Day 15: Deuteronomy 23:12-34:12

Here is the reading for Day 15. Deuteronomy 23:12-34:12

Day 14: Deuteronomy 8:1-23:11

Here is the reading for Day 14. Deuteronomny 8:1-23:11

Day 13: Numbers 32:20-Deuteronomy 7:26

Here is the Day 13 reading. Numbers 32:20-Deuteronomy 7:26

Day 12: Numbers 21:8-32:19

Here is the reading for Day 12. Numbers 21:8-32:19

Day 11: Numbers 8:15-21:7

Here is the Day 11 reading. Numbers 8:15-21:7

Day 10: Leviticus 26:27-Numbers 8:14

Here is the Day 10 reading. Leviticus 26:27-Numbers 8:14

Day 9: Leviticus 14:3-26:26

Here is today's reading. Leviticus 14:3-26:26. Let's talk mildew, sacrifices, and feasts. I never paid much attention to the feasts until a couple of years ago when a friend sent me a book on the feasts written by a Jewish Christian Rabbi. The feasts are fascinating! I'll share more later.

Day 8: Leviticus 1:1-14:32

This is the reading for Day 8. Leviticus 1:1-14:32. A new book. If you celebrate each new book, you'll get to have 66 celebrations in 90 days! I wonder which day we'll read the most books. I'm guessing it will be Day 86, but we'll see.

Day 7: Exodus 29:1-40:38

This is the Day 7 reading. Exodus 29:1-40:38 My straw poll indicates that most of us are behind at times. For example, I'll have to read Day 7 and Day 8 tomorrow. I've decided to NOT include the date in my title any longer because many of us will be reading on a different date than the one shown. The great thing is, though we may be behind, we're still reading. So, go at your own pace, try to read 12 pages per day and continue posting when you have something to say or questions. Then, look back at posts and view responses when you have time. We made great headway in our first week. And remember this as well: The first two weeks are really the most difficult passages to read. Once we are out of the first two weeks, you'll be surprised at how much easier the reading gets, with the exception of the book of Job, which is fascinating in its own way, but can be a bit tough.

Day 6 Part 1: 12/17/05 Exodus 15:19-28:43

This is today's reading. We'll take off tomorrow, 12/18, and later this week, 12/23, 12/24, and 12/25. Exodus 15:19-28:43

Day 5 Part 1: 12/26/05 Exodus 1:1-15:18

As you can tell, I'm behind in the postings. Here was yesterday's assigned reading. Exodus 1:1-15:18

Day 4 Part 2: 12/15/05 Gen 40:12-50:26

Okay, I don't often talk about Satan, but the last few days in my life are growing into evidence that he doesn't want me reading the Bible as intensely as we are. He must be afraid of our growth.

Not much of a post tonight. I got the reading done, Liv had a birthday party to go to, Zach had a Christmas concert, then I had to go rent a snake to clear our sewer line because the sewer was backing up. It's 1:00 AM and I'm just now sitting down to the compte. (I just fell asleep at the computer) So, check back tomorrow (an equally scary day) to see if I've posted anything further.

Day 4 Part 1: 12/15/05 Genesis 40:12-50:26

Today's reading is Genesis 40:12-50:26. This is our last day in Genesis.

Day 3 Part 2: 12/14/05 Genesis 28:20-40:11

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

Warning: You probably won't want to read this entire post, but you may.

Thanks to Joe Catholic for the Jacob wrestling the angel painting. I believe the artist is Franz Franc, but I'm unsure.

First off, I've been so busy that I'm finding it harder and harder to get my reading done. Hence my posts are coming later and later. Sunday I'm going to put in a catch up day. Also, I'm planning on giving us three days over Christmas, Dec. 23-25. So, don't worry if you are getting behind. There is hope.

Today's reading has some of the great Old Testament events. Jacob earning Rachel and Leah, Joseph and Potiphar's wife, as well as this Scriptural mystery, Jacob wrestling with God.

Tam mentioned this in her post. What is going on here? I personally love this story because we have NO REAL IDEA!!! If we take Scripture at face value, this story is strange. If we read our own interpretations into it, it just gets stranger. Was this man God? An angel? An angel empowered by God? Was he really almost overpowered by a mere man?

When in doubt about things, one of the first places I go to is the Matthew Henry Commentary. MH, knowing people were perplexed, even in his day (1611 A.D.), wrote quite a bit of material on these verses. I have placed it all below because linking was still going to have you searching through the document. After three of four paragraphs, you should get the general gist of where he is headed. You may disagree. But he does offer some plausible answers.

