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So Many Books, So Little Time

Well, it’s many books, but it’s not really much time. We’ll finish six books and start two others in August, but we’ll do it at the same pace as we’ve been travelling throughout the year – three chapters each day, Monday through Friday.

I’ve had a number of conversations about reading through the Bible recently. It seems that many people have the misconception that they just can’t do it. “I’m not much of a reader,” is what I’ve been hearing.

The good news is that:

(1)  You don’t have to be much of a reader to read through the New Testament in a year. All it takes is reading one chapter each day, five days a week. Even if you are a slow reader, you can probably do that in less than ten minutes. Increase that time to thirty or forty minutes each weekday and you can follow our Resting at the River’s Edge schedule. Over a two year period, you’ll read through the entire Old Testament once and the New Testament twice.

(2)  There are many modern language translations available. You can check out different translations online. Read from several different versions. If you find one you like, head on over to ChristianBook.com and pick it up.

(3)  It’s the inspired Word of God. I confess – sometimes it doesn’t feel like it! But when it does, it’s magical! (That would be magical in the sense of “wow!” and “cool” and “how does God do that?”, not magical in the sense of sorcery of course).

Reading through the whole New Testament and/or the whole Bible pulls the story of God’s plan together in a way that isn’t grasped by reading less methodically. So even if you haven’t been reading along with us yet, I invite you to join us in August.

In August we’ll finish 1 & 2 Samuel – the story of David’s life. God called David a man after His own heart – that seems like reason enough to study his life. In the New Testament we’ll read Collossians, Philemon, and Hebrews. In the book of Hebrews we’ll read about how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that is taught in the Old Testament – He is our sacrificial lamb; His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sins; He is our great high priest. Mr. T used to say “I love it when a good plan comes together.” Hebrews pulls God’s plan together and spells it out for those of us who didn’t catch it on our own!

May God whisper in your ear as you read with us this month!

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of August’s recommended reading plan, click here.

From my last blog:

¹Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
1 Samuel 2, V1-2:

The first two verses of a ten verse song of worship and praise! After giving Samuel to the Lord, “then Hannah prayed and said: ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord.’” Wow!

OK – I know I wrote this two days ago. But I woke up this morning and what shouted in my brain was that Hannah prayed after giving her son to the Lord!

There is no record of a song of praise when Hannah became pregnant after being barren so many years. There is no record of her rejoicing when God gave her the desire of her heart. I don’t doubt that she did praise God when she became pregnant with Samuel, but I find it significant that we have no record in Scripture of that. Instead, what we have a record of is her ten-verse song of praise when she gives her son back to the Lord. That’s the nice way of saying it. The earthly reality is that she was giving her son, the one she had longed for, to someone else to raise – someone who had raised two sons who were acting wickedly before the Lord. From this point on, Hannah would see her son only once a year. And She praised God – she said “There is no one holy like the Lord, here is no one besides you, there is no Rock like our God.”

What an amazing perspective she had!

• She praised God that He had given her a son – instead of being angry that she had been given a son for such a short time.
• She praised God that He had enabled her to give Him an offering – instead of being angry that He accepted her offering.
• She praised God by faith for the future sons He would give her – instead of despairing that she may never have another son to hold in her arms.
• She praised God because He is sovereign – He is the God of all Gods and He is victorious over all.

Throughout this story of Hannah’s desire for a child, her promise to God that she would give her child back to Him, her making good on that promise and rejoicing while doing so has challenged me. I’ve reached an age when my parents’ generation is dying. Grieving is hard. And as the deaths pile up, it’s easy for there to be a drag on my spirit. I remember something my mother-in-law said as she lived into her eighties – that she knew more people who were dead than living. Hannah’s son wasn’t dead, but she was sacrificing the life she would have had with her son – that life was essentially dying as she gave Samuel to the Lord. And she sang her heart out in praise.

I am challenged that I hold too tightly to things of this world and I don’t trust (rest in) God’s sovereignty enough. Singing that praise doesn’t always come easily to me. Perhaps it didn’t come easily to Hannah, but there’s no indication of that.

Lord, Thank You for the people you’ve put in my life, whether for a short time or a long time. Help me to release all of them to You and rejoice at Your great power and goodness.

Our Resting at the River’s Edge reading of 1 Samuel 1 and 2 today has me wondering at Scripture. I don’t have fully formed thoughts yet, but I thought I’d share them with you. Sometimes incomplete thoughts cause our spirits to meditate on God’s Word to a deeper degree; sometimes the Holy Spirit uses them to spark something in us; sometimes they’re just musings that make you go “hmmm.”

2 Samuel 1:
V1-2: Elkanah (husband), 2 wives – Peninnah had children; Hannah had none and desperately wanted children

V3:“Year after year” – Elkanah was a faithful man; the story is not one of a single prayer, but of ongoing petitions before the Lord.

V3: Elkanah worshipped and sacrified “where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests” – Hophni and Phinehas were not righteous men; we learn later in the story that God used Samuel (the son that Hannah would have) to bring judgement against them – I love how the Lord works all the pieces of history together. I also find it interesting that Eli, who had raised 2 evil sons, was given the honor of raising Samuel – a man of humility and righteousness. Our God is so “the God of second chances!”

