Update

I know I haven't written a blog in ages! Many apologies!

I have been keeping up with my reading, but I have not been keeping up with taking notes. So, that's just how it is right now.

I'm finished the book of Job and I'm back to finishing the book of Genesis now. I am learning quite a lot and absolutely love reading the Bible in this new, chronological format.

It's interesting to me how different the culture was back then from how it is now. Many things are still the same. People still sin, for example. But, many things have changed. (Like the brother's obligation to give his sister-in-law children if her husband--his brother--has died)

Anyway, since I started so many resolutions at the same time, I'm having trouble keeping up. But, I will make this one of my new habits to keep up with in either February or March, perhaps.

Day #7-Job 14-16

Whew, Job is a struggle for me. It is written much differently than the other books of the Bible.

Ch. 14
vv. 1-2-Life is short.
vv. 3-6-We cannot win against God. God will always have the upper hand...because He is GOD.
vv. 7-22-Man is mortal.

Ch. 15
vv. 1-3-Eliphaz accuses Job of "useless talk."
v. 4-Eliphaz accuses Job of being irreverant.
vv. 5-6-Eliphaz accuses Job of being "guilt[y]."
vv. 17-35-Eliphaz talks about life. He says basically that without God, it doesn't matter how much wealth you acquire on Earth. If you are guilty, you will pay.

Ch. 16
v. 2-Job says his friends are "sorry comforters."
v. 4-Job says if he were in their place, he could look down on them, too.
v. 6-Job says it makes no difference whether or not he speaks because it does not lessen his pain.
vv. 7-14-Job says God has attacked and "shattered" him.
vv. 15-22-Job cries to God. He says he is innocent and that his friends scoff at him.

Day #5 and #6-Job 6-9 and 10-13

Somehow I missed writing and posting my chapters from Job yesterday (but I did read them!).

I don't really have any mind-blowing thoughts for these last 8 chapters. Honestly, I'm struggling with them. Basically, it goes back and forth between each of Job's friends, in turn, talking and then Job responding to them. I'm having a hard time retaining what I'm reading in these chapters, so I'm not poring over it like I normally would.

[Day #4-Job 1-5]}

[NOTE: I am reading through the Bible chronologically, so it will skip around some.]

Ch. 1
v. 6: "sons of God"
-angels?
"and Satan also came among them"
v. 13: Job's children were at the eldest brother's house; since there were 7 brothers and they went to one a day, this means it was most likely a Sunday.
v. 14: Job loses oxen, donkeys, and servants.
v. 16: He loses sheep and servants
v. 17: He loses camels and servants
v. 18: He loses all 10 of his children (7 sons, 3 daughters)
v. 20: "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped."
-Job's response to losing all of his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, and [nearly all] of his servants? Throw himself into a state of mourning (by tearing his robe and shaving his head) and worship.
v. 21: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away/Blessed be the name of the Lord."
v. 22: "Through all this, Job did not sin or blame God."
-Does this imply blaming God is not a sin? Or is it simply saying "Job did not sin... [he did not even] blame God."
-Job did not sin or blame God--Wow. How many times have I done both over much much smaller trials.

Ch. 2
v. 7: Satan smote Job with boils all over.
v. 8: Job scraped himself with a potsherd--was this to help the boils? Or was it self-mutilation? My guess is that it helped drain the boils of pus (gross, sorry).
v. 9: Job's wife says to "curse God and die." What an encouraging wife. Not. Would I be any better in this instance? She has lost all of her children and her security--Job's wealth. She had placed her faith in the things they had instead of in God. Why place your hope and faith in things so temporary and fragile? God alone is worthy and capable . I say I place my faith in God, but do I live that way? Or do I live with my faith placed in my husband's job which pays for our house, food, heat, etc.? Do I place my faith in myself? I'm no better than Job's wife many times.
v. 10: "...in ll this Job did not sn with his lips...?
-Does this imply Job sinned in action but not in word? Or is this simply to show that Job did not even sin in word?
-James 3:4 says, "Look at the ships, also though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires." And James 3:2-"...if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well."
v. 11: Job had three friends come visit him.
v. 12: They wept and mourned with Job.
v. 13: They provided companionship and solidarity, but they allowed him to continue to mourn. They didn't "speak...a word to him." No pat answers. No "on the bright side" or "it'll get better" or "at least..." They "saw his pain was very great" and knew nothing they could say would make it better. Yet, they did not abandon him or ignore him or his pain. They stayed in relationsip with him. Relationship does not always require speaking. They stayed with him for 7 day and 7 nights.

Ch. 3
v. 1-26: Job wishes he had never been born. Several phrases throughout this chapter suggest life begins at conception.

Ch. 4 & 5
These two chapters are a soliloquoy by Job's friend Eliphaz. Some of what he says seems to ring true, but not all of it. I'll have to take a closer look at this passage.

[Day #3-Genesis 8-11]}

Ch. 8
*v. 2: "Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained..."
-"...fountains of the deep..." What are the fountains of the deep? Would that be the underground springs, geysers, etc.?? I always thought of the flood as just being rain from the skies, but water was even springing up from the ground! Wow.
*According to Genesis 7:11, the flood started in Noah's 600th year, on the 17th day of the 2nd month. Genesis 8:14-17 says that the flood ended during Noah's 601st year, on the 27th day of the 2nd month.
-So, Noah, his family, and the animals, were in the ark for a total of approxiately 1 year and 10 days. Oh my word! I cannot fathom being locked up in an ark with my family and anywhere from 2-14 of every species of creature found on Earth.

