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Daily Readings for October 5 – 11

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Fellow travelers:

For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week I post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week.  The main readings include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.

Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings will be about 9 chapters per week.  These readings cover the Pentateuch, the OT histories, a few other OT books, plus Jude and Revelation from the NT.

Regardless, I hope this schedule encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read.  Follow along (or not) any way you choose!

2 chapter a day plan:
Monday, October 5: Habakkuk 3, Titus 1
Tuesday, October 6: Titus 2 – 3
Wednesday, October 7: Jeremiah 1 – 2
Thursday, October 8: Jeremiah 3 – 4
Friday, October 9: Jeremiah 5 – 6
Saturday, October 10: Jeremiah 7 – 8
Sunday, October 11: Jeremiah 9 – 10

Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible in 2026:
1 Chronicles 21 – 29

Job’s Forgiveness

Todd R 1 Comment

The story of Job is a fascinating, dramatic one, full of lessons for God’s people.  This post will focus on a couple of specific verses in the book, but first, some needed background: We learn at the beginning of the story that Job is a wealthy man, and also a man of impeccable character, who loves God and loves his family.  Satan accuses Job of only loving God for the good things God has given him and says that Job would curse God if these blessings were removed.  God permits Satan to torment Job to see what would happen, first killing all of his sons and daughters, and then striking him with sores covering his entire body.  Truly, Job was in agony.

Then the bulk of the book consists of a dialogue between Job and three of his friends who came to comfort him.  If you know the story, you will know that they did the opposite of comfort Job.  While we have the privilege of knowing that Job’s calamity was not the result of his sin, his friends make assumptions about why Job suffered.  They believed that because all these terrible things have happened, Job must have committed some terrible sin.  God is just, after all.  They urged Job to confess the sin or sins that brought death and sickness upon his family and him, and all the time we, the readers, know Job is innocent.  The dialogue goes on and on; I’d guess it’s about 35 chapters.

During this time, Job declares his innocence and cries out that God should hear his case and vindicate him.  Job tells his friends that they are not helping; they are no comfort to him.  They are wrong, he says repeatedly.  Yet, they don’t give up on their accusations and demand that Job confess and repent.  Imagine if you were in dire straits and this was how your friends treated you!  If it was me, I would find it very hard to forgive them.  I would find it impossible to continue being friends.  Yet that isn’t what happens.

In Job 42:7, God says to one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”  God rebukes the friends, not for lacking compassion or sympathy, but because their theology made assumptions about God and about Job that just weren’t true.  They didn’t represent God well during the long dialogue.  Job may have felt vindicated at this point in the story.  He could have said “look, God agrees with me” and wonder what punishment was coming for these “friends.”  Again, this isn’t what happens.

This is what God says next in Job 42:8, “Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”  God wants Job to intercede with Him for his friends, who are to provide the sacrifices.  Job doesn’t hold a grudge or demand apologies or vengeance, but he offers sacrifices for them so that they can be forgiven!

If I was in Job’s place, I can’t believe that it would be that easy to forgive after what his friends put him through at a time when he really needed friends.  They only made him feel worse, and the physical and psychological wounds were still fresh.  Regardless, we get no indication that Job hesitated or forgave reluctantly, just that he did it, and that “the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.” (v 9)

In this matter, Job was foreshadowing Christ, His sacrifice, and His forgiveness, because as Paul wrote in Romans 5:7-8, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Then in the second half of Colossians 3:13, Paul wrote: “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

God didn’t wait for us to come around and get straightened out before He died for us and forgave us; He died for people who were sinners, while they were sinners.  We weren’t even born yet, and He still died for us, knowing what we would be like – unrighteous sinners.  He also expects us to forgive as He did, and as Job did with his friends, even though it can be unnatural and hard.

Have you experienced God’s radical forgiveness?  If so, is there someone who needs your forgiveness?  Think of how hard it would have been for Job to forgive his friends, and know that forgiveness is possible in all circumstances, because God has made it possible.

“As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Amen.

Serving Other Gods

Todd R 1 Comment

Foundational to God’s relationship with His people – His covenant – is the idea that He will be our God and we will be His people.  If we forsake all other “gods,” we will be blessed immeasurably by the true God, Yahweh.

However, in the time of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, right before the exile of Judah into Babylon, God’s people were not being faithful to Yahweh and were worse than prior generations in their rebellion.  So, Jeremiah says in chapter 16, verse 13 – “Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.”

This punishment has 2 parts: banishment from the Promised Land, and also “you shall serve other gods day and night.”  Have you ever thought that serving gods other than Yahweh is a punishment, or just that its bad or sinful?   It certainly isn’t the way the world sees it: many consider serving any god as punishment.  Others might have their own gods and would only consider serving other gods, including Yahweh, as punishment.  But here the Bible says that it is only punishment to follow false gods.

Why is this?  A good explanation comes from another prophet, Zechariah, in chapter 10, verse 2:

“For the household gods utter nonsense,
            and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
            and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
            they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.”

