Week of January 30

Day 1        Job 25-28
Day 2        Job 29-32
Day 3        Job 33-36
Day 4        Job 37:1-40:5, Psalm 19
Day 5        Job 40:6-42:17, Psalm 29
Day 6        Exodus 1-4

Some thoughts and questions for this week:

1. We hit on this a bit in Sunday School this week, but as you get to the end of Job, pay close attention to what God tells Job about his place in the world, his understanding of God's plan and creation, and his right to question God's judgment.  Note that God does this in a stern but loving manner, allowing Job to repent and restoring his prosperity.
2. As we transition from Job to Exodus, we move from the story of one of God's children to the story of God's Chosen People, from individual to nation.  One thing that doesn't change is the window we have into God's sovereignty and His plan for the world.  As with Genesis, don't look to the characters in Exodus as great moral examples unless the text specifically says so.  Remember that while Exodus has lots of people in it, it is ultimately about God.  Ask yourself what Exodus is saying about God. Watch for the ways that God uses both His children and His enemies to accomplish His purposes.  

I'll add more questions later in the week.  Happy reading and may God richly bless our study of His word.

Week of January 23





Day 1       Job 1-5
Day 2       Job 6-9
Day 3       Job 10-13
Day 4       Job 14-17
Day 5       Job 18-21
Day 6       Job 22-24


Questions and Thoughts for the Week

Keep two primary questions in mind as you read Job:

1. Does Job love God for who He is or for what He does for him? Much of the story of Job centers around this question. Ask it of yourself. Do you love God for being God or do you love Him because He gives you things?  How will your personal answer to this question affect your opinion of God during hard times?

2. Where does true wisdom lie? As the reader, we are in on the setup from the beginning – that is, we know why things are happening to Job. Job and his friends, on the other hand, have no idea of the debate between God and Satan; they are just using their human senses and wisdom in an effort to make sense of Job’s misfortune. Many of the arguments made by Job’s friends are ones that we still hear today when something bad happens to someone.  Note the danger of relying on human wisdom to interpret life's events.

Other questions/thoughts:

1. Do you think it is fair that Job gets used as something of a guinea pig in a cosmic experiment?  Why or why not?
2. Some have suggested that Job may have been a fictional character that was simply used to illustrate a point (kind of like characters in Jesus' parables). Would the story of Job be less upsetting if he was fictional?
3. Does God have a responsibility to insulate the righteous (not sinless, just saved) from pain? Since Job is not being punished for wrongdoing, is the pain that God allows Satan to inflict upon him unfair?
4. The frankness of Job. Job is very blunt when speaking to God about his situation and anguish over it. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything and doesn’t restrain his comments. Do you think that God appreciates this honest line of communication or is He just indulging a creature He loves? Do you have honest talks with God? How often? Is there any point in hiding your true feelings (good or bad) from God? Why or why not?

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Week of January 16


Day 1       Genesis 30-33
Day 2       Genesis 34-37
Day 3       Genesis 38-40
Day 4       Genesis 41-43
Day 5       Genesis 44-46
Day 6       Genesis 47-50

Well, we will be finishing Genesis this week.  I hope everyone is getting as much out of this as Jen and I.  Here are some things to consider this week as you read (I'll be adding more during the week):

1. Difficult stories.  There are some disturbing stories in Genesis.  Women, in particular, often get treated badly.  For example, the story of Dinah's (Jacob's daughter) rape and Jacob's subsequent negotiation for her marriage to the rapist just baffles me.  Put yourself in Jacob's position. How could a father do that?

2. Polygamy.  Polygamy is common in Genesis and we see multiple accounts of infertile wives having their husbands sleep with their maidservants to produce children.  Why was polygamy commonplace then?  Why didn't God condemn it?  Is it okay to have more than one wife?  Why or why not?

3.  God's sovereignty.  In the story of Joseph, his brothers betray him by selling him into slavery.  Yet, as you'll see, God uses this horrible act to save entire nations of people.  Years later, Joseph himself tells his brothers that he doesn't hold a grudge against them and that he realizes that it was God's plan for him to be sold into slavery.  Stories like this can remind us that in difficult times, we have to have faith in God's plan, that he will bring about good things from bad things. Sometimes it's hard for us to see the forest for the trees, but God sees everything.

4.  Common mistakes in reading Genesis and other narrative/history books in the Bible.  This advice comes from How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart (very good book!).

• Old testament narratives/history books are not allegories or stories filled with hidden meanings.  There may be aspects of some individual stories that are hard to understand, but you should assume that they had meaning for their original hearers.
• Individual Old Testament stories are not meant to teach moral lessons unless they explicitly say so.  The purpose of the stories is to tell what God did in the history of humankind, especially Israel, not to offer examples of right or wrong behavior.  You might note in Jacob and Esau's story the negative impact of parents playing favorites, but that is not the point of the story. The main point is to tell us how Abraham's line was carried on through Jacob, not Esau.  Similarly, the story of Dinah that I referenced above is not an example of how fathers should treat their daughters.

Week of January 9

Week 2

Day 1       Genesis 12-13
Day 2       Genesis 14-16
Day 3       Genesis 17-19
Day 4       Genesis 20-23
Day 5       Genesis 24-26
Day 6       Genesis 27-29

Some questions to consider while reading:
1.  God chose Abram/Abraham to be the founder of the nation of Israel, through which He would bless the world.  Abraham, however, was far from perfect.  What do consider his strengths and weaknesses?

2. In Chapter 18, God appears to have limited knowledge of the situation at Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, "[20] Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, [21] I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”  Why wouldn't God already have full knowledge of this situation?  Is this just a figure of speech?

3. Jacob, among other things, lied and cheated to get what he wanted.  Why do you think God chose to do so many things through Jacob?  Why not Esau? Does the fact that God uses (and loves) extremely flawed people to accomplish His purposes encourage you? Does it offend your sense of justice?

4. There are a number of parallels between the way that Isaac obtains his wife and the way that Jacob obtains his wives.  What are the similarities and differences in their situations?

5.  Walk a mile in Leah's shoes.  She was the ugly duckling while her sister, Rachel was beautiful.  She had "weak eyes" - probably poor vision or perhaps blindness.  Worst of all, she never really seemed to be loved by Jacob in the way that he loved Rachel; Leah was always second fiddle.  Have you ever felt this way? Note how God has compassion for the unloved.

Week of January 2

Welcome to the first week of Bible In A Year.  I hope everyone will use this opportunity to deepen their knowledge of God's word and, in the process, grow closer to Him.  Every week I will post the scriptures we are scheduled to read.  Just add your opinions, questions, etc., as a comment to the weekly reading assignment.

Here are this week's scriptures:

Day 1
Genesis 1-2
Day 2
John 1:1-3; Psalm 8; 104
Day 3
Genesis 3-5; Proverbs 8
Day 4
Genesis 6-7
Day 5
Genesis 8-9; Psalm 12
Day 6
Genesis 10 - 11