I am going to do a 40 day pause and fast from all reading except for the Bible, starting now! I have been reading through the Scriptures, by God’s grace, at least a couple of times a year since 1995 (which does not include the constant spot reading of the New Testament, concurrent with my read-thrus); as of late my pace has kicked up to about 1x thru every 3 months. It is not as if the Scriptures don’t play a primary role in my reading habits already. But we are pressed up against some really stressful stuff in life right now. Besides the fact that I have been laid off for almost a year, the job my wife just got (with Evergreen School District in Washington State) just sent her a pink slip (a notice that she is laid off) in the mail. So our situation went from looking grim to bleak in a matter of seconds (the amount of time it took to open the envelope that her slip came in). All we have left now is my unemployment (and that doesn’t even cut it). We are at the LORD’s mercy … so we are on our knees!
Anyway, these kinds of developments have taken away most of my desire to read anything but the Word of God. It is the only thing that brings hope, and the kind of words that I need to keep the right perspective and attitude about this current onslaught we are facing. My blogging, then, will also reflect what I am reading, as it usually does, and so it will probably mostly be reflections on how the Lord is using His Word as a healing balm in my life (my wife’s too) in this tough time.
We covet your prayers. I realize we are not the only ones go through the valley of the shadow; if you need prayer for anything, please say so in your comment, or email me. I like to pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ (and those who aren’t too!).
Sorry to hear about your wife’s job. I pray you and your wife will really sense His presence during this time. You’re right, when we’re in deep waters the Word is the only place to turn. Do you have a system you follow when you read through the Bible? God’s peace, brother.
Hi Eric,
Thank you for you prayers! Amen, God’s Word is it!!
My “system” is just to start in Genesis and read through. When I am in the OT I also read random NT books at the same time. Once I get to the NT I just read the NT, and then just start over. A few times I’ve read thru the OT in TaNaKh order. I try to read as much as I can in a day. I think the more the merrier π !
Thanks. I read through the Bible in a similar way. While reading through the OT, I usually cover the NT a couple times and after I finish going through Kings or Chronicles, I’ll “reward” myself with Isaiah or Hosea (my favorites) – I usually end up going through the Psalms and Proverbs several times too. My bent is to want to consult other translations or commentaries during this time, which, for me, is more for devotional purposes…so I try to save the in-depth studies for other times. Sometimes I “cheat” and read along to an NASB audio MP3 during parts of the OT when there are a lot of difficult names or locations being mentioned–it keeps me going and helps me with my pronunciation too.
Sorry to hear about this turn of events. Just remember “as many as are the promises of God, they are yes and amen in Christ Jesus”.
Will be praying for you.
Eric,
Cool, it is always good to come across other brothers and sisters who are committed to chronically reading through the Scriptures. I hear ya on certain sections of the Scriptures; my main speed bump is I Chronicles 1–11, and the genealogies. I just tell myself that this is highly significant because of the Davidic line that it is tracing, and also try to remember that these are all real life people, not just a bunch of random names. It would be interesting to see how we all, as sons of David in Christ would fit into his genealogy now.
@Jon,
Thank you brother, that is a good Paulinism; thank you!