Great Passages of the Bible
Welcome to the first of a series of essays on our bible readings for the year. I’m very excited you’re joining us on this adventure. Reading the Bible can sometimes feel intimidating, I think. It’s a strange and ancient book. Most of us are used to reading the newspaper, or web sites, maybe some magazines or contemporary novels. But the rhythm and organization of the Bible are quite different than our other daily reading. It can all seem kind of foreign.
So in these first two weeks, we’re going to read really familiar passages from the bible. Hopefully this will give you the chance to page through and review a bit, get used to the feel of finding where you want to go and what you want to read. I hope it is also simply a fun exercise. One great spiritual practice is to return to familiar things, with new eyes. Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, for example, we can discover something new about it, some new way it speaks to us and helps us pray in a way we didn’t realize previously.
But before I spend some time reviewing the list of famous passages, I thought I’d write just a little bit about the bible, for our review and study. The Bible is actually more like a library than a book. Each “book” in the Bible is unique, and they serve different purposes. For example: Leviticus is a lawbook; reading it is like reading the state code of Wisconsin, or the United State constitution. First and 2nd Kings, on the other hand, are history and narrative. Reading it is like reading a book like “The History of the United States of America.” We could keep going… Psalms is a collection of prayers and songs. Proverbs is a book of wisdom sayings, like Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and other books by Paul are all letters. Song of Songs is a book of love poetry.
You get the point. Each book that you read needs to be approached according to its own genre. It is helpful to know what kind of thing you are reading when you read it. If you mistake a song for a letter, you won’t read it correctly.
This is why reading this year using some kind of study bible can be helpful to you. A good study bible will include an introduction that helps you get the general idea of each book, plus extra comments through the chapters and verses that explain things that may be difficult to understand without commentary or historical context.
Also, the Bible was created over time. Some of the earliest books of the Old Testament are over 3500 years old (many scholars think Job is the oldest book). The last books of the Bible are probably only 1900 years old, written around 100 AD. That’s a span of 1600 years! This means that many parts of the Old Testament are in Hebrew, and a very ancient form of it. On the other hand, the New Testament was mostly written in a Greek speaking context. So the Bible is not only made up of different genres, it also was originally written in a variety of languages, and then translated for our reading into English.
So, all of this might make it sound like the Bible is difficult, and only for experts. But the amazing thing about God’s Word is that it speaks to us regardless of our background or knowledge. If we read the Bible waiting for God to speak to us, God will. We don’t have to read it like a scholar, just to get information. We can read it devotionally, like looking into a mirror that tells us a truth about our life.
I encourage all of us to read the Bible primarily in this second way. When you read each daily lesson, try to read it as God’s personal word to you. God wants to say something to you. What is it?
You might find it useful to use to the S.O.A.P. model to reflect devotionally on each reading. You can highlight one passage of Scripture that is important to you, then make an Observation about it, find a way to Apply that observation to your life, and then write a brief Prayer saying how you’d like God to help you in the application. Consider picking up a notebook or some writing pad where you can write these daily Life Journals using the S.O.A.P. model. I think that you’ll quickly discover that you will hear God’s Word more clearly as a personal word to you if you take up this practice.
One last pastoral note: I’m on this journey with you. I’m going to be taking personal time each day to do these devotions, and throughout the year, I’ll be visiting small groups to hear how the process is going. My goal will be to wake up each morning, let God’s Word be the first word, and then write my Life Journal. So may God bless our journey together of dwelling in God’s Word.
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Now a few notes on the readings for this two week period. Psalm 121 is a psalm that is often read at funerals. It is a pilgrimage psalm, which means it is prayed while traveling, either on a physical or spiritual journey. We pray it at funerals because we believe that at death, a person has completed their baptismal journey, and now rests with Christ- God is keeping their life, which is what the psalm says. Psalm 23 is a similar word of comfort to those on a difficult journey. “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.”
When we get to Exodus, we switch genres. This also is a word for a people on a journey. It’s God’s set of 10 commandments to the Israelites as they travel from Egypt to the promised land.
John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13 are quite familiar. You see John 3:16 at football games and overpasses, and lots of us memorized the verse in Sunday school. 1 Corinthians 13 is the great wedding verse on love. It’s one of those chapters that should be read sometimes in context- read chapter 12 preceding it to get a sense of the kind of love Paul is writing about in the letter.
Next we get into some great biblical stories. 1 Samuel 17 is David and Goliath. Ezekiel 37 is the valley of dry bones. Daniel 6 is, you guessed it, Daniel in the Lion’s den. Jonah 1 is Jonah in the belly of the whale.
Then, we read three great passages from the gospels. Matthew 5 are the Beatitudes. Luke 22 is the Last Supper in the upper room. John 13 is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Acts 2 is the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Finally, Psalm 65, though possibly not as familiar, rounds things out with a psalm celebrating everything that God has created. It’s a great psalm!
What an awesome set of readings! How glorious is the Word of God. I hope by the time you finish reading this, you will be excited for the journey ahead of you, as you dig deeply into Scripture, wrestle with it, pray it, and live it. I hope it becomes the first and last word for us, shaping all the other words that we speak and live each day.
Let us pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen Psalm 19:14
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