Blog: Max Dawson
December 4, 2016
Today is our first edition of Monday Musings for the New Year. It is the first Monday of the first Month. And it is the beginning day of our 2016 Bible reading.
For the past six years the Dowlen Road church has encouraged its members to engage in a daily reading of the Bible. In that time we have read the New Testament, the Poetic writings, the books of Moses and more. We have read the New Testament more than once.
Rather than trying to read through the whole Bible in a year, we try to focus on reading five chapters a week–one chapter for each weekday. The problem for most people with trying to read the whole Bible in the course of a year is that it requires 3-4 chapters everyday. If you fall behind just a few days, it becomes difficult for most folks to catch up. When people feel they can’t catch up they give up. Of course, I have no objection to those who would read the whole Bible through in a year. God bless you if you do that. I did that in 2015.
But, the five day reading plan is what we are encouraging at Dowlen Road church this year. It is not only easier to follow, it has other advantages. It has a focused purpose. In 2016 the reading will be exclusively in the 17 books of the prophets in the Old Testament. Our objective is to familiarize ourselves with the prophets and to see the rich content of their writings.
The reading is only a part of the project. It will be accompanied by at least two Bible classes taught in the course of 2016. The first of those classes will start in February as it looks at the books of the Minor Prophets. Benjamin Lee will teach that class.
Additionally, our project will be incorporated into our preaching. On the first Sunday night of each month, Ben and I plan teach a lesson from the prophets. Our young men who present the Wednesday evening invitations will draw their points from the prophets.
If you are a member of the Dowlen Road congregation, I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to learn from the prophets in 2016. If you are not part of the Dowlen Road family, we invite you to join with us in our reading.
A FINAL WORD
If you would like to join, the schedule can be found online. Just click or paste this link in your browser: http://dowlenroad.com/?p=19967.
Counting from today, there are 260 weekdays in 2016. There are 250 chapters in the books of the prophets. In order to have a reading for each day, I have taken the ten longest chapters from the prophets and scheduled those to be read over two days. In the reading grid you will find those ten chapters underlined. Read the first half the first day and the other half the second.
The reading is laid out in chronological order, beginning with the earliest of the literary prophets, Jonah. Jonah has four chapters; that will cover Monday through Thursday of this week. Then, it is on to the book of Amos on Friday.
As you read, if you have questions about difficult or challenging texts, submit them to me and I will try to answer some of them in Monday Musings.
For further introduction to the prophets I invite you to view “The Prophets Project” at http://dowlenroad.com/?p=19999.
Blessings to you and yours in the New Year.
–Max