Today we are HALFWAY done with reading the Bible. Tomorrow we will be closer to the end than the beginning. YOU DID IT! A brief explanation of all that we have read so far:
- Genesis answers two big questions: “How did God’s relationship with the world begin?” and “Where did the nation of Israel come from?”
- The book of Job: Satan attacks a righteous man named Job, and Job and his friends argue about why terrible things are happening to him.
- Exodus: God saves Israel from slavery in Egypt, and then enters into a Covenant with them.
- In Leviticus God gives Israel instructions for how to worship Him.
- Numbers: Israel fails to trust and obey God, and wanders in the wilderness for 40 years.
- Deuteronomy: Moses gives Israel instructions (in some ways, a recap of the laws in Exodus–Numbers) for how to love and obey God in the Promised Land.
- Joshua (Israel’s new leader) leads Israel to conquer the Promised land, then divides out territories to the twelve tribes of Israel.
- Judges: Israel enters a cycle of turning from God, falling captive to oppressive nations, calling out to God, and being rescued by leaders God sends their way (called “judges”).
- Ruth: Two widows lose everything, and find hope in Israel—which leads to the birth of the future King David.
- 1 Samuel, Israel demands a king, who turns out to be quite a disappointment.
- 2 Samual: David, a man after God’s own heart, becomes king of Israel.
- 1 Kings: The kingdom of Israel has a time of peace and prosperity under King Solomon, but afterward splits, and the two lines of kings turn away from God.
- Song of Songs- A love song (or collection of love songs) celebrating love, desire, and marriage.
- A philosophical exploration of the meaning of life—Ecclesicaties.
- 2 Kings: Both kingdoms ignore God and his prophets, until they both fall captive to other world empires.
- In 1 Chronicles we read a brief history of Israel from Adam to David, with David commissioning the temple of God in Jerusalem.
- We also read 150 Psalms that Israel sang to God (and to each other)—kind of like a hymnal for the ancient Israelites.
- And meditated on the Proverbs: a collection of sayings written to help people make wise decisions that bring about justice.
We have 20 books (some very short, 1-day reads) left of the Old Testament and then we turn the page to the Gospel.
If you need a copy of the schedule because you hate waiting for me to post 🙂 Click here
There is a Handouts section on the website of any cool visuals we have used if you need to reference them at any time.
I know many of you are reading but don’t comment BUT if you want to make me smile, you will write in comments 1 thing you learned reading this year that you did not know before 2020 began, I would be so happy.
Reading the Bible in a Year-2020 
I could literally write a comment for each day. Everyday I was said “Hmm, that was new, was that just added to the Bible??”. So I will pick the most recent: I did not know that a woman, Jezebel’s daughter (Tribe of Israel) ruled Judah for 6 years. God made a Covenant to bring a king from the Line of David so she kept the seat warm until he was 6 years old. Those must have been a tough 6 years for Judah!! Crazy to think about but being it is an election year I can sit back and know that God will be behind the scenes no matter what happens during the election…He might be just keeping the seat warm for someone in the future.
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I didn’t realize that Israel split into the two kingdoms. I guess I just thought when they talked about the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel they were talking about the same place just calling it something different. Actually reading through the Bible has helped so much. I feel like there was so much I didn’t know and didn’t realize because I would only read a few verses here and there and not get the whole story.
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Becky, you will forever sit in church changed now. When you hear scripture from Kings or a Prophet book you are going to have the “scene” in your head and it will make everything different. I read your comment the other day and I pondered over it. The Divided Kingdom…it really struck me how similar it is to our nation today. We literally are just as divided.
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Where do I start?! So much I didn’t know. And I’ve read it before!! Man, as humans we stink. We have struggled for years and years!!! We trust in the LORD and then we slip away. We are evil. We are sinners.
We have faith and then we forget. We are prideful. We have idols, we are jealous, etc, etc, etc. These qualities cause problems. It doesn’t work when we aren’t tapped in, when we aren’t in the WORD.
But then again GOD made us wonderful. He made us with hearts that love and care. We have so much to give. He wants us to draw near to Him and humble ourselves.
I guess my point is and what I’ve learned especially in 2020 is there is only one place to turn to….GOD. Everything is meaningless….without God! We try to find so much value and trust in so many things and people but it just ends in a dead end. When are we going to get it?
When we are in the Word. Daily. That’s the running theme. We constantly need to be reminded. We need accountability. We aren’t perfect but being with the only one who is will be our only hope to be closer to it.
I’m only full or filled when I’m in the WORD. He’s always there and He’s all we need. We step away from Him, he never steps away from us. It’s really simple. Yet it’s a struggle… when we do it on our own.
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BB, it is like you summed up Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Judges, the New Testament all in the comment. Beautiful!!
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My God is so very patient..so much more than I ever realized. I will never understand His Love till I see Him..right now I am in awe and wonder each day I read.
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