V4-8: Hannah longed for a child; not only did she have to bear the pain of life-long dreams unfulfilled, she had to endure the constant taunting from Peninnah.

V5-6: The phrase “The Lord had closed her womb” appears twice – it was not because of Hannah’s failings or sin that she was childless; it was the Lord’s decision – He was waiting until the timing was right for the accomplishment of His plans – Our lives are a working out of the Lord’s plans, not ours and not ours to direct.

V9-11: Hannah wept bitterly – this is a deep pain she is experiencing.

V9-11: She makes a vow that if God would give her a child, she would give the child back to God – I think God often waits for this moment in a person’s life to bless them – when they reach the point of giving all their hopes and dreams to Him.

V12-16: Hannah’s crying out to the Lord is so demonstrable that Eli thinks she is drunk – When we cry out to the Lord in anguish, it isn’t always pretty and respectable looking – and that’s OK! Sometimes we will look like a fool for the Lord and our focus ought to be on the Lord, not on how we look before others. Had Hannah not cried out to the Lord with all her heart because she was more concerned about what others would think, would God have responded at that time?

V17: Eli blesses Hannah – he accepts her story and changes his tone from rebuke to blessing (we ought to be willing to change our perspective so easily when we learn the truth)

V18: Hannah “went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” Being in the presence of the Lord and receiving a blessing from the priest (or pastor) changes us – relieves our burdens, brings peace

V19a: “Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah.” They had a long trip ahead of them, but they first worshipped the Lord. (How often do I have a long trip (or busy day) ahead of me and instead of worshipping the Lord jump right into it?)

V19b: “Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.” I love the phrase “The Lord remembered her” – Lord, remember me!

V20: Hannah has a child and names him Samuel, which means “Remembered of the Lord” (I wonder if there’s a feminine version of this name? I’d sure like to have it! )

V21-23: Hannah raises the child until he is weaned. I’ve not done the research, but have heard preachers say that she probably raised him until he was at least 5 or 6 years old. There’s evidence in the verses that follow that Samuel wasn’t an infant when he was weaned. The point is Hannah had Samuel for several years at least.

V24-28: Hannah gives Samuel back to the Lord. How difficult this must have been! The desire of her heart, her lifelong dream – giving the dream (her son) back to the Lord – knowing that she would only enjoy him once a year and was seemingly giving him to another person to nurture and grow. She knew she was giving Him to the Lord, not Eli, but how very difficult this must have been – yet I see no evidence of remorse. Wow!

V28: “And he (Samuel) worshiped the Lord there.” Samuel was obviously old enough to have a basic understanding of worshiping the Lord. What must have been going through Samuel’s mind at this time? One would think hurt and pain at his mother abandoning him, but again Scripture gives no evidence of this – Samuel worshiped the Lord. God’s plan for us is sometimes painful, but it brings peace.

Chapter 2, V1-2:

¹Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

The first two verses of a ten verse song of worship and praise! After giving Samuel to the Lord, “then Hannah prayed and said: ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord.’” Wow!

What jumps out at you as you read this compelling story? What is God speaking to your heart? For me, the overriding themes are:

• The faithfulness and lifestyle of worship of Elkanah and Hannah while living a life of ups and downs – spending years with their deepest desire remaining unfulfilled, releasing the dream to God, then seeing it fulfilled and joyfully releasing the fulfillment of the dream back to God again. Wow!
• The providence of God – acting throughout our life to fulfill His purposes. I so love that about him!

Kings & Treasures

Resting at the River’s Edge is a Bible reading plan that many of the Apprehending Grace readers are following. Following the plan in 2010 and 2011, we will read through the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once. Typically one or two of my blogs in any given week follow along in our reading. If you’re a new reader at ApprehendingGrace.com, please don’t hesitate to jump in mid-stream – or better yet, don’t hesitate to pause by the stream and rest at the river’s edge with us each day.

The month of July will find us reading in five books:

Psalms
1 Samuel
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
Philippians

I have thoroughly been enjoying my time in Psalms and hope you have as well. In July, we’ll finish the first book of Psalms, reading through Psalm 41.

We’ll then read 1 Samuel through the rise and fall of King Saul, the anointing of David as King, and King Saul pursuing David to kill him. It’s a compelling story that I look forward to reading and blogging about.

In the new Testament, we’ll read three of Paul’s letters: 2 Corinthians, Ephesians and Philippians. I’m confident you’ll enjoy all three books.Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:7-8

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesiahs 1:3-6 (it goes on and I want to quote the whole chapter, but you’ll have to read it on your own, no space here!)

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 (this is the passage on which I base my blog, www.ApprehendingGrace.com)

It’s going to be a great month of reading. Don’t lose momentum during the summer months – consider them not just holiday months, but holy-day months.

Be blessed as you read in July! I pray that God’s Word comes alive in a new and precious way.

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of July’s recommended reading plan, click here.

This week, churches in our community have participated in a 24/7 prayer vigil. Each evening there were times of worship led by different churches. During one of the meetings, as a song ended quietly, the worship leader whispered “We need you, Jesus. We are desperate for you.”

