Thoughts on chap. 1&2

Wow. I've only read two chapters and I'm already hooked! I will try really hard not to race ahead!

There were two things in the first two chapters that especially stuck out to me. One was this sentence: "Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy's!), you don't realize how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary." It's not really the sentence itself that stuck out to me, but instead what is in the parenthesis. Think about that! It is exasperatingly frustrating to the devil that God has such an advantage over him - he has been a human! He understand how we work! I just think that the way that is structured - a devil being frustrated about God understanding the human view - is really neat.

The other thing that stuck out to me was when Screwtape was talking about the people in the church. He was telling Wormwood to make sure the guy kept focus on the congregation's outward appearance, without ever thinking about how mighty they might be in God's kingdom. That kinda struck me...cause that's the way I look at a lot of people at church. I don't see their heart or their relationship with God...I just see their fatness or their ugly clothes or whatever it is, and I judge. So that part was really good for me to read!

Oh, and one more bit I really liked: "I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy." Wow. I love that description of the Church!

(btw I think it is kinda cool that the book is dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkein. :)

New Book!

Yes! We are beginning The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. Starting on Monday, we'll be reading two chapters a week. Post your thoughts!

psalms

I've really struggled with the challenge (ha! funny, struggling with a challenge...) over the last couple of months. Between being gone for almost two weeks in July, and everything else that has been going on, I haven't spent as much time on it as I should've. It's been rather depressing, actually, but yesterday as I was thinking about it, the verse that says "though I fall, I shall rise" came to my head. So! Though I've fallen a bazillion times with this challenge, I'm going to keep trying.

I'm actually only in Psalms. :/ I copied over part of the schedule where I am right now, and I'm going to try to do two days' worth in one day. I don't know if I can do it, but I'll try.

I found a couple of cool verses towards the beginning of Psalms.


5:11-12 is simply wonderful!

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

5:8 is also a really good verse. Part of it says "depart from me, all you workers of iniquity." That comes to my mind sometimes when I'm struggling to overcome what the devil is brining against me. It's quite helpful, actually! :)

So, that's what I have. How is everyone else coming on the challenge?

(Oh, and as soon as someone needs the next week's schedule, let me know!)

week 8

Here is week 8...sorry it's late. (haha!)

• Monday: Isa 14:1 thru Isa 28:29
• Tuesday: Isa 29:1 thru Isa 41:18
• Wednesday: Isa 41:19 thru Isa 52:12
• Thursday: Isa 52:13 thru Isa 66:18
• Friday: Isa 66:19 thru Jer 10:13
• Saturday: Jer 10:14 thru Jer 23:8
• Sunday: Jer 23:9 thru Jer 33:22

How is everyone getting along?

week 7

Here's week 7...three days late. I don't think any of us are this caught up yet, though.

• Monday: Psalm 89:14 thru Psalm 108:13
• Tuesday: Psalm 109:1 thru Psalm 34:13
• Wednesday: Psalm 135:1 thru Prov 6:35
• Thursday: Prov 7:1 thru Prov 20:21
• Friday: Prov 20:22 thru Ecc 2:26
• Saturday: Ecc 3:1 thru Song of Solomon 8:14
• Sunday: Isaiah 1:1 through Isaiah 13:22

"respected group leader," my foot!

Anywho, has everyone but Sadie and me died? Well, I guess Tiff hasn't, because I just skyped her yesterday...

Where is everybody? Just because you're behind doesn't mean you're allowed to not share what God has been speaking to you through the reading!

I'm behind too...I'm only in Second Kings...*blushes mightily*

Has this reading been good for everyone? Are you glad you started; are you disgusted with it? What is everyone thinking?

*ahem*

Sorry this is so late...our internet at home is dead in the water, and I have just now gotten to the library to get the new schedule up! I don't have time right now to put it on the sidebar, in case you're wondering why I'm not up-to-date on that. But here is week six!

Monday: Nehemiah 13:15 thru Job 7:21
Tuesday: Job 8:1 thru Job 24:25
Wednesday: Job 25:1 thru Job 41:34
Thursday: Job 42:1 through Psalm 24:10
Friday: Psalm 25:1 thru Psalm 45:14
Saturday: Psalm 45:15 thru Psalm 69:21
Sunday: Psalm 69:22 through Psalm 89:13

How is everyone doing?

check-up time! :)

How is everyone doing? I haven't talked to any of you about the reading lately, so I just thought we should all report our status and encourage each other! :)

I am currently in Judges. I know that's behind, but I should be all caught up by the middle of this week. The whole story of the Israelites has been wonderful to follow...and to learn from.

What about all of you?

(Oh, and here is this week's schedule)

• Monday: 1 Sam 28:20 thru 2 Sam 12:10
• Tuesday: 2 Sam 12:11 thru 2 Sam 22:18
• Wednesday: 2 Sam 22:19 thru 1 Kings 7:37
• Thursday: 1 Kings 7:38 thru 1 Kings 16:20
• Friday: 1 Kings 16:21 thru 2 Kings 4:37
• Saturday: 2 Kings 4:38 through 2 Kings 15:26
• Sunday: 2 Kings 15:27 thru 2 Kings 25:30

battle and business

Posting here will display how terribly behind I am, but oh well. I am absolutely determined to be caught up by the end of the week. Just you wait and see!

