PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

Whew, that was a lot of Scripture and it was all the type that almost makes you go to counseling after you read it. We find the beginning of Jeremiah somewhat harmless with promises that God will send shepherds, read pastors, who will love the sheep and will care for the sheep. But unfortunately, it is not enough. In spite of the faithfulness of God the unfaithfulness of the people will overcome the hope that is found and the people will wander around lost in their own towns. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet and he is given the task of prophesying for the south, Judah, where Jerusalem is located, and letting the people know that a nation will come from the north and will completely annihilate Judah. There is no escaping it. The reasoning for this is that the people have been disobedient even having been given every chance possible to obey.

The psalm provide a similar dirge where we find that the faithfulness of the Lord is unfathomable, it is without limit, and yet the faithlessness of the people is similarly extreme. Both of these Scripture depict a reality in which we find ourselves today. We constantly believe that we are able to second guess and provide our own solutions to those which God has clearly laid out in Scripture. It takes time but we do see the results of our hubris. It isn’t good. Hopefully things get better, but Jeremiah is not called the weeping prophet for nothing.

We close out Paul’s letter to Timothy and we find the most commonly used Scripture in the New Testament for Funerals: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. What’s not to like in these verses? There is one line that is problematic for me and which I just discovered this morning as I was reading which I don’t remember seeing earlier. You can find it in II Timothy 1:3 where he states that he is grateful to God whom he worships, as his ancestors did. Maybe it refers to the clear conscience that he mentions in regards to his worship. Maybe both he and his ancestors had clear consciousnesses when they worshipped God. My problem lies in the fact that I do not believe that we worship the same God as those who follow any other religion, including Judaism. This is not a value judgment, it is simply a fact. Different religions must worship a different God, and the old saying that people find very simpatico: there is only one God, is true but only so far as the one God that there is is either the God of Christianity through Jesus Christ, or the God of Judaism, without our Savior, or the God of Islam revealed through Muhammed. It is not all three, it is only one. As a Christian I would humbly posit that we worship the one true God, and the others do not. So, I guess that is something that I will find out when I am no longer in a state where I have to think about it.

I would like to focus on Psalm 105 which gives the full account of the people of Israel from Joseph through them being led out of Egypt by Moses. So we begin with the salvation of the population and the steps that God takes in order to save his people, lest we think that things happen by chance. Joseph was placed in Egypt for the purpose of being able to bring the people of Israel into Egypt, and so have them saved from the famine that struck the land. As a result, Joseph and his brothers settle in Egypt.

But there is a problem and the people of Israel suffer but God sends another person to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, after Joseph brought them in. Both of these things save the people of God. But what we read is only the positive cliff notes version. We don’t hear of the disobedience of the people, we just hear of the faithfulness of God. This is actually what we should be focusing upon anyway, just to remind us that God delivers even in the midst of our sin.

There are a lot of gems in this book of the Bible, but also quite a few things that are problematic. It is in this Scripture where we read that a woman should keep silent in church, which if we support this then you have to keep reading that it states that she will be saved through childbirth. That’s problematic, not only the keeping silent part but also the part that says she is to be saved through childbirth. How is that grace in any way shape or form? As a pastor I have seen the heartache and lived through others the pain that not being able to have children causes. Now we are adding salvation as part of that equation. It is quite clear that Paul is teaching Timothy how to run his church and this church has issues that are unique to it, that involved some women whom I believe are young widows and don’t know what to do with their time. As a result he comes up with solutions to problems within the church that address specifically those widows in that church and not all women in every church.

But it also contains gems that include not returning evil for evil and reminding us that God is in control and His providence stretches across the earth and the heavens. We are told to fight the good fight of faith, which in his second letter becomes a final acknowledgement of his life, that he had fought the good fight, he had run the race, he had kept the faith. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

I always find it curious that Luther thought that James did not believe in the biblical cannon. He was very uncomfortable with the role that works plays in the author’s language, a role that is without compromise. I like it because it leaves no room for doubt that if you want to be a follower of Jesus you have to follow in more than just speech. You have to follow in action as well. The leading theme is that faith is fully revealed, almost only revealed, by the works that we do. Faith without works is dead. How can you not like that?

Psalm 47 is a classic which describes the celebration that all of the earth ought to have because God is king. It is a type of enthronement psalm that allows us to see God reigns over us and is far above all of our politics. It is a good psalm for today when geopolitically we are quite a mess at this time.

He is consistent in giving advice that leads us to enjoy the current life that we have, because we have absolutely no guarantee about what the life to come will be like, our future. He is not referring to heaven, he is referring the future of our life, regardless of whether we are righteous or not, it does not mean that we will be given any special treatment in this life for how we act. This is a type of message that leads the author to say vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He has noticed that the righteous are treated as sinners, and sinners are treated with long life and prosperity, there is no making sense of it.

