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Thursday, April 27, 2017

How To Get Connected To The Bible In 30 Days

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Psalm 19:7 "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

Introduction:

Today's post aims to be an encouragement and a challenge to readers. The encouragement part has to do with presenting a feasible way of getting into a daily habit of Bible reading for the next 30 days. The challenge to the reader is to simply do it. 

What is the plan? In the book of Psalms we have a handful of psalms that Bible teachers call "Torah Psalms". These "Torah Psalms" are psalms dedicated to unfolding the value of God's Word to one's walk with God. The plan entails taking the verses in Psalm 19:7-14 and the 22 sections of Psalm 119 (eight psalms each) and sectioning these all up into a 30 day reading pattern. The plan for getting connected with the Bible in 30 days would go something like the following:

Day 1 - Psalm 19:7
Day 2 - Psalm 19:8
Day 3 - Psalm 19:9
Day 4 - Psalm 19:10
Day 5 - Psalm 19:11
Day 6 - Psalm 19:12
Day 7 - Psalm 19:13
Day 8 - Psalm 19:14

The first eight days would involve reading one verse-a-day from Psalm 19:8-14. On the ninth day, the reader would "kick-it-up-a-notch" to reading eight verses a day, beginning with Psalm 119:1-8. The reason being is because Psalm 119 is divided into 22 portions of eight verses. In the original Hebrew, Psalm 119 has each of its eight verse sections start each verse with a corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This would had enabled people to memorize the entire Psalm (imagine that!). In many English Bibles, the sections of Psalm 119 still include the Hebrew name of their alphabetic sections (for instance, Psalm 119:1-8 is called "aleph", Psalm 119:9-16 is called "beth" and so on). Anyway, we could begin Psalm 119 on day 9 and move through its 22 sections until we reach the 30th day. Thus, for example....

Day 9 - Psalm 119:1-8 or "aleph"
Day 10 - Psalm 119:9-16 or "beth"
Day 11 - Psalm 119:17-24 or "gimel"
Day 12 - Psalm 119:25-32 or "daleth"
Day 13 - Psalm 119:33-40 or "he"
Day 14 - Psalm 119:41-48 or "Vau"
Day 15 - Psalm 119:49-56 or "Zain"
Day 16 - Psalm 119:57-64 or "Cheth"
Day 17 - Psalm 119:65-72 or "Theth"
Day 18 - Psalm 119:73-80 or "Jod"
Day 19 - Psalm 119:81-88 or "Caph"
Day 20 - Psalm 119:89-96 or "Lamed"
Day 21 - Psalm 119:97-104 or "Mem"
Day 22 - Psalm 119:105-112 or "Nun"
Day 23 - Ps 119:113-120 or "Samech"
Day 24 - Ps 119:121-128 or "Ain"
Day 25 - Ps 119:129-136 or "Pe"
Day 26 - Ps 119:137-144 or "Tzaddi"
Day 27 - Ps 119:145-152 or "Koph"
Day 28 - Ps 119:153-160 or "Resh"
Day 29 - Ps 119:161-168 or "Schin"
Day 30 - Ps 119:169-176 or "Tau"

By the end of 30 days, the reader will had covered quite a bit of Biblical text, all expounding on the Bible itself. I commend this plan to anyone desiring to get a fresh start in a regular diet of reading God's Word.