Basically how it works is each Wednesday I will be posting a reading schedule. Each day I will be doing my reading that I have scheduled and journaling about it. I will post a recap of my thoughts on each chapter. I would love to have y'all join me in my scheduled readings and share your thoughts as well. Even if you don't want to share your thoughts, you can just let me know that you'll be joining me in the bible study.
For the first week, I actually started reading on Tuesday but decided to do my posts on Wednesdays so I had 8 days worth of reading scheduled.
The reading schedule is in black and my thoughts are in purple.
Tuesday 8/21 Genesis ch 1 - This chapter outlines the beginning of the earth as we know it. I find it interesting that the bible just starts, it doesn't introduce God, it just assumes that you know who he is and that he just is. He has no beginning and no end.
Wednesday 8/22 Genesis ch 2 - In this chapter, God makes Adam and Eve and introduces the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has given Adam and Eve everything in the garden that they could possibly want and need, he has trees that are pleasing to the eye and trees that were good for food. They didn't need anything else but what God gave them. God gave them one test. Could you imagine life if you only had one test, only one chance to screw up?
Thursday 8/23 Genesis ch 3 - In this chapter, the story of Adam, Eve and the forbidden tree continues. Somehow, the devil convinced Eve that she needed to take a bite of the fruit from the forbidden tree because God was just being selfish by keeping the knowledge of good and evil to himself. I think this chapter is telling us now that we always have a choice, it may not always be as clear as Adam and Eve's choice was, but we still have a choice and if we turn to God, he will tell us what the right choice is. If we turn to anything besides God, we will not be directed in our best interests but in the interests of the one directing us.
Friday 8/24 Genesis ch 4 - This chapter is about Cain and Able, Adam and Eve's sons. In this chapter, Cain and Able both bring offerings to God but only Able's offering is accepted and found favorable by God. I think this is because of Cain's attitude. The bible implies that Cain's offering was not the best of his crop by saying "Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil." However Able brought the best of his flock "But Able brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock." To me this is the key difference. When Cain brought his offering, it was not his highest priority and his thoughts were not pure in bringing the offering whereas Able brought the best of his flock, instead of keeping it for himself, his thoughts and intentions were in the right place. This is further evident when Cain becomes so angry over the offerings that he kills Able. This is trying to teach us that no matter what we are doing, we should do it for the right reasons and with the right intentions or it is not worthwhile.
Saturday 8/25 Genesis ch 5 - This chapter is pretty short and it's pretty easy for me to see the point to this chapter. It is connecting the lineage from Adam to Noah. There was one thing however that stood out to me as I was reading this chapter, as everyone was being listed, it would end their blurb with 'so and so lived xxx years and then he died.' However, when you get to Enoch, it says "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." This was a pretty significant difference in my opinion. I'm not sure what to make of it right now though.
Sunday 8/26 Genesis ch 6 - In this chapter, we see the further downfall of mankind. Each generation getting worse and straying farther from God. God finally decides that he has made a mistake and wants to rebuild the earth and all the living things through Noah. I think he did this and chose Noah because Noah and his family were the only ones that voluntarily chose to follow and obey God. I think that God was trying to rebuild humans on the earth hoping that if he started with good, obedient people that chose to be obedient, they would reproduce good, obedient people and the world would not suffer the same fate again, being overrun by evil. I could be off on this but if this is not the case, what was the point of wiping everyone out to start again.
Monday 8/27 Genesis ch 7 - I'm not sure what it was that I was supposed to take from this chapter as it is mainly about the animals, on a side note, I did find it interesting that it was not only 1 pair of each animal as it was always depicted when I was a child, but 2 pair of unclean animals and 7 pair of clean animals. Another side note, what are clean and unclean animals and why were they differentiated by how many pairs Noah took? Back on track, it does state that Noah is righteous in his generation so I connected this back with my thoughts on the previous chapter.
Tuesday 8/28 Genesis ch 8 - This chapter is about God receding the flood waters so that Noah and his family along with all the animals can leave the ark. In this chapter God says in verse 21 "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." I don't understand why God would create mankind with an evil inclination. If he created us with a good inclination, but still gave us free will, wouldn't that be better for us and for God. If we truly have an evil inclination then it is a miracle that anyone can turn to God because that would go against the very nature of our hearts.
I would like to insert a disclaimer here. These are just my thoughts regarding what I am reading. They may not be the same thoughts as yours but I would love to hear your thoughts as long as they can be shared in a constructive way. If you feel I have interpreted something wrong, please feel free to let me know, nicely. My goal in this series is to grow and learn. However I am doing this mainly on my own and may not always get everything right so I would love interaction as long as it is not attacking. Thank you.
Next weeks reading schedule:
Wednesday 8/29 Genesis Ch 9
Thursday 8/30 Genesis Ch 10
Friday 8/31 Genesis Ch 11
Saturday 9/1 Job Ch 1 & Ch 2
Sunday 9/2 Job Ch 3 & Ch 4
Monday 9/3 Job Ch 5 & Ch 6
Tuesday 9/4 Job Ch 7
You may notice that some days now have 2 chapters instead of just one. I found that on the weekends I have more time to study so I decided to take advantage of that and read 2 chapters. I also included an extra chapter on Monday 9/3 because it is a holiday and I do not have to work. Next week, I will be out of town some so I will only have one chapter a day but as I can, I will increase to 2 chapters on the same day.
I really hope you decide to join in on my bible study, if you do, I would love to hear from you, whether it be in the comments or by email.
Thanks for reading!
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