© James Cawley | Dreamstime.com

I’m participating with a group to read the Bible through, in chronological order, in a year.  That’s quite an ambitious goal, so having a group to do it with is helpful.

It’s been interesting so far.  I’ve decided to share some of my impressions from each week’s passages – sort of my highlight reel!  And this first post is Jan 1-9, instead of just a week.  On Sunday’s I hope to be posting a review of the previous week’s readings.  These are just my impressions, things that stuck out to me or that I found interesting.  I’m not taking a lot of time to unpack it all here.

Of couse we began at the beginning.

Jan 1 Reading: Genesis 1-3

This passage, after having just read “The Case for the Creator” by Lee Strobel, was kind of ‘new’ to me all over again. One of the arguments for a Creator is that even the placement of the stars cries out for discovery, and the intricate balance of the dance of the stars clearly indicates intelligence behind the design of the cosmos. We just witnessed a full lunar eclipse on a bright clear Alberta night (the night before the Solstice) – even the stars, the sun and the moon declare His glory!

Nothing I say ever just happens – it takes great work and effort. God is SO powerful, that he SPOKE and it WAS. That’s mind boggling!

Initially it looked like God just told Adam not to eat the fruit, but it’s clear later that Adam was WITH Eve when she ate the fruit, so he could have corrected or stopped her. Before eating the fruit, Eve was already ‘stretching’ things…. God said they were not to eat the fruit, and she takes it further and says, “We may not touch it or we will die.” I may be missing something in the translation, but that’s already a lie. Then after eating the fruit, of course, the blaming game.

I also noticed that the Lord made them clothes of skins – skins of an animal, I assume… So to cover their sin, an animal (or animals) had to die – the first sin offering.

Jan 2 Reading: Genesis 4-7

Even sea life couldn’t have ‘thrived’ in the mess of decay that would have happened with all the dead things in the water during the flood. Some of the sea life would likely have survived, but lots of them would have died too.

…. I wonder why God felt like he couldn’t tolerate humans living 900+ years any more…

I’ve always wondered about where the wives and other people come from and who the Nephilim are. Time for more study!

Jan 3 Reading: Genesis 8-11

Again, I’m thinking of the logistics of the situations…. The earth would not necessarily have been a pretty place after the flood. There would likely have still be a lot of decay. Probably better out of the ark than in it, but not like Eden either, and not like the earth had been immediately prior to the flood either. Would have been interesting walking off the ark. The rainbow would have been in stark contrast to what was around them, I think.

Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan were the sons of Ham… I’ve heard of the lands of Cush, Egypt and Canaan… what happened to the land of Put? Just wondering. 🙂

Noah’s curse was on the grandson, Canaan, not specifically the land of Canaan…. as I read it.

Then, we skip forward to Job, chronologically.  Interesting that Job comes right after Noah in real time.

Jan 4 Reading: Job 1-5

Job had a really rough time (severe understatement).  I don’t know if I’d be only cursing the day of my birth…  I’ve read these chapters before, but before my issues with depression, so I read it a bit differently now.

Jan 5 Reading: Job 6-9

We all have friends like Job’s friends… friends who decide they have great advice for you and need to share it all with you. But having been in that place of brokenness and sickness, I can say that words are rarely helpful… support is what is needed for sure, and what Job wasn’t getting from his friends.

There’s more going on here in Job in terms of literary style (the way he says things) and culture (some of the things he says) that I can’t quite get my head around. I think I need to read more about how Job is written… it is somehow poetic, or maybe it’s just the translation.

I always thought that Job said nothing bad about God.  However….

Job 9:23 – When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

I wouldn’t say that’s a positive, or exactly accurate, statement.

Jan 6 Reading: Job 10-13

I had hoped that Job’s friends would get better in their advice as they went on… they didn’t.  I think Job must have felt terrible, to have become the laughingstock of is friends.  Even his wife was against him.  How awful to not be believed by those closest to you.  They simply couldn’t imagine that Job was righteous – such calamity could not have happened unless it was to punish sin.  How many times do we do this to our friends and family?  I hope this is a lesson that sticks with me…. and that I won’t continue to do this, if I have been in the past.

I was also struck by Job’s phrase, “I am not inferior to you.”  I don’t know how many times he says it, but he keeps saying it, trying to remind his ‘friends’ that he’s an equal, in terms of past success, intelligence, experience… I think he has to defend himself a bit, because what his friends are saying is very belittling.  Reminds me of Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Even if they thought they were being helpful, they certainly weren’t being uplifting.

Jan 7 Reading: Job 14-16

It feels like this just goes on and on, the same themes over and over again, Job saying the same things, his friends saying the same things, etc…. Nothing new in particular struck me in this passage, except this – Job says to his friends, “you are miserable comforters, all of you!” and I respond with a hearty, “Hear hear!”

Jan 8 Reading: Job 17-20

More of the same, not much to add here…  Ping pong match with Job and his friends.

Jan 9 Reading: Job 21-23

I can certainly empathize with Job.  Knowing that he’s innocent, and wondering why those who are evil get off scott-free.

I am looking forward to getting to the end of the book where the Lord addresses Job!  And stops the ping pong thing with the friends!