times. And I would bet that most of us have heard that God is Sovereign or even said it to others. But do we really register what we are saying? Sovereign means the ultimate authority. No questioning or no bargaining- just complete obedience to The Soverei ..read more

Today I am making use of the rule that this challenge has to be flexible. I had intended on reading Ezekiel today, but a migraine schedule changes and an overall topsy turvy day lead me to the book of Ruth instead. Like some of the other books I’ve read, this one is an old favorite. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve read Ruth over the years. As I looked at it again today I’m reminded of God’s abundant blessings. Naomi left Israel with her family and returned with only her daughter-in-law. She even tells her friends and family who welcome her home to change her name to Mara because her ..read more

I’m going to say something you will probably find weird. I love the book of Job. Seriously this book is filled with so much sarcasm, witty comebacks and outright debating I absolutely love it. Many years ago I was on my high school’s debate team and I learned to love a good reason based debate and that’s exactly what this book provides. It reads like a debate transcript at times and I felt like I was mentally awarding points to different sides as the book went on! You probably know the basics of this book already. Job was a righteous man. Satan challenged God, saying that Job wouldn’t remain ..read more

Welcome back! Today I read 2 Thessalonians- my 17th book of the Bible in as many days. Like 1st Thessalonians, this letter was penned by Paul, Silas and Timothy. It’s a little shorter than the first, but full of encouragement! First, they encourage the church to continue with what they are doing- and that they are continually praying for them. Then, they encourage the church not to be alarmed- the return of Jesus hasn’t happened yet. They remind the people of what is to come and the regardless of how bad it gets, Jesus still reigns victorious. Finally they encourage the believers to pray for t ..read more