"Have you never read the scriptures?"

When we started this adventure--reading the Bible in 90 Days--I wasn't at all sure that many would see the connections between what we were reading in the Old Testament and what is to follow. But bless my soul!  the connections just jump out!  Every week someone tells me about their new discoveries.  "Is THAT where that's from!"  We know that Jesus knew the Hebrew scriptures, and so did every other observant Jew, including all the New Testament writers.  When they tried to convey what it was they had heard and understood after Jesus' resurrection, of course they turned to the symbols and stories of their heritage.  It was the only way to make sense of it. 
When we read Psalm 118, one of the Hallel psalms that pilgrims to Jerusalem sang when they went up for Passover (starts tomorrow night!), we recognized immediately where we've heard this before: Matthew 21.42:  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.’"  Jesus told this to those who were questioning his authority, right before the Passover.

Now when someone asks you "Have you never read the scriptures?" you can answer, "Well ...as a matter of fact..."   
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.

I hope you are having a blessed Holy Week.

Dragging or flying?

OK, I know I haven't posted much about the Bible reading lately.  The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah are difficult reading, I know.  Are we dragging or flying?  I hope that by having just read the histories in Kings and Chronicles you will remember enough to place these characters.  The people and places are at least somewhat familiar, yes?
But more than that, I'm interested in paying attention to what happens to US as we read.  Can we sense the bigger picture?  What God is doing among our community?  I was wondering how much better we will understand when we finish.  If God is still speaking in our little church, just what is that about?  I'm convinced that God wants us to do great things, or small things in a great way.  Our sign minister, John Gibson, put it this way last week: Small things accomplished are better than big things planned [or something like that].

If this is the first time that you have ever read the Bible straight through, just think of what you will have accomplished come April 24, no small thing.

Halfway! we've come this far by faith...

With the finishing of Psalms, we're halfway through the Bible!  Until we come to the New Testament, there won't be much of a story line.   The Big Story is harder to follow now, and we have to keep reviewing those *** history charts for this to make sense.  But I was heartened to hear one person say how they are beginning to catch the story line of the whole thing:  Genesis to Revelation, God's big story of how the earth will be healed.

I know that some of you have deferred  or stopped your reading.  Getting this far (or how ever far you've gotten) is certainly an accomplishment in itself.  Don't forget--you have a lifetime to read the Bible, and a lifetime that God is still working on.  We all do.
Let Israel now say...if it hadn't been for the Lord on our side...