"We have here the remarkable story of Jacob's wrestling with the angel and prevailing, which is referred to, Hos. xii. 4. Very early in the morning, a great while before day, Jacob had helped his wives and his children over the river, and he desired to be private, and was left alone, that he might again more fully spread his cares and fears before God in prayer. Note, We ought to continue instant in prayer, always to pray and not to faint: frequency and importunity in prayer prepare us for mercy. While Jacob was earnest in prayer, stirring up himself to take hold on God, an angel takes hold on him. Some think this was a created angel, the angel of his presence (Isa. lxiii. 9), one of those that always behold the face of our Father and attend on the shechinah, or the divine Majesty, which probably Jacob had also in view. Others think it was Michael our prince, the eternal Word, the angel of the covenant, who is indeed the Lord of the angels, who often appeared in a human shape before he assumed the human nature for a perpetuity; whichsoever it was, we are sure God's name was in him, Exod. xxiii. 21. Observe,




      I. How Jacob and this angel engaged, v. 24. It was a single combat, hand to hand; they had neither of them any seconds. Jacob was now full of care and fear about the interview he expected, next day, with his brother, and, to aggravate the trial, God himself seemed to come forth against him as an enemy, to oppose his entrance into the land of promise, and to dispute the pass with him, not suffering him to follow his wives and children whom he had sent before. Note, Strong believers must expect divers temptations, and strong ones. We are told by the prophet (Hos. xii. 4) how Jacob wrestled: he wept, and made supplication; prayers and tears were his weapons. It was not only a corporal, but a spiritual, wrestling, by the vigorous actings of faith and holy desire; and thus all the spiritual seed of Jacob, that pray in praying, still wrestle with God.




      II. What was the success of the engagement. 1. Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, the angel, prevailed not against him (v. 25), that is, this discouragement did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer. It was not in his own strength that he wrestled, nor by his own strength that he prevailed, but in and by strength derived from Heaven. That of Job illustrates this (Job xxiii. 6), Will he plead against me with his great power? No (had the angel done so, Jacob had been crushed), but he will put strength in me; and by that strength Jacob had power over the angel, Hos. xii. 4. Note, We cannot prevail with God but in his own strength. It is his Spirit that intercedes in us, and helps our infirmities, Rom. viii. 26. 2. The angel put out Jacob's thigh, to show him what he could do, and that it was God he was wrestling with, for no man could disjoint his thigh with a touch. Some think that Jacob felt little or no pain from this hurt; it is probable that he did not, for he did not so much as halt till the struggle was over (v. 31), and, if so, this was an evidence of a divine touch indeed, which wounded and healed at the same time. Jacob prevailed, and yet had his thigh put out. Note, Wrestling believers may obtain glorious victories, and yet come off with broken bones; for when they are weak then are they strong, weak in themselves, but strong in Christ, 2 Cor. xii. 10. Our honours and comforts in this world have their alloys. 3. The angel, by an admirable condescension, mildly requests Jacob to let him go (v. 26), as God said to Moses (Exod. xxxii. 10), Let me alone. Could not a mighty angel get clear of Jacob's grapples? He could; but thus he would put an honour on Jacob's faith and prayer, and further try his constancy. The king is held in the galleries (Cant. vii. 5); I held him (says the spouse) and would not let him go, Cant. iii. 4. The reason the angel gives why he would be gone is because the day breaks, and therefore he would not any longer detain Jacob, who had business to do, a journey to go, a family to look after, which, especially in this critical juncture, called for his attendance. Note, Every thing is beautiful in its season; even the business of religion, and the comforts of communion with God, must sometimes give way to the necessary affairs of this life: God will have mercy, and not sacrifice. 4. Jacob persists in his holy importunity: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me; whatever becomes of his family and journey, he resolves to make the best he can of this opportunity, and not to lose the advantage of his victory: he does not mean to wrestle all night for nothing, but humbly resolves he will have a blessing, and rather shall all his bones be put out of joint than he will go away without one. The credit of a conquest will do him no good without the comfort of a blessing. In begging this blessing he owns his inferiority, though he seemed to have the upper hand in the struggle; for the less is blessed of the better. Note, Those that would have the blessing of Christ must be in good earnest, and be importunate for it, as those that resolve to have no denial. It is the fervent prayer that is the effectual prayer. 5. The angel puts a perpetual mark of honour upon him, by changing his name (v. 27, 28): "Thou art a brave combatant" (says the angel), "a man of heroic resolution; what is thy name?" "Jacob," says he, a supplanter; so Jacob signifies: "Well," says the angel, "be thou never so called any more; henceforth thou shalt be celebrated, not for craft and artful management, but for true valour; thou shalt be called Israel, a prince with God, a name greater than those of the great men of the earth." He is a prince indeed that is a prince with God, and those are truly honourable that are mighty in prayer, Israels, Israelites indeed. Jacob is here knighted in the field, as it were, and has a title of honour given him by him that is the fountain of honour, which will remain, to his praise, to the end of time. Yet this was not all; having power with God, he shall have power with men too. Having prevailed for a blessing from heaven, he shall, no doubt, prevail for Esau's favour. Note, Whatever enemies we have, if we can but make God our friend, we are well off; those that by faith have power in heaven have thereby as much on earth as they have occasion for. 6. He dismisses him with a blessing, v. 29. Jacob desired to know the angel's name, that he might, according to his capacity, do him honour, Judg. xiii. 17. But that request was denied, that he might not be too proud of his conquest, nor think he had the angel at such an advantage as to oblige him to what he pleased. No, "Wherefore dost thou ask after my name? What good will it do thee to know that?" The discovery of that was reserved for his death-bed, upon which he was taught to call him Shiloh. But, instead of telling him his name, he gave him his blessing, which was the thing he wrestled for: He blessed him there, repeated and ratified the blessing formerly given him. Note, Spiritual blessings, which secure our felicity, are better and much more desirable than fine notions which satisfy our curiosity. An interest in the angel's blessing is better than an acquaintance with his name. The tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. Thus Jacob carried his point; a blessing he wrestled for, and a blessing he had; nor did ever any of his praying seed seek in vain. See how wonderfully God condescends to countenance and crown importunate prayer: those that resolve, though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will, at length, be more than conquerors. 7. Jacob gives a new name to the place; he calls it Peniel, the face of God (v. 30), because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God. Observe, The name he gives to the place preserves and perpetuates, not the honour of his valour or victory, but only the honour of God's free grace. He does not say, "In this place I wrestled with God, and prevailed;" but, "In this place I saw God face to face, and my life was preserved;" not, "It was my praise that I came off a conqueror, but it was God's mercy that I escaped with my life." Note, It becomes those whom God honours to take shame to themselves, and to admire the condescensions of his grace to them. Thus David did, after God had sent him a gracious message (2 Sam. vii. 18), Who am I, O Lord God? 8. The memorandum Jacob carried of this in his bones: He halted on his thigh (v. 31); some think he continued to do so to his dying-day; and, if he did, he had no reason to complain, for the honour and comfort he obtained by this struggle were abundantly sufficient to countervail the damage, though he went limping to his grave. He had no reason to look upon it as his reproach thus to bear in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. vi. 17); yet it might serve, like Paul's thorn in the flesh, to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of the revelations. Notice is taken of the sun's rising upon him when he passed over Penuel; for it is sunrise with that soul that has communion with God. The inspired penman mentions a traditional custom which the seed of Jacob had, in remembrance of this, never to eat of that sinew, or muscle, in any beast, by which the hip-bone is fixed in its cup: thus they preserved the memorial of this story, and gave occasion to their children to enquire concerning it; they also did honour to the memory of Jacob. And this use we may still make of it, to acknowledge the mercy of God, and our obligations to Jesus Christ, that we may now keep up our communion with God, in faith, hope, and love, without peril either of life or limb."