But anyway, lookie what I found!

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God
is with you, who brought you out of Egypt. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'

Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: 'what man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.'

That passage, to me, is just awesome. If you think about in terms of God's people today, it is so relevant! First, when you go out to battle against the powers and principalities of darkness, don't even bother thinking about how great they are compared to how little you are. We have God on our side, so the seemingly mighty enemy is really nothing!

But I like the second part better. If you have a house you haven't dedicated, go and dedicate it...if you have a girl you haven't married, go marry her. Get your business finished up! We can't be going into battle with unfinished business. One of Mr. Schneider's most used phrases is "let's deal with unfinished business." If we have "unfinished business" with God, how can we go into battle?

Cool litttle picture, huh? I don't want to leave any business unfinished before God. We *are* in a spiritual battle - but the enemy is nothing in the face of our God!

More on Leaven

After quite a bit of digging around, I think I have found the answer to the unleavened bread thing. :)

"So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leaven from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." (Ex. 12:14-15)

"Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven e seen among you in all your quarters." (Ex. 13:7)

Those are just two passages, but there are multitudes in Exodus and Leviticus.

Here's what the New Testament says about leavean.

"Then Jesus sadi to them, 'take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees."' (Mat. 16:6).

"Then he charged them, saying 'take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'" (mark 8:15)

From those two verses, it sounds like leaven isn't such a good thing. But what does it represent?

"Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Saducees." (mat. 16:12)

So, the leaven that Jesus is warning against is the doctrine of the Pharisees/Saducees. This doctrine could be the Old Testament law of Moses, or it could be the fact that they were so religiously puffed up. But the reason they were religiously puffed up was because they were stuck in the OT law...

Galations 5:9 says "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."

So that makes me think that maybe leaven isn't such a bad thing, if it is in small quantity! So perhaps the "leaven of the Pharisees" is the OT law, because, though we have a new law of grace, the OT law is still good to know and understand.

"...do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrified for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:6-8)

There are a couple of verses that still confuse me; maybe one of you all will have some insight on them. :)

"Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven..." (Amos 4:5)

"Another parable he spoke to them: 'the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." (matt 13:33)

thoughts from most of exodus

Why am I the only one posting thoughts these days?! TIFFANY!!!!!! Emilie and Annie, you can always post thoughts/questions! :)

Did you all notice I put the current schedule on the sidebar? Pretty handy, huh? ;)

Anyway, I still haven't quite finished Exodus (today I'm supposed to go through Leviticus 26, I think), but I'm determined to be back on schedule by tomorrow!

Anywho, here are a few thoughts/questions I had from Exodus:

• 2:18 says "And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?"
  
  Then in 3:1 it says "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian."
  
  Soo...both Reuel and Jethro were "the priest of midian." (2:16-18 and 3:1) I guess Reuel and Jethro must be the same guy (priest of midian, seven daughters, Moses's father-in-law), but it is rather confusing...
  
  ???
  
  
• One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 4:11-12: "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what to say."
  
  Maybe it's only after seeing that scene in The Prince of Egypt that it seems so powerful. But wow.
  
  
• I really don't understand 4:24-26...it makes no sense whatsoever. Help!
  
  
• In chapter 14 the Egyptians are pursuing Israel, and they panic. In verse 15 it says: "And the Lord said to Moses, 'why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.'"
  
  There is a time to cry out to the Lord , but sometimes we have to just rise up in the power of God and move foward!!!
  
  
• What does 29:19-20 mean??
  
  
  And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put [it] upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.
  

• The story of the golden calf gets more unbelievable every time I read it. After the calf is made the children of Israel say "This is your god, oh Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt." That is almost unbelievable. It's an image they made by melting down all their earrings and shaping it into a calf, and they say that it brought them out of Egypt? wow.
  
  And then: "When Aaron saw it [the calf], he built an alter before it....and said, 'tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.' Then they rose early on the next day, offerened burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
  
  Right in the middle of this huge sin against God, they put on this little religious act and offer sacrifices to the Lord!
  
  Since the Israelites are a picture of God's people today, reading their story is such an amazing reminder of what we need to watch out for.

question

I'll just admit it up front. Emma is practically in Matthew, and I'm sure Tiff is right on top of the reading too, but I'm not. We're supposed to do day 7 today, but I'm at more like 5...oh well, I'll catch up!

Anywho, I had a question. You know how the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, though the desert, and then into the promised land is a picture of Christ leading us out of the world, though our lives, and then into the "promised land?" So as I'm reading the story these spiritual pictures are popping up all over the place.

In lots of different places, but right now I've noticed it in chapter 13 especially, God (through Moses) talks about the unleavened bread. He really goes on about it quite a bit, so I'm thinking there has to be some spiritual picture there, but I'm not sure what it is. In Matthew 16:6 Jesus says "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."

So I'm just wondering, do any of you know what the spiritual picture is with the unleavened bread?

