Encounter the Bible

Welcome to Week 1 of Proverbs!  Like Job, this book focuses on wisdom and wise living.  As you begin reading, you will notice that chapters 1-9 are different in style than chapters 10-11.  The first nine chapters develop the theme and importance of wisdom.  If you're not convinced of the need for wisdom and wise living, why would you pay attention to the upcoming proverbs?  Beginning in chapter 10, we encounter the proverbs of Solomon: short statements (couplets) where the second line essentially restates the first line. This can be difficult reading, especially if you're not much of a poet or enjoy reading poetry.  If you love poetry, you'll probably read these chapters multiple times! Take some time to reflect on all the proverbs.  As with all poetry, there are meanings on multiple levels.  What is God speaking to you through these chapters? Enjoy your reading!  Please share your reflections and questions.  Be sure to use the guiding q...

Welcome to Week 7 of Psalms!  This week we finish our trek through the psalter.  Along the way we've encountered psalms of praise, royal psalms, history psalms, psalms of ascent, psalms of lament, and more!  One of the beauties of the psalter is that these psalms give voice to many of the things we are experiencing but cannot put into words ourselves.  Oftentimes the words of the psalms can become our prayers before God. Our readings begin with the last 6 psalms of ascent, the songs sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to worship in Jerusalem.  Psalms 136-137 create a contrast through the repeated phrase of "His love endures forever" in Psalm 136 to the lament of "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept..." in Psalm 137.  Why are those two psalms placed next to each other? As the psalter ends, the last 7 psalms begin with words of praise to God (all but one start with "Praise the LORD").  The climax of that praise is in Psalm 150 when God receives pra...

Welcome to Week 6 of Psalms!  There is no particular sequence in the psalms, although there are groupings of psalms, like the one we will encounter this week.  It's like reading a book of poetry; some poems connect and others don't, but they're all contained within the same collection.   Just to highlight a few of the psalms this week:  1) Psalm 107 is a psalm of thanks that recounts some of Israel's history. 2) Psalm 117 is the shortest of the psalms. 3) Psalm 118 is a psalm associated with Passover. 4) Psalms 113-118 are called the Hallel psalms and were sung each morning by the temple choir during Jewish festivals. 5) Psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms. It contains 22 stanzas of 8 verses each. Each stanza is named for a letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each verse in that stanza begins with a word that begins with that letter from the Hebrew alphabet. For example, verses 1-8 all begin with the Hebrew letter aleph. Additionally, every verse conta...

Welcome to Week 5 of Psalms!  You may recall that we did 4 weeks of Psalms last spring, so we pick up where we left off almost a year ago.   The collection of Psalms is broken down into 5 books.  Many suggest that the 5 books of the Psalms is modeled after the 5 books of the Torah.  This week, we finish Book 3 and cover all of Book 4 (the books are not of equal length).  We will encounter a variety of psalmists; some are named, others are not.  Among those named you will see the Sons of Korah, David, and Moses.  You will encounter many familiar psalms (90, 91, 92, 95, 98, 100, 103) and you will encounter lesser-known psalms. One psalm, 88, is rather disturbing. It is a psalm of lament.  Oftentimes, psalms of lament (e.g. Psalm 13) end on a positive note, declaring trust in God.  Psalm 88 does not end that way; rather, it ends by saying, "the darkness is my closest friend."  Take some time to reflect on this psalm and to recognize an...