Day 3 Part 1: 12/14/05 Genesis 28:20-40:11

Here's today's reading.

Genesis 28:20-40:11

Day 2 Part 2: So this is where the trouble started! 12/13/05 Genesis 17:1-28:19

We cover quite a number of years in today's reading. Enough that we can see the similarities and differences between the generations. I had previously posted regarding Isaac and Jacob's shared desire to stay away from Canaanite women, and their common deception regarding making their wives pose as sisters.

But what really amazes me is the text below.

Genesis 17:15-20 (Today's New International Version)

Ge 17:15 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.�

Ge 17:17 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!�

Ge 17:19 Then God said, �Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.4 I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

Sarah and Abram get impatient and try to have a child through Hagar. Abram and Hagar have Ishmael. Then, just like God said, Abram and Sarah have Isaac. This is the births of the nations of Israel and Islam. The birth of two warring nations happens because Sarah and Abram took matters into their own hands.

Now I'm not normally one for saying, "What if?", but this one has my mind reeling. If a one-time slip up can cause world powers to wage war over the centuries, what can come of the so called "tiny sins" that I think are trivial in my own life? Now that we are really involved in Arab national affairs and Iran is trying to make Nukes for retaliation at Israel, we see that the consequences of sin in the world are many and catastrophic.

On a lighter note, the Christmas tree fell over this evening. Ornaments and needles everywhere. Our tree is really dead. If we have needles left by Christmas Day, I'll be surprised. For a good laugh, go read the 1daymore archives for last December's tree hunt. O Christmas Tree!

Day 2 Part 1: 12/13/05 Genesis 17:1-28:19

Good morning!

Here is today's reading.

Genesis 17:1-28:19

Tam said that if I write as much as I did yesterday, it will take us another 90 days just to read my musings. So, I'll try to keep my notes shorter today.

Day 1 Part 2: 12/12/05 Genesis 1:1-16:16

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

There is so much ground covered today! The Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abram and Lot. It all flies by so quickly. I have too many questions and comments to name them all.

