Bible reading

In December, my husband told me about a Bible reading plan he’d come across in his varied blog-reading. It sounded so interesting, we both decided to follow it and see how it went.  It’s called Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System. Here’s the idea:

He has divided the entire Bible up into ten sections. Each day, you are to read one chapter from each of the ten sections. So each day, you’re reading 10 chapters of the Bible. By reading from different sections, you’re getting a taste of several different genres of the Bible.

At first, I thought this would be confusing and hard to follow. Who wants to be in the middle of the Exodus and the nativity story and reading a chapter of Romans all in the same day!? It didn’t make sense to me.

I’ve been in it for nearly a month now. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t consistently read every day of this last month. And some days, I’ve needed to only read 5 chapters and then the next day I’ve read the remaining 5.  But the plan isn’t really about meeting a deadline; it’s about building a habit and getting a broad, big-picture kind of view of Scripture.

To give an example though of one of the beautiful & unexpected benefits of this, let me show you something I saw today in my reading:

Today I read Job, chapter 10. Job is crying out to God: ” . . . you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me… (v. 16-18)

Then, on to Psalm 10:

“Arise O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted…O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed…” (vv.12, 17-18)

And Proverbs 10:

“The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.” (vv. 29-30)

Joshua 10 told the story of God stopping the sun in the sky while He did the fighting FOR the children of Israel: “There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.” (v. 14)

At first glance, it may seem like a strange hodge-podge of verses and stories. But look closer, and see a never-changing, sovereign God. While He allows the destruction to fall on Job, the psalmist praises Him for providing security and safety for those afflicted like Job.  Proverbs calls Him a “stronghold” which is seen yet again when He fights for Israel in the book of Joshua.

If you’re up for trying something new, I’d recommend giving this reading plan a try. I am enjoying reading and seeing examples of my unchanging God fall together in a new way.