Week One: Accepting the Challenge

I debated blogging on this at all.  Blogs tend by their very nature to be egocentric, and I fear that a blog about Scripture reading might run smack dab into preachy self-righteousness.  Then again, if I go into this with the intent to write something about it, I'll be a bit more attentive, a bit more thoughtful, and in the end, get a lot more out of the whole experience.  And if I think that someone, anyone, might actually read what I write, I'll be even more careful to consider and communicate it well (I hope).  In many ways, this blog is more about keeping myself on track than anything else.  (See, blogs are all about the blogger!:))   Seriously, I hope do I have some small something to offer, however much carefully considered writing may benefit me.  So read it or leave it... but please don't think I think you have to or even ought to read what I write.


The challenge had been issued, the invitation sent.  A small group was forming in our church for the purpose of reading through the Bible in ninety days.

"So, are you going to do it?"  my husband asked.

"I'd like to," I replied. "I'm just not sure I have the time."

"Sure you do," he remarked in that sometimes irritating tone that indicates he's going to shut down all your excuses.  "Get off Facebook."

"Um...  Er...  Gulp."  He had me.  At the end of the day, I do like to sit down to check my email, see what's going on in the Facebook world, play a game or two, then look at the clock and wonder where on earth the time went.  I'd either have to read the Bible in ninety days, or acknowledge the sad fact that farting around on the computer takes precedence over immersing myself in God's Word.  I was not about to do that. Mindlessly wiling away the evening hours may be easier and even more enjoyable than spending 45 minutes reading the Bible, but it is certainly not more important, nor ultimately, more rewarding.

So I signed up.

I signed up, but I did so a bit timidly, telling the group organizer that I might not be able to make all the meetings, that I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to do, etc.  I missed the first meeting due to out-of-state company, but made it to this week's meeting, just two chapters short of the assignment.

Several things impressed me about our group.

1.  The number of people who had signed up.  For being a small group, it wasn't particularly small.  This was so encouraging.  Reading the entire Bible in ninety days sounds like a very intense task, and I'm encouraged to know that I won't be doing it alone and that there are so many in our church willing to commit the time and energy necessary to complete this task.  It helps to know that there are so many people to keep me accountable, too.  I sure don't want to show up to a meeting and admit to twenty people that I couldn't keep up.  Sometimes peer pressure ain't all bad.

2.  The enthusiasm and honesty of my fellow readers.  The group consists of people who not only volunteered to read through the entire Bible in ninety days, but who truly desire to understand it.  They are admitting difficulties, wondering about the Scriptures, asking sometimes tough questions, and looking for answers. They are committed to completing their task, even if none of us particularly enjoy reading the instructions for the building of the tabernacle once, twice, and yet again.

Which brings me to my favorite part of my first week of these ninety days.

We all laughed in slight exasperation at trudging through those tabernacle instructions.  I don't know about you, but I'm not going to build a tabernacle, nor am I going to sacrifice a bull or present an offering of grain.  Do I really need to read such detailed instructions three times?   Even reading it three times, I can barely visualize the tabernacle.  Never having been one to make mental notes of yards, pounds, and cups - let alone cubits and shekels and ephahs -much is lost on me.  All I got out of that was a jumbled mess of curtains, rods, rings, silver, gold, bronze, blood, and flour.  Three times.

I could glean from those chapters of Exodus an idea that we should take great care to prepare our hearts to worship the Lord and to receive His presence, or that He is holy and thus worthy of our highest reverence and perfect obedience.  Either would be a good lesson indeed, but I think there's another lesson, one quite fitting the task before me.

I went home from our small group meeting and read the final two chapters of Exodus.  After page after page of tabernacle and sacrifice instructions comes this:

 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 

Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, 

and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, 

they would set out;  

but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 

So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, 

and fire was in the cloud by night, 

in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.  

(Exodus 40:34-38)

These were glorious words to read after trudging through the previous chapters.  I can only imagine how much more glorious than the words was the reality of God's presence among the Israelites after the painstaking effort expended in the construction of the tabernacle.  

I won't lie.  Reading through the latter chapters of Exodus took painstaking effort.  It wasn't outright tortuous, but it was undeniably tedious.  But when I read "the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle," and felt my heart swell with relief and joy, I thought I might have uncovered at least one reason why I had to read through all those cubits and shekels and blood and grain, again and again and again:  Identification with Israel.  Reading the second half of Exodus was, in a word, work.   I could have skipped it - and often have in the past - and gone straight to the final glory.  But I would have missed something big, namely the struggles and the expectancy of the Israelites.  I'm sure they were ready to be done with the tabernacle, too.  Taken alone, Exodus 40:34-38 is glorious, but its glory shines so much fuller after the gray drudgery of the careful preparation of the tabernacle and sacrifices.  I had to persevere through the tough and boring to be rewarded with a sliver of the glory that the Israelites experienced.  And I was rewarded as I experienced all in one moment God dwelling both among His chosen people wandering in the desert and His chosen child sitting on her living room couch.  

What I got out of this first week is that perseverance pays off.  While the grace of God is unmerited and free, it is foolish to expect that we can skim the Scriptures, skimp on prayer and meditation, give little thought to our ways, and still experience the full presence of God.  I pray that I will remember this lesson as I go forward and encounter other passages of questionable enjoyment.  The remainder of this ninety day adventure won't always be easy or fun, but I suspect it will be full of blessings in unexpected places.

Read on!