Day Six: Bigger Picture
There is a suggested way to do the reading every day in the One Year Bible I am reading...to do the Old Testament chunk in the morning and then the rest in the evening.
I'm going to try that today, because I've noticed that the Old Testament chunk is so much bigger than the rest... I read the OT in detail (because it's so new to me) so I end up sorta skimming the New Testament/Psalm (because it's familiar to me and by then I've exhausted my careful reading capacity). And as I am still sick at home today, I have the opportunity for more quiet time to experiment with this approach.
Isaiah 45:11-48:11
A.M.
After writing yesterday I realized how self-centered I had been while reading... reflecting on my own circumstances and trying to glean something for myself from the Scriptures.
Not that God doesn't speak to me through the Scriptures and not that the things I've been hearing Him say to me aren't very important...but there's A LOT going on in the world right now and every day I come to the Bible looking for answers for me and my insecurity, restlessness, and feelings of purpose-less-ness. And I keep hearing God saying things like "I've got this" "I have everything figured out" "I know you better than you know yourself" "I already have a plan"
So what if today, instead of asking God to repeat Himself for me (because I know He would) I just decided to believe Him and read the Bible eager to get some perspective on the bigger picture of what God is doing in this world, and not only in my life.
It's like I've been covering my eyes and focusing on what I could see through the cracks and God lifted my hands a little bit, "There's a bigger picture...do you want to see more?"
I do. So today I'm reading a little less focused on myself, hopefully. And maybe...it just might even help me feel less insecure, restless, and purposeless!
I'm not promising that I won't go back to reading the Bible desperately trying to glean answers for only myself as early as maybe even tomorrow! But today this is my goal.
I feel like Isaiah is getting away from me. There are lots of good lines in here but reading in pieces has made me lose sight of the full picture. I don't feel like I know who Isaiah is talking to anymore...I think I'm taking everything out of context. I'm probably going to need to go back after reading it through this way once and see a clearer outline of the book and probably read some commentaries. Because I'm a little lost.
It seems clear though that it is so important to Him that Israel, and the world, knows that He alone is God. God is jealous, just, and has righteous anger. When we want to look to God as being loving, accepting and patient maybe these other characteristics could be confusing. But He is all of these things. He is love and He is God.
"How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another" (Is. 48:11).
He is God, God alone, and He is the only One who deserves our praise and adoration, our worship and our devotion. And if we are worshipping anyone or anything else we are hurting ourselves! God is loving.
Ephesians 4:1-16
Psalm 68:19-35
Proverbs 24:3-4
P.M.
On a day where I felt rather helpless, pathetic, and lazy...sitting at home sick with nothing to do but again "borrow trouble" wondering where the heck God is leading me! Where are we going!? This evening reading has encouraged me, as a worship leader, as a believer, as a human being.
God is always doing something worthy of praising Him. Maybe sometimes it feels like an effort to believe: but God is always good. God is always good. Sing, sing, sing.
Note to self: I think it's good to read in the morning and the evening if I can...but as far as this blogging goes, I should just do it all in one sitting rather than divide it up...I tried to cover too many topics that came onto my heart during the reading and its better to do one idea justice than skim over a multitude)
Next time, if you're gonna read twice. Read the whole thing in the morning and the whole thing again in the evening.