First, Creation. It strikes me as easy to feel condescending to the writer of Genesis, traditionally thought to be Moses, but we are uncertain. When we see the writer saying, " God made two great lights--the greater to govern the day and the lesser to govern the night," we might be tempted to think, "What a quaint way of saying that." But let's think about it for a moment.

God designed this world to work! When you are awake, there is plenty of light around. When you need to sleep, the big light goes away and the little light comes out, so you don't run into things. How easy it would've been to just have the one light, but God knew we would need these things. The moon's purpose is so huge! It's gravitational pull affects the tides, and the tides have a purpose in the scheme of things. I have to wonder as well, when God made the moon, did he think, "Someday man will stand here and look down at my home for him." Wow! Nearly all of this creation material can be dealved into. It is awesome what God has created.

Okay, a couple of more thoughts. I'm skipping over the fall of man. It's important, but there's too much to cover. Did you notice that in Chapter Five, God appears to take Enoch directly to Heaven or wherever? All throughout Chapter Five it says, "So and so lived x number of years and then he died." But with Enoch it says, "Enoch walked with God 300 years...then he was no more because God took him away." There's some Bible trivia I would've missed.
Also, I would've liked to have known more about the Nephilim in Chapter Six. "They were heroes of old, men of renown." Hmm. Sounds like there were some great stories there that will have to wait.
In Chapter 13, we see Abram and Lot parting ways. They have a practical issue of resources and they decide to part company. How rare is that in history? Everywhere, when resources get scarce, people fight. When the herdsmen began to fight, Abram and Lot just got smart. Note that Lot picked the good land.
Chapter 15 is crucial. Much of history and what has transpired throughout the centuries hinges on the Covenant of God with Abram.

I'm peeking ahead to tomorrow's reading. Looks like Abram uses multiplication instead of addition to increase his decendents. I bet that gets him into trouble!

I hope you had a good day of reading. I'm praying for you. Tune in tomorrow! Comment if you wish.

DAY 1: 12/12/05 Genesis 1:1-16:16

Here's the Day One Passage link if you need it.

Genesis 1:1-Genesis 16:16

Zondervan has a new Bible search tool that is easy to use. Go to Zondervan Bible Search and give it a go.

Notes:
Congratualtions for joining our endeavor. No matter how far you make it or how long it takes, my hope is that this next 90 days will be meaningful and that your time in God's Word will help you to grow.

About postings:
My current plan is to post in the morning and in the evening. Because I may be posting materials for the next day's readings, I will tag all of the information with the day I'm discussing and the initial date on which it was discussed. Don't get discouraged if you are not reading up to the pace of the days. Continue to post on previous days. As the moderator, I'll receive an e-mail when you post to any day. Speaking of e-mails...please forward me your e-mail address outside of the site. (To keep my spam down, I'll now give you my e-mail address so that spam readers won't catch it.) Send it to roblamb followed by @ followed by swbell.net. This way I'll be able to notify you if I am unable to make a post for any particular day. My disclaimer on my posts is as follows. Everything you hear from me is what I understand to the best of my knowledge. I am not perfect. I am occasionally wrong about certain aspects of Scripture and theology. If you think I am wrong about something, say so. We may refer questions to Pastor Jim from time to time. This is our free place to discuss, encourage, and learn. The goal of The Bible in 90 Days is to give us all a better understanding and a more complete picture of Scripture. It is also a small gift to our Lord -- a sacrifice of time and a commitment to focus.

I will be praying for each of you every day. May God bless you in these 90 Days.

Rob

Now this is cool.

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

Evidence of the early church of Jesus Christ has been found in an Israeli prison. This may be a third century church, the earliest known Christian church structure. Most Christians in this area were worshipping in homes and hiding places to avoid persecution. Here's a prisoner, cleaning the ancient mosaics. I don't know how I missed this story, but I did. There's a small story within the story about a Roman soldier who gave money to the church.

If I get a few moments, I'll try to dicipher the Greek, though I think they give a translation in the story. Click on the link below.

Israel Church a Major Discovery

The Salvation Army -- A Tradition With a Mission

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

There is almost no Christmas tradition better than the Salvation Army's bell ringers. First of all, they're ringing bells. It's the sound of the season. Second, they're collecting money from people before they go shopping, reminding them that there are many people in great need. Third, they are using the money wisely to feed the hungry, rehabilitate drug and alcohol addicts, and do many of those things that Christians are called to do.

Target has chosen to not allow the Salvation Army bell ringers this year. The Salvation Army raised $9 million last year in front of their stores. If you venture into your local grocery store or other store where they still have the Salvation Army bell ringer, please give a little more than usual. I've visited the St. Louis Salvation Army center for rehabilitation and I can tell you about the great work that they do. They are doing God's work in our communities.

Over the next few days I'll be posting some other ideas for holiday giving.