Reading Through the Bible In a Year(ish): Day 9: Genesis 17-19

Monday, January 24, 2011

Day 9: Genesis 17-19

Well, this is certainly an eventful passage...and most of it is R-rated. There's the lurid details of life in Sodom, there's the whole bit with Lot's daughters but I think the thing that is standing out to me is how God dealt with Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah. God first calls Abram when he is 75 yrs old (Sarai must have been 65) and makes an amazing promise to him. This promise is reiterated several times over the years and here we find it being made again when he is 99 yrs old (so, do the math...Sarah is 89). Here's how it goes:

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

I love that last part in v. 18...the part about Ishmael. Abraham is still trying to help God out by offering him an "easier" solution. Hm...that sort of sounds like me. "I know You said you could do great and mighty things...you know, move mountains and all that...but let's be realistic." Yeah...I'm a real man of faith.

Now the promise gets specific: "...about this time next year...Sarah your wife will have a son." (18:10) After 25 years God will finally take the first step in fulfilling his promise made to Abram...next year. Do you blame Abraham and Sarah for laughing? (17:17 & 18:10)

A couple of things come to my mind here:
1. I'm very impatient. 25 YEARS!! Come on. I don't think I would have made it.
2. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20 that God is "...able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." Abraham seems to be limiting God to what he can imagine. He couldn't imagine having a child at his age...let alone a whole nation. I wonder what God can do in my life if I open the door to what only HE can imagine?

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Year(ish)

I posted a link on FaceBook recently that was a plan for reading through the Bible in a year. It's designed to do the readings chronologically so that the reader can get a better feel for the flow of the Biblical narrative. I think this is a good approach. I noticed recently that the same plan is posted on my church's web site.

My problem is I've never been very successful in through-the-bible-in-a-year type reading plans before (notice the date of my first reading)...plus, the important thing is reading the Bible, right? Who cares if it takes a year?

So here's my plan: The chronological design is set up for 6 readings per week which equals 312 daily readings. I'm going to do the 312 daily readings - but they may not be 312 consecutive days. After each passage of scripture I'm going to write whatever comes to my mind from that reading. Don't expect a scholarly exegesis of the text - I'll leave that for others more qualified. What I plan to share is simply how that particular passage spoke to me. Please feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments. On day 312 this blog comes to an end.

There are 2 reasons for doing this on a blog: First, I'm hoping the fact that I'm doing this in a "public" way will provide motivation. Second, I'm inviting you to go on this journey with me. I'm hoping that by doing this together we will be able to "spur one another on" and get a better overview of God's word in 2011(ish).

You can download a .pdf of the plan here.