Observations from Daily Readings (through Leviticus)

• Reading through the Bible is difficult. It takes commitment and discipline. It actually feels healthy to consistently read through and stay on task.
• It seems that Jesus and our faith becomes more real as we read the Bible. There is a feeling of closeness with God. Why is that? Probably because our minds are so often pulled away from the source of our faith. When we are reading the source (the Bible), we see afresh the reason we hope in God. We remember. How can we make sense of our faith if we slowly forget the images and words that it was built upon? Reading Scripture daily actually helps us remain vibrant in our faith. 
• Leviticus emphasizes God's holiness. Once again, we see the language of being "Separate" show up everywhere. God wants us to be holy because He is holy, not to make us more respectable than others. God should get the glory not us. Being holy takes time. We are reminded of the hymn, "take time to be holy." Reading through the Bible is one very practical way to "take time to be holy!"
• Is there a better time to read Scripture in your perspective? Does the morning work better, or night? One perspective is that filling your mind with Scripture early in the morning helps set your day into motion, and gives content for spiritual thinking throughout the day. Reading at night may help categorize the experiences of the day and help you compare your experiences with others in the Bible.

Readings up until Feb. 1st (Through Genesis 47)

We are realizing that reading the Bible "chronologically" is not a natural way to read the Bible. Logical flow and predictability (linear thinking) is almost a backwards approach to the way that Scripture was actually written. Maybe it's because the Bible was written to be soaked up, not so much methodically as meditatively, repetitively, almost circular (each new reading revealing a new characteristic of God). Maybe the Bible was written in many smaller books, mixed in a timeline, to allow us to experience God in wholeness, one smaller story at time, to keep us from treating it like a task (such as we are with the Chronological Bible, oddly enough :) ) and more like a treasure. Instead of saying, "Yes! I DID it!" we instead say, "We are EXPERIENCING God while reading."

More Observations

• WOW! How many names did you read from these genealogies before you started reading into it, "yah, yah, yah,...?!" Some of us are just not into genealogy! Maybe it feels oversensitive or too "touchy feely." Or maybe its because we have too much to keep up with in our own sphere of relationships and friendships to worry about long lines of meaningless names in ancestry. Some of us even feel that way about our own genealogies. But obviously it was important to the Israelites. Whether we like it or not, we have to recognize that our lives are the product of people who have come before us, and their choices do affect our outlook on life. The more attention we pay to our "roots," the more grounded we become in making choices, or even in our understanding of the enormity of the task in changing behaviors rooted in what has been taught to us, but also rooted in un-taught physical characteristics passed on through bloodline.
• God actually uses messiness in the Bible for good. Take a look at Jacob. Jacob's wrestles with Esau at birth, he wrestles a birthright from Esau, Jacob wrestled a blessing from his father Isaac, he wrestled two daughters from Laban (and livestock, to boot!), he wrestled with God for a blessing too. His life is kinda messy, almost "in your face" about wrestling and winning. Is that okay? Is that a prescription for us how to live? Well, as we see later, this messiness shows up in Judah's life, many of the other brothers, and even down to Joseph's life. But, God provides salvation in the midst of it all. In Joseph's words, "God intended it for good." Simple observation - God is not intimidated or confused by the messiness of human decisions. He sees beyond, and no one can thwart His plans. That does not excuse our sin; matter of fact, it requires us to admit our helplessness and give Him the glory for anything good.