Day 162 8-31

Been eager for this time Lord. It was a crazy day of packing for our Florida vacation and Sam not napping because of his cold. So, here I am Lord up late in my chair in my room ready to focus on Your Word, Titus 1:5-9. Nevermind Lord, I'm sorry, Sam just woke up. Bye.

Day 161 8-30

Finished the chapter Working with a Paragraph. The chapter provided an example to walk through with the author for Nehemiah 1:4-11, which was helpful. Then the challenge was mine to try it with Titus 1:5-9, but today I am just going to read through it and then tackle and investigate tomorrow hopefully.

Day 160 8-29

Returned to reading Living By the Book, the chapter on Working with a Paragraph.

Day 159 8-28

So even though the Benjaminites raped and murdered one of their own essentially, the Israelites still didn't want their tribe to disappear completely. This is tough. When the Israelites assembled altogether, one tribe (Jabesh Gilead) failed to show up so the people of Israel decided to kill all of them except for their 400 virgins of the village. Bizarre. Then, the next decision was to give these pure, innocent, young girls to the remaining disgusting immoral men left from the Benjaminites because they didn't want one tribe to completely disappear, like I said earlier. Jabesh Gilead must have just been a branch of one of the 12 tribes of Israel because killing every male among them would have eliminated them too and I know Jabesh Gilead is not one of the original names of the 12. 

Anyway, it's all very bizarre, that's like the main word that keeps coming to my mind. It's super tough to read, especially as a woman and a mom with a daughter. I was unsettled and angry quite frankly that God would instruct this for His people. Then, all of a sudden, a light bulb went off. Duh!! these were not His commands at all. The Bible clearly says, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."

That's it. That's the message in all of this, really I think of the whole book. The people of God were not trusting God, loving, obeying, and teaching their children about God and His greatness and it was complete anarchy and unimaginable terrible chaos stemming from our sinful human nature. I'm sure this saddened, disheartened, and made the Lord mad and jealous, but I can't speak for Him.

Day 156 8-25

Continued study in Judges today. Read about Gideon and killing 1000 men with a jawbone from a donkey. The Bible says the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power...I'd say so!

Day 157 8-26

In the busyness of life, I hear You, I sense You, I crave You, and I'm sorry I don't always appropriately respond to your promptings. 

Questions that came to mind, overarching about Judges...

Who God is, character, etc in Judges?

What is the big picture/message of Judges?

Why is this book in the Bible?

Day 155 8-24

It was cool to read about Samson today. Samson's parents were faithful to God. They knew Scripture, believed, prayed, and obeyed. In there culture, they married within their own so when God had in His plan for Samson to go against this, they trusted God.

Day 154 8-23

Continued in Judges today. Read about the judges named Tola, Jair, and Jephthah in Judges 11 and 12. The story of Jephthah is an interesting, bizarre, and quite frankly tough one to read as he has to sacrifice his daughter's life.

Day 153 8-22

As the exercise prompted in Living by the Book, I read and took notes on the first 5 judges in the book of Judges noting their name, how many verses was written about them, what tribe of Israel he or she belonged to, and any other interesting thing that stuck out to me. I also read about Gideon and his wild and crazy battles. This was fun.

Day 152 8-21

Conviction about my TV watching came over me today during my quiet time. I am not going to watch TV in my room for a week. I spent 10 minutes reading yesterday during my quiet time and then a near 3 hours watching TV, which caused us to go to bed way to late. My priorities were off and the Lord let me know it deep inside. I felt a disturbance, like an honest hurt, almost like a jealousy from God and I was listening. I was looking forward to watching TV, delaying my QT or hurrying it up and that was flat wrong, but I am so glad the Lord made me recognize it before it had taken root and become a nasty habit. Mark and I hardly watch any TV and we don't really follow any shows. I think it is just that we are tired and it is a relaxing, zone out, at least for me. So, now I want to read more and have quiet in the house. 

We followed through with it tonight and it was awesome!

Day 151 8-20

Reading the book of Judges telescopically today. Read Judges 1-2. Joshua and the elders of that generation died. The next generation didn't follow God. Why??

Going to go deeper into Judges in the days to follow.

Day 150 8-19

Moving on in Living By the Book to chapter on Reading Telescopically. 

*The Bible is not simply a collection of parts. It is an integrated message in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. 

*Don't get caught reading fragments of the Bible and not relating it to the whole. Tie the author's message together in my mind. What's the big picture?

* Where does the book fit historically? Where does this book fit in the flow of the Bible?

* God is the God of history who works in and through real people in the real world to accomplish His purposes!

I am going to do the exercises provided for Judges in the Old Testament.

Day 149 8-18

Continued study of Numbers 13...

The men who went out on the spy mission told Moses the truth about the bountifulness of the land, but they were full of doubt and fear of the people and fortified cities, except for one guy, who boldly spoke up. Caleb's conscious kicked in and he interrupted their accurate, yet cowardly report. 

My own paraphrase of Caleb's speech (13:30)...

"Look, I know this looks like a no win situation with how big these guys are how smart they have constructed their cities, but God has already said this land is ours! We are His people! Knock it off. Cowboy up and let's figure out a plan to conquer them. Is is amazing land, flowing with milk and honey and all the resources we need. Let's go! Whose with me?"

Thanks Lord for honorable men like Caleb who do the right thing even when it is definitely not the popular thing to do. 

May my son grow up with these qualities.

Day 148 8-17

Beginning my study of Numbers 13 today and I'm excited...

Command: Explore the land of Canaan

Promise: Which I am giving you

Rounded up the best of the best of Israel.

Mission:  See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many? what kind of land do they live in? Is the land good or bad? trees? is the soil fertile or poor? is their fruit? if so, bring some back? what kind of towns are there? are they walled or fortified?

Doesn't seem like it was ever a question of should we conquer them or not, according to the original command. It was a military spy mission to see what their plan, angle, etc. tactics would be in order to defeat them as the Lord promised.

Why didn't the men have this mind-set? They explored for 40 days. I didn't realize this. I imagine they let fear took over.

Day 147 8-16

Continued in Living By the Book today in the chapter "Read Acquisitively." I liked the definition the author gave for "reading acquisitively": read not only to receive it, but to retain it; not merely to perceive it, put to possess it. 

So try my best to understand the Word, possess it, and apply it. 

Goal: see life change as a result of my personal interaction with God's Word. 

Another point I picked up in the chapter that stuck with me... marry the truth of the Word with my own interests and experience through personal engagement.

The "You Try It" Activity is to read Numbers 13, study it, and then paraphrase it using an interesting creative angle and then read it to someone.