The Bible in 90 Days #29 - 35

Day 29 – Right in the middle of  the “lists” in the first several chapters of I Chronicles, I came across some familiar verses to me – The Prayer of Jabez – in I Chronicles 4:9-10.  Back in my days as a Designer with (the company formerly known as) Home & Garden Party, I used to pray this pray quite often (as well as selling a lovely print that had these verses on it). 

Verse 10 => Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

I’m curious of the significance of these verses.  Jabez must have really stood out to God, in order to gain a place of prominence in the middle of these verses that contain genealogy listings only.

Day 30 – Today I found it significant that I Chronicles 16 contained what is titled David’s Psalm of Thanks.  In other words, this is the first psalm of David that we read in Scripture – and I read it on the  very day that I ordered Sight & Sound tickets for the kids, my mom, and me to go see Psalms of David. 

The coolest thing --- I just counted ahead to the date that we’ve got the tickets for (August 11th), and we’ll be smack dab in the middle of our reading through the book of Psalms.  Isn’t God neat the way He orchestrates things?  His timing is always perfect (a lesson not easily learned).

Day 31 – The thing that really stood out to me in today’s reading (since most of it was a repeat of things previously read in Kings), was the repeated use of this phrase =>

He is  good; his love endures forever.

It reminds me of the song “Forever” by Chris Tomlin =>

Day 32 – Here are some verses that I wanted to share from today’s reading =>

Johoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.  ~II Chron. 21:20 {emphasis mine}

I realize that Jehoram was an evil king; but those words (bolded above) just really stood out to me and made me think.  Wouldn’t it be awful to pass away and have nobody who would mourn for you? 

Day 33 – What struck me the most in today’s reading was a contrast =>

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. ~II Chron. 26:16

This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before  the Lord his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. ~II Chron. 31:20-21

Very applicable to me today.  What do I want to have said about me?  Which of the above has more appeal? 

Day 34 – As I was finishing up II Chronicles, I was thinking, again, how out of order (chronologically) the Bible is.  At the end of II Chronicles, you read about the Babylonian captivity.  This is fresh on my mind because our adult SS class just started a study on the book of Daniel. 

Knowing that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful . . . and that our God is a God of order, not chaos, I know there is a reason why He put the Bible together in the order He did.  Me personally, though, I’d much prefer to read the account straight through from beginning to end (hence the reason why this homeschool mom LOVES The Mystery of History!)  I’m not much of a timeline person, but as I’m reading this O.T. accounts, I’d love to have a timeline in front of me to refer to (much like looking at a map or atlas for directions from point A to point B). 

Day 35 – Today’s reading was the entire book of Nehemiah.  I wondered who the author of the book was, since some of the book is written in the first person, while the rest is in 3rd person.  I did a bit of research, only to discover that the author of both Ezra and Nehemiah is unknown. 

Five weeks of Bible reading complete!  I remain amazed at how easy it has been to keep up with this reading schedule – and know it’s a God-thing, for sure!  If you’d like to read more accounts of participants’ reading this week, go to Mom’s Toolbox.  Speaking of Mom’s Toolbox, this seems an appropriate time to say THANK YOU to Amy for overseeing this amazing project and for being such a great encourager!  What a blessing!