My Devotions

I thought that readers might be interested in knowing what is happening in my devotions lately. I read through the Bible every year from start to finish. My reading year does not start in January, but on the day after I finish the previous reading. It is usually late Spring. I keep a running history of each date that I complete the task in the fly of my Bible so that I stay on track annually and can count the times I have read the Bible. My goal is to read the Bible through (not including sermon study) as many times as I am years alive. Due to my childhood, I am still behind. I also use a tool in my computer Bible program to chart my progress each year. This year I am allowing myself a bit of adjustment by occasionally throwing in a N.T. book as I read through the Old Testament.

I just finished Joshua and have read two gospels and two epistles in the mix.

Here are some observations this time through:
1. Since the Israelites were about 600,000 men in the desert I figure that makes about 2.2 million people. The A/G in the U.S. is about that same size. When I think about all the relational connections in the A/G I am amazed. When I carefully follow the names and relations in the nation of Israel it is very similar. It is amazing how interconnected two million people can be.
2. It was amazing to me that Moses taught the Law to a second generation in Deuteronomy chapter one. There is such a generational gap in our modern church culture. The relatively young seem so disconnected from the relatively, "more mature." What favor from God must have been on Moses to not only lead his generation, but the next generation as well.
3. God told Israel to "send spies." The job of a spy seems to be a lot of things, none of which line up with the boring, Mr. Rogers style persona that we seem to always put forth as a model masculine Christian Life (or should I say lack of masculine?).
4. It seems more and more to me, that the wording in the New Testament is taken from the Old Testament. Compare Gen. 18:14 with Luke 1:37. The phrases are almost exactly the same, in almost the same context, God announcing an impossible conception of a child. The skeptics will view these similarities saying the New Testament is a hoax, a new story told with old lingo to make it sound credible. The believer will see the hand of God in the writing (2 Peter 1:21).

Let's read the Word.