EDIT:

So as soon as I had this posted I thought "you dummy!" Why don't you go see if you can find anything else in the word? So besides a lot more about the feast of unleavened bread and such, I did find this verse in I Corinthians 5:8 "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

I think this verse is another example of the "new law," if you will. The "law" of grace taking the place of the Old Testament law.

But I'm still not sure what the deal is with unleavened bread...

My observations from day 2

I always seem to get my thoughts up the day after...oh well. Don't feel like you have to read this if you don't want. :)

• Matthew 24:37 says: "As it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be at the coming of the son of man." Reading through the stories of Noah and then Sodom and Gomorrah reminded me of that. The sin of man was so great, that God had to destroy it, but he sent a provision for the few righteous - the ark. Noah was diligent to obey God and prepare for the disaster, so when it came, he was saved.
  
  The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great, that God had to destroy it. Yet, he made a provision for the righteous. Actually, I don't think Lot was all too righteous, but because Abraham pleaded with God, he saved Lot. The angel guys tell Lot to get up to the high place, but he says "Please no, my lords! Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die."
  
  Isn't that just like us? God makes a provision (get up to the high place!), but we fear that provision, and would rather stay down in the low place.
  
  I think that today we are very near the "end times." The sin of this world is so great, and God is going to have to judge it. We must let go of the sin "that so easily besets" us, and go up to that high place, away from the destruction!
  
  Okay, sorry. Just sorta preaching to myself. :)
  
• Like Sadie, I noticed how both Abraham and Isaac said their respective wives were their sisters. When I mentioned it to Audrey, she was like "talk about familiar spirits!" :) You'd think Isaac would learn from his dad's mistake! And this is what's funny! Abraham decieved this guy named Abimelech, and so did Isaac! They did it to the same guy!!!!!! Wow.
  
  So, that's what I came away with from yesterday. Comments?

Thoughts from Day 1

Uhh...hopefully I don't have this many observations every day! Don't feel like you have to read all of this if you don't want, because I understand it is a bit lengthy...

• Several times in Genesis 1, 2, and 3 God mentions cattle. In 2:20 it says "So Adam gave names to ALL cattle..." And I was wondering how that could be, because cattle are cattle (unless you get into breeds like gelbvieh, angus, hereford, etc.). I looked up in the Stong's, and I guess "cattle" back then just meant a dumb beast/a large animal. You probably already knew that, but I didn't. :)
• Genesis 2:23 says "Adam said...therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Whad did Adam know about a father and a mother? Yes, he had God the Father, but how could he understand the concept of leaving one's father and mother to go live with your wife. He didn't have a mother, and he never left God...
• "And they heard the sound of the Lord God wlaking in the garden in the cool of the day..." Can you imagine a place where you can hear God walking around in the early morning? Wow.
• Here's something interesting: This is the prophecy toward the serpent: "And I will put emnity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." I found two other verses that tie into this. Psalm 41:9 is quoted in John 13:18 by Jesus: "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; that the scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread wiht me has lifted up his heel against me.'" I think Jesus is probably talking about Judas here, which really ties into the verse in Genesis. Does that make sense?
• This is cool! Several times in the first few chapters (1:26, 3:22), God refers to himself as "Us." I just love how he says "Let us make man in OUR image..."
• Gen 4:17 says "And Cain knew his wife..." Where did Cain's wife come from? ;)
• After Noah comes out of the ark (imagine coming out of your tiny little box into a completely different world, that is washed completely clean. Wow.), it says "every moving thing that lives shall be food for you." I never quite understood why vegetarians thought it was bad to eat meat, and especially after reading this bit. Does someone have an explanation?
• This is Genesis 13:7-8: "But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers." So here's my question: It's talking about Abram's and Lot's servants quarreling, and then all of a sudden there is this random sentence about the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Why is that randomly stuck in there?

That's all! If anyone did happen to read all through this, I'd love to have your input. But if not, that's fine too. :)

yay!

This is the first post, girls! :-)

I'm so excited about having some accountability while I attempt to read the entire Bible in 90 days! Today, Monday May 12, is our first day. I'll go ahead and put up the schedule for the whole week, in case you're feeling overly ambitious and want to get ahead. (haha.)

I believe we have Tiffany, Sadie, Emily and I doing this together. I'd really like Sheila to join us, but that might take some convincing. And I haven't even tried convincing her yet, so we'll see.

The reason I think it's a really good idea to do a blog is because I'm hoping we can participate together in more than just getting the reading done. I already have some thoughts/observations/questions on the first few chapters, and hopefully you all will too! I'm just about to pop off to the nursing home to play some music, but when I get back I'll post what I've found.

I know some of us know each other, but I at least haven't met Emily, so how about if we all make a post with a short little introduction about ourselves!

Here's the schedule:

• Day One: Gen. 1:1 thru Gen. 16:16
• Day Two: Gen. 17:1 thru Gen. 28:19
• Day Three: Gen. 28:19 thru Gen. 40:11
• Day Four: Gen. 40:12 thru Gen. 50:26
• Day Five: Ex 1:1 thru Ex 15:18
• Day Six: Ex 15:19 thru Ex 28:43
• Day Seven: Ex 29:1 thru Ex 40:38