Coming Next – The Twelve

Starting tomorrow we move from the major prophets to the minor prophets. In the Hebrew Bible the 12 minor prophets are grouped together as one collection or book. Individually they may be shorter in length than the major prophets, but they still pack a punch! If this is totally unfamiliar territory, then enjoy each book [...]

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Rich Reading – Isaiah

Isaiah was no slouch when it came to writing a book of prophecy.  Perhaps you’ve found it overwhelming?  Great chunks of judgment against the other nations, or lengthy descriptions of a time that you don’t recognize or know when he is describing.  At the same time there are some really familiar passages that you hear [...]

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Shorter Books, Good Opportunity

Just a quick thought.  When you have a shorter book to read, it is a good opportunity to read through in one sitting.  I just read through 1Peter in just over ten minutes.  It’s a blessing to get a feel for the whole, rather than just getting snippets each time.  2Peter is shorter, and Jude [...]

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Joshua: A Tale of Two Halves?

Joshua is an intriguing book.  Right now we’re in the midst of exciting narratives – Jericho yesterday, Achan and Ai today, the sun standing still tomorrow (actually I think the sun’s stood still somewhere else this week, because we haven’t seen it!) But then comes the second half of the book.  A lot of it [...]

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How Does Numbers Make You Feel?

It’s a strange book in some ways, isn’t it.  Obviously there are the long lists of numbers, of course, but beyond that.  You get interesting individual stories with some real highlights along the way, but also some heavy clouds too.  There’s the beauty of the Aaronic blessing; there’s the twelve men went to spy in [...]

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The Big Question – Again

If the big question is whether people will trust God or not, then the big context is illustrated clearly in today’s Old Testament passage.  That is, will people trust God when the majority do not?  Caleb and Joshua are an inspiration by their faith.  But it’s even more amazing when the majority opinion was so [...]

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The Big Question in Every Age

Is really this, will people trust God or not? Will they have faith in Him or not? Will we? Consider the two passages for today, for example. Coincidentally we have Leviticus 17 and Hebrews 11 on the same day. Hebrews 11 presents example after example of people of faith who lived in the present in [...]

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Compare and Contrast

I’ve had to do one or two exams over the years.  Exams tend to imprint certain phrases in your subconscious – “You may begin,” or “stop writing, please.”  And then there are the questions.  Perhaps it was just a fad in the mid-nineties, but I seemed to always read “compare and contrast…” somewhere on the [...]

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Identifying With Characters

When we read “narrative” – that is, story – we naturally find ourselves identifying with some characters, and perhaps distancing ourselves from others. We do the same thing when we watch films or TV shows too. There’s nothing wrong with that, whether it is a fictional story (like a film), or an inspired account of [...]

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Early Exodus

If Genesis laid the foundations for our understanding of God, Exodus builds our understanding.  In these early chapters we’re seeing God remaining faithful to His promises and to His people (notice how he refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the ones to whom He kept restating His great promise [...]

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Don’t Say Goodbye to Genesis

We’ll soon be finishing up Genesis and heading into Exodus.  It’s been an interesting start to the year with lots of familiar stories and fresh details standing out.  Perhaps we should have started in a really tough book to take advantage of that initial January motivation!  But really there is no other place to start [...]

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Another “List” is Coming – Genesis 36

When you get to tomorrow on the schedule, you’ll see another chapter that is mainly names of people and places. It’s the descendants of Esau in Genesis 36. I suspect this is not a chapter you’ll be tempted to study in depth (but please don’t let me put you off!) Why is it there? It’s [...]

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Jesus Isn’t Superficial

My goal in “text tidbits” is not to provide a running commentary, nor to give information that you might feel you need to read before reading the text.  The Bible text stands up perfectly well without my help.  So in text tidbits I want to just mention brief observations relating to current reading in order [...]

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War of the Words

Ever since the beginning, everything seems to be about words in conflict.  After all, God’s creation was all good, until a little conversation in chapter 3.  What was the core of that conversation? “Did God really say?” The serpent questioned God’s words, and questioned whether or not those words could be trusted.  He offered an [...]

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What Kind of Posts?

So what kind of posts will appear on this site?  Book introductions will come at the right time, as well as timely encouragements related to where we are at in the reading plan.  Sometimes I’ll pull in testimony from reader comments to encourage us all.  Finally, I don’t plan to write a commentary on here, [...]

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