His solution is that we do that which we enjoy. As followers of Jesus Christ, I would say the same thing. The interesting caveat to all of this is that what we enjoy ought to be what Jesus would have us enjoy. There is no reason to pursue sin, because it should not be something that we either enjoy nor something that we think would give us a good future. When our will is perfectly aligned with the will of God, when our desire is perfectly aligned with God’s desire, then we are able to live our lives following the advice of the author of Ecclesiastes. Things become less vain when we pursue God’s desire in our lives, because it ought to reflect our desire and vice versa. This is lost on many people as they see following God an exercise in legalism. It is nothing like that at all. It is an exercise in freedom.

This is thought to be written by King Solomon, which makes sense because he repeats a number of times that he has the type of wisdom that is not understandable for others. God allowed him to ask for anything, and he asked for wisdom so that he could rule his people well, that’s pretty self-sacrificing. Which is surprising as we read Ecclesiastes. We find here an author who seems pretty grizzled and disenchanted with life in general. All is vanity, is the refrain. We know chapter 3 from the song by the Byrds, to everything there is a season, but do we know the context within which it is written. It is written by a king who has tried everything and discovered that there is nothing new under the sun.

This reminds me when I was on spring break while I was studying abroad in Italy and went to Germany. It was the spring of 1990 and the wall had just come down so I made my way to Germany. I got off the train at Check Point Charlie and walked across the border between East and West and saw people like ants scurrying up and down the wall and taking pieces and tearing it apart. I found myself not wanting to take a piece, because everyone else was, and there was something a bit like holy that it struck me. I decided to sleep on a park bench in East Germany right outside the Brandenburg gate because I knew that no one had ever done that. The way the East Germans had cracked down on people sleeping outside, homelessness was not allowed, made me realize that I could finally do one thing that had never been done before in the history of the world. Sleep on a bench in East Germany. There was something new under the sun for me, but it was in no way tied to righteousness.

Finally God is revealed and he answers Job. He spends a few chapters asking Job is he had any part of the creation at all, because he was speaking as if he knew the wisdom of God, because no one knows the wisdom of God. He asks Job countless questions in relationship to where he was when thing were created, or does he have any influence when the things of creation take place, when the time of birth comes, can he influence that? Of course the answer to all of this is no, Job has no influence whatsoever on all that takes place on the face of the earth, but he is obviously influenced by it.

Job responds to God who speaks and he confesses and asks for forgiveness. This is critical, he does not try to defend himself, he does not try to justify himself, he just says I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. There is an age long debate as to who is in the right, Job or God. Well, clearly Job sees God in the right which is why he asks for forgiveness and he repents, these are the words of Scripture, not mine. From there God is able to act. He condemns Job’s friends because they were wrong and Job was right and makes Job make sacrifices on their behalf because God will not pay attention to anyone else’s sacrifices but Job. And then he ges more than restored with all of his wealth. The story ends happily ever after.

It is interesting that the author of Proverbs 21 speaks about the rashness of youth and the danger of pride and haughtiness. It is not a good thing when we think we know more than we do. This is clearly not directed at Job, although those are the accusations against him, but rather against this new “friend” of his, Elihu. He is speaking as one who has all wisdom, in fact he says as much, that God had gifted him with the wisdom that no one else has. That is really the definition of what the author in Proverbs addresses that is very problematic.

Hopefully someone will put this youngster in his place, I think God is going to do that at the end of Job. Let’s see what happens. I do like the pairing of Proverbs 21 with the words of Elihu, it kinda highlights the pride that he should not have.

No sooner had I said that Job has been accused for very specific, Matthew 25ian, offenses and he had not response to them, which was troubling to me, than he finally responds in a similar specific way. The accusations against him were that he did not do all that which God requires of us first and foremost in regards to our neighbor. No one was accusing him of not loving God but we did hear that he did not love neighbor. He now refutes that, he actually spends two entire chapters speaking of his reputation and his works in regards to those on the margins of society and those who were in need, both the widow and the orphan and the homeless and the thirsty and the hungry and those who did not have counsel in the courts of law.

Job self describes as not only meeting the needs of the poor, but actually having a reputation as the one, the only one really, to whom the needy went to find relief. It was a pretty convincing defense. Now a fourth friend jumps in, a youngster, and he has had enough. He has seen the three friends trying to reason with Job, but Job has been able to successfully show them how they are wrong and how he is innocent. But unfortunately for us, he spends two chapters just building up what he is about to say without saying anything. Just say it!