*v. 21: [After Noah offered a burnt offering to God.] "The Lord smelled the sooting aroma, and the Lord said to Himself, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done.'"
-There were a very limited number of animals, yet Noah still offered a burnt offering to the Lord.
-"...for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth..." I find this part of the verse really interesting. First of all, it proves my husband right about every person being evil at heart, not good at heart like I tried to argue once. Secondly, it says "from his youth," not from birth or from the womb. According to Blue Letter Bible's online concordance, this phrase means "youth" or "early life" in the Hebrew. Could this mean that people are not evil from birth? That "develops" at some point? Maybe around or before the age of accountability? Just thinking outloud...I'm not sure what the answer is.

Ch. 9
v. 3: "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you as I gave the green plant."
-The human race was no longer on a vegetarian diet.
-I find it interesting that now that there is a limited number of animals--every species is now an "endangered species," the most of any secies is 7 males + 7 females=14 total--that is the time the Lord gives animals to Noah and his family and his descendants as food. And God doesn't even say "every...thing that is alive [may] be food for you," he says, "shall be food for you." Interesting.
v. 13: The rainbow comes into existence as a sign of God's covenant with Noah, his family, and his descendants.

Ch. 10
This chapter was full of geneaologies and I really don't have any remarkable things to say about it lol.

Ch. 11
v. 1: "Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words."
-Wow, can you imagine that? If everyone spoke one language, the same language as everyone else? 'Course this doesn't mean everyone was a great communicator ;)
Parts of verses 3-6: (3) "They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly...'" (4) "They said, 'Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top wil reach into heaven, an let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" (6) "The Lord, 'Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of he whole earth, and they stopped building the city."
-The people were afraid of being scattered over the face of the whole earth, and yet that is exactly what happened.
-"...and let us make for ourselves a name..." I wasn't there, so I can only speculate, but it sounds like they may have been prideful, wanting to make themselves look good, instead of giving glory to God.
-Does God want things to be impossible for us? I don't think so. Maybe in His infinite wisdom, He knew that we would be so proud of ourselves and able to do so much that we would think nothing was impossible for us and wouldn't see our need for God and for a Savior? I'm not sure. This is a passage I haven't really noticed before. I would not say God is a God of confusion and yet He did come down and confuse their language so that they were incapable of communicating with one another. But, I don't really have the answers for why He did it.

[Day #2-Genesis 4-7]}

My thoughts from today's readings:

Ch. 4
v. 5b-6: "...So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?'"

{What does countenance mean?}
Countenance-a person's face or facial expression.

v. 7: "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, andits desire is for you, but you must master it."

{This would be a great verse to memorize, I think}

v. 26b: "Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord."

{This was right after the birth of Enosh, the son of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. Using the list of years given in the following chapter and if I am understanding correctly, this would mean that God was on the Earth with everyone for approximately 235 years. Interesting.}


Ch. 5
Adam--130 years-->became the father of Seth--800 more years=930 years old when he died.
{And so on and so forth from here on out}
Seth--105 years-->Enosh--807 more years=912.
Enosh--90 years-->Kenan--815 more=905.
Kenan--70 years-->Mahalalel--840 more=910.
Mahalalel--65 years-->Jared--830 more=895.
Jared--162 years-->Enoch--800 more=962.
*Enoch--65 years-->Methusaleh--300 more=365.
Methusaleh--187 years-->Lamech--782 more=969.
Lamech--182 years-->Noah--595 more=777.

{*"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."-Genesis 5:24----HOW COOL IS THAT?! Enoch DIDN'T die! As far as I can recall, he is the only person in history who has escaped death. "...and he was not, for God took him..." Wow. That story has always intrigued me. And you'll notice, he only lived about 1/3 as long as the others mentioned above. Incredible.} {{{EDIT: It was pointed out to me that Elijah was taken up to Heaven by a whirlwind, so make that two people that did not die ;)}}}

Ch. 6
v. 4: "The Nephilim were on the Earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."

{I'm still trying to fully understand and research this one...this verse has always interested me.}

Ch. 7
Clean animals: by sevens, male and female
Unclean animals: 2, a male and his female
Birds: by sevens, male and female

v. 16: "And the Lord closed [the door of the ark] behind him."

{Every time the Lord directly does something, it just amazes me. Could Noah not have closed the door himself? And yet, whatever the reason was, the Lord closed the door!}

v. 23: {Another God-verb}: "blotted"-to obliterate

v. 24: "The water prevailed upon the earth [150] days."

{About 5 months! Boy is that a long time to be crammed in an ark with your family and literally, an entire zoo!}

[365 Days-Day #1-Genesis 1-3]}

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2011 is to read through the Bible chronologically. I plan to share some of my thoughts as I journey through the Bible in a year. So, here's Day 1, Genesis 1-3:

*It's interesting to me to look at God's action verbs all through Genesis 1 and 2: separated, gathered, made, placed, created, said, blessed, rested, sanctified, formed, planted.

*We started out as vegetarians. "Behold I have given you every plant..." (Genesis 1)

*Nothing was growing yet because God had not yet sent rain and there was no man to cultivate the ground, but a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground (Genesis 2)--If the ground was being water by the mist, why wasn't anything growing yet? B/c God wanted to wait until man was there to cultivate it, perhaps?

*The thing that stuck out to me the most: Why wasn't Eve startled by the serpent SPEAKING to her?? Every time an angel appears with a message, the first thing the angel says is "Do not fear," yet Eve did not seem to think there was anything out of the ordinary about a serpent speaking to her. Did all animals used to talk? Was the serpent different from all the other animals? He was more crafty than any beast of the field...(Genesis 3)