That was the challenge from Pastor Dave yesterday. "For two weeks, read two chapters a day, Monday through Friday."
My first thought was to just push ahead in Job, but then after some thought and prayer, I am off to do both!
Okay, but what or where does the reading start? Old or New Testament? Re-read something I have already read/studied? So many places to start. So many interesting avenues.
Then, after flipping through Matthew, Luke and much of the New Testament, I went back to the Old Testament. It wasn't the Psalms or [more]the Song of Solomon. Thoughts about the Isrealites in Egypt or escaping did not "grab" me. Then it was, that Amos just kind of tapped me.
So it is! Here is the story of a well-to-do rancher (called a shepherd) in a well off country, getting a message to deliver. A message from a just and righteous God who is tired of their "stuff" – selfishness, injustice, oppression, callousness and forgetfulness.
Even though He has given them so much – has allowed them to be so great, they can't seem to remember that they were (and still are) nothing. They forget that they got where they are because He had brought them that far. As you read the story of the Isrealites, you find that so many times, they dumped what their history taught them so they could grab hold of the now. That was always when they got in trouble. If nothing else, history should be there as an empirical statement of what happened, and allow us and them to see the implications of certain actions – you know – A plus B equals C.
Amos kind of gets his marching orders. It was actually more like a super fantastic speech to be delivered for everybody to hear.
Now, in all honesty, Pastor Dave only asked us to commit to two chapters a day, but before I knew it, I had read four chapters and didn't want to stop.
This was good!