Compared to a loving, omniscient, wise God, these other gods have no knowledge or wisdom and are not benevolent.  They cannot give us what we need to live and are not worthy of worship.  They cannot guide us like our Good Shepherd can.  Therefore, when we choose to follow anything other than Yahweh, are we punishing ourselves?

When Yahweh said “You shall have no other gods before me” in Exodus 20:3, He said it for our own benefit, and for His glory.

Amen.

Walking Safely with God

Todd R 2 Comments

Many people, both Christian and non-Christian, think of obedience to God as a dreadful chore, something that robs us of our autonomy and joy.  Sometimes people refuse to believe in God because they reject His requirements, and sometimes people resent God because they see Him as making them labor in futility for the perfection He requires.  However, we know that salvation does not come from our obedience, but Christ’s, and through God’s grace He reveals Himself to us.  Then we learn that the rules we should follow come from a God who loves us and perfectly knows what is good and bad for us – far beyond our own knowledge.  Therefore, those rules become our freedom and joy when we follow them willingly.  He always knows the best and right choice to make.

Psalm 119 (the longest chapter in the Bible) is a meditation on the benefits of God’s laws for us, and verses 44-45 give us a picture of those benefits:

“I will keep your law continually,
            forever and ever,
and I shall walk in a wide place,
            for I have sought your precepts.”

The central idea here is that when we are obedient to God, we “shall walk in a wide place,” but what does that mean?  How does that benefit us?

Think about walking along a mountain path, or on stones crossing a river.  Does it make a difference how wide that path is, or how big and flat the stones are?  If we trip and fall on a narrow place, we may fall into a river or off a cliff.  However, if we fall in a wide place on a mountain path or on a very large rock, we may scrape a knee or our hands, but the consequences won’t be as severe as falling off a cliff!

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

The idea of walking in a wide place brings to mind the contrast between the consequences of following our own way versus following God’s.  Going our own way can not only have worse consequences now, in this world, but it can also have consequences in eternity.  Never repenting of going our own way at all leads to an eternity banished from God’s presence and blessings.  But even if we are saved, failure to follow God can rob others of God’s blessings for them that He intends through us and can influence our experience in heaven.  Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that there are rewards in heaven for those who follow Him, as well as “loss” for not doing so.  So, doing whatever we please has consequences, some of which may be eternal.

In contrast, obedience to God is like walking in a safe place, where any negative consequence is temporary, or comes with a corresponding blessing.  We may get a scraped knee, but we don’t fall off a cliff, suffering permanent damage, death or other loss.  Following God’s word can’t keep all bad things from happening to you, but it can limit the worldly consequences, and eliminate the eternal consequences.

Therefore, seek God’s guidance and follow it, and we “shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”

It’s a better path to follow than any other.

What Conversion Looks Like

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Dear fellow travelers,

One of the apostle Paul’s earliest (if not the earliest) surviving letters is the one we know as 1 Thessalonians.  Early in that letter, Paul wrote about his confidence that the church in Thessalonica had experienced true conversion to Christianity, and part of that confidence came from the strong evidence of changed lives witnessed by others.  In 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 Paul said that the Thessalonian Christians “became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.  For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”  This witness was a result of receiving the gospel from Paul and others, then imitating Paul and Jesus as much as they could.

What were the people in Macedonia and Achaia saying about the Thessalonians?  Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”  The report can be summed up in three words: turned, serve, and wait.

Turned – The Thessalonian Christians showed true repentance when they “turned to God from idols.”  Some say repentance is a U-turn on the road of life, and they definitely had turned around!  Leaving behind the things they used to worship, now they seek and worship the God they now have faith in.  So much that their reputation spread far and wide.  When we don’t prioritize the things those around us do, it’s noticeable.

Serve – After repenting, they began to “to serve the living and true God.”  Not only did their newfound faith affect their worship, but it turned their lives into continual acts of service.  We serve God by loving Him and by loving our neighbors, even when it is difficult or laborious.  Even when we don’t like our neighbors.  This service was visible and obvious to outsiders, because in the world, most people only love those who they like, or who are similar to them.

Wait – They learned “to wait for his Son from heaven.”  They put their hope in the future return of Jesus to this world, instead of putting their hope in this world and its things.  Their hope in Jesus shows that they know this world isn’t going to save itself but needs to reconnect with its Creator.  When Christians hope this way, it can lead to a massive shift in attitudes and priorities.  Peter wrote that we should always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15). Unless we have a hope that people can see, why would they ask us about it?  Are our attitudes changed by our hope, as we wait for Jesus?

Note that the turning, serving, and waiting correspond to the triad of primary Christian virtues: faith, love, and hope.  Paul used this grouping earlier in 1 Thessalonians 1, in verse 3, and in the very familiar end to 1 Corinthians 13: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  While “faith, hope, and love” may be hard for people to see, if we turn, and serve, and wait, these can be a strong witness to the world of the reality of Christ, the God we worship.  We can show the world the reality of what we believe, true marks of conversion, and evidence that our God is real.

“For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”