Front to Back

The Lord has been telling me for a few months that I should read the Bible cover to cover. In all the years of reading His Word, I have never done that. I skip around, read where I want or where I feel He is telling me. God has never disappointed me when He told me which book to read. So when He started sharing with me that He'd like me to read front to back I said O.K. Did you catch that it has been a few months?

I tend to procrastinate.

Yesterday I realized that I was being disobedient. After telling Him I was sorry I decided to read. I printed out a cool little "read the Bible in a year" schedule. Not that I am thinking I have to do it in a year. Maybe I will be done sooner ... who knows. But I love lists that I can check off! I have another one that is in my day planner but Bo and I are using that to keep track of the reading we are doing together. So, with my cool schedule, Bible, highlighter and pen I started to read. I asked God to show me things afresh. I have read all about creation for years, we even covered it in science. So I didn't want to hurry over His word because "I know it". I was pleasantly surprised at what He showed me.

In the first chapter of Genesis I realized something. Now mind you I know this but it really spoke to me yesterday. God is of order. Everything He created was in order. He didn't create the land before there was night and day. He didn't create animals before there was food for them. It really spoke to me about how my days should look. In order, not chaotic and all over the place. Actually this spoke to my schooling.

Next what struck me was how God defined 'Day'. At the end of creating something the Word says "And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day" or second or third, etc. That made me think of Sabbath. Friday night starts Sabbath. So, here is my thought ... when I go to sleep I am not recovering from the day but getting ready for the day.

The next place that really spoke to me was God's tenderness. In Chapter 3, after the sin when God made them leave Eden He did something so tender. He clothed them. He was upset and heart broken. He even discussed it with Jesus and The Holy Spirit (vs 22) but in vs 21 He made them clothes. It just spoke to me about God's mercy, His tenderness, His love.

Are you ready for the first generational curse? This about blew my socks off when I realized it. In Chapter 3:17-19 God tells Adam that the ground will be cursed. Adam will painfully toil the land and it will bear thorns and thistles. Right? Now move to Chapter 4:11-12. God tells Cain that the land will not produce crops for him. Whew! A sinful heritage starting with Adam passed down to Cain.

Now let's look at what I found in Chapter 5! I'm just so excited. :) Chapter 5 lists everyone from Adam to Noah. What struck me was how God gives an account but says only one walked with God! What in the world? Here is Adam who was the first man. He got to name all the creatures. He walked in the garden with God and in chapter 5 there is no mention of their relationship. Nor that of Seth's or any descendant until Enoch. Not Cain's Enoch, another Enoch. Now, Enoch walked with God after his son Methuselah was born. Enoch was 65 years old and walked with God for 300 years. Enoch never died but at 365 years old God "took him away."vs 24. He was the first one God took up. Amazing.

The next thing that caught my attention is with Noah. Each man has mention of one son and at what age he was when that son was born. Then scriptures say he lives a certain amount of years afterwards and has many sons and daughters. But with Noah it says in verse 32 "After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth." Now this is just me thinking ... Is it possible that they were triplets? Think about, it didn't say at 500 he had Shem and at 503 he had Ham, etc. I'm not one to read into scripture but I thought that would be something neat. :) My mom said that I should check out the wording in regards to Jacob and Esau since we know they are twins. I'll let y'all know what I discover.

Reading Scripture is so wonderful! I will keep y'all updated on my adventures in His Word!