The words that immediately popped into my head were “It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening. It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening. Exuberant praise is good and fun. Loud declarations based on My Word are important for building your faith and shattering the enemy’s camp. But it’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening.”

As I thought about that for awhile, an image came to my mind of the parent who takes the face of their active child, holds it between both hands and looks directly into it, eye to eye, to get and keep the child’s attention. The parent isn’t yelling to make himself or herself heard. He is waiting for the child to be quiet and listen. “It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening.” I think God wants to take our face in His hands at times, turn our heads so that we are looking directly at Him, and then wait for us to be quiet so He can clearly communicate something to us. Something important. Something He wants us to understand and remember. Something very special because He wants to be sure He has our attention before He tells us.

Today a verse in Isaiah 30 reminded me of God’s Words from earlier in the week:

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
Isaiah 30:15 (NIV)

God tells the Israelites that it is in repentance and REST that they find their salvation – not in activity and loud praise. He tells them that their strength is in quietness and trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) How much easier to lean on our own understanding than to trust God! (But that’s the subject of a blog that should appear next week.)

Rest…quietness…trust – words that all speak of a calm faith. That’s the kind of faith I want to live.

I love loud worship. Let me repeat that. I LOVE LOUD worship. And I firmly believe that my God is worthy of way more celebration than should ever occur for our favorite sports team (sorry sports fans). Yet I can’t help wondering – how many messages from God do we miss because we are celebrating and not resting in quietness?

Lord, teach us to wait on You in quiet faith, trusting that You will speak when You know we’re listening.

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:9b, 10b

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
          1 Samuel 8:19-20 (NIV)

As I read these verses, it struck me that most of our problems stem from wanting to be “like all the other” ______ – you fill in the blank – like all the other people; like all the other parents; like all the other kids at school; like all the other states; like all the other nations.

If you are reading through Samuel, as we are during our Resting at the River’s Edge reading, you would have seen that the Israelites had asked Samuel to appoint a king. Samuel was grieved and took his concern to the Lord. The Lord very pointedly replied to Samuel:

“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
          1 Samuel 8:7a

The Israelites request for a king is really their acting out of their rejection of God as their king. And what reason did they give? They wanted to be “like all the other nations.” Not only were they rejecting God as their king, they were rejecting God’s Kingship in their lives. They no longer wanted to follow His pattern for life, but the pattern of the sinful nations around them.

I wonder how often are we like these Israelites? As adults, it is easy to see it in our children. How strongly they want to shake off parental instruction and “be like all the other” kids! Of course, our children don’t see it that way.

Well, my friend, you and I are just like our children! We chafe and rebel at the instructions God has given us for life and we say “I want to ‘be like all the other’ people.” We want to share in their leisure activities. We want to watch the same television programs (how else will we have anything to talk about with our coworkers?). We want to eat their food and drink their beverages. We want to rule our own lives as they do. Is there anything wrong with their leisure activities, their television programs, their food and drink, their lives? Maybe, maybe not. What is wrong is our attitude.

We have such a deep-seated desire (need, actually) for community that we are willing to remove ourselves from under God’s Lordship and put ourselves under the authority of Satan just so we can “be like” those around us. That need occurs at the very depth of our being – it was put there by God, who lives in community within the Trinity. It was put there by God, who knows our need so well that He sets the lonely in families (Psalms 68:6). It was put there by God who established the Church to serve as our earthly community.

But mostly it was put there by God so that we would seek Him. It is our sinful nature that has perverted what God has put in us so that we seek community among the pagan nations around us instead of with God and His family. Friend, let us desire “to be like” the One who created us and knows us, our wants, desires and needs better than anyone, even better than we know ourselves. Let us desire “to be like” those around us who love God, not those who love the world. And let us use that God-given desire for community as the impetus that causes us to reach out to those who are not yet a part of our community. They need community, too. Let’s help them find it in God.

Reading about Kings and Churches…

If I were to break the Israelites history into major segments, it would look something like this:

• The Years of the Patriarchs: Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Genesis)
• The “Moses Years” (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy)
• Moving into the Promised Land (Joshua)
• Period of the Judges (Judges, part of 1 Samuel)
• Period of the Kings (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, most of the prophets)
• After the Captivity (Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther, Malachi)

In June our Resting at the River’s Edge reading plan has us leaving the period of the Judges and moving into the period of the kings as we read 1^st and 2^nd Samuel. First Samuel begins with the grief of a woman who has been unable to bear children and ends with the death of Israel’s first king, Saul. Second Samuel begins with David learning of Saul’s death and carries us through most of David’s Kingship.

 A study of the life of David has been rich food for Christians for 2,000 years. There is much we can learn from the life of this key figure of the Old Testament.

Have you ever been to a church that had problems? I mean real problems? The church in Corinth was messed up six ways to Sunday, but Paul still found some good things to say about them. This month in Resting at the River’s Edge, we’ll dive into Paul’s two letters to the Corinthian church. Read along with us as we watch how this master church planter tries to straighten out this can of worms.

Enjoy!

To download a PDF of June’s reading schedule, click here.

Enjoy your time at the river’s edge this month!