Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 43, 2 Chronicles 19-20
“We do not know what to do,
2 Chronicles 20:12b
but our eyes are on you.”
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 30-32, Song of Solomon 6-8
I’m using David Guzik’s commentary to better understand the book of “Song of Solomon.” Read chapter 6 here or download the “Enduring Word Commentary” free from the Apple Store or the Google Store or read Mr. Guzik’s commentary in the Blue Letter Bible app, also available from the Apple Store or Google Store.
Additionally, he has sermons available for you to watch or listen to on his Enduring Word website, here.
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
Song of Songs 6:3a ESV
I Am His, and He Is Mine
Author: Wade Robinson (1877)
Loved with everlasting love,
led by grace that love to know;
gracious Spirit from above,
Thou dost taught me it is so!
O this full and precious peace!
O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His wife and He is mine.
Heav’n above is deeper blue;
earth around is sweeter green;
something lives in ev’ry hue
Christless eyes have never seen.
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow;
flow’rs with deeper beauties shine;
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine.
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine.
Taste the goodness of the Lord:
welcomed home to His embrace,
all His love, as blood outpoured,
seals the pardon of His grace.
Can I doubt His love for me,
when I trace that love’s design?
By the cross of Calvary
I am His and He is mine.
I am His and He is mine.
His forever, only his!
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee,
firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine.
I am His and He is mine.
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 29, Song of Solomon 5
I’ll be using David Guzik’s commentary to better understand the book of “Song of Solomon.” Read chapter 5 here or download the “Enduring Word Commentary” free from the Apple Store or the Google Store or read Mr. Guzik’s commentary in the Blue Letter Bible app, also available from the Apple Store or Google Store.
Additionally, he has sermons available for you to watch or listen to on his Enduring Word website, here.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.Song of Songs 5:16b ESV
Heavenly Father, Thank You for creating marriage, a covenant between a man and woman before Your eyes til death parts them. May our marriages be rooted in the love of God but also enjoy the fruit of an abiding admiration and friendship with one another. Give us times of refreshment and renewal and laughter together that will help us overlook those times when we’re walking through the valley. For Your glory and our good we pray. Amen.
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 28, Song of Solomon 3-4
I’ll be using David Guzik’s commentary to better understand the book of “Song of Solomon.” Read chapter 3 here and chapter 4 here or download the “Enduring Word Commentary” free from the Apple Store or the Google Store or read Mr. Guzik’s commentary in the Blue Letter Bible app, also available from the Apple Store or Google Store.
Additionally, he has sermons available for you to watch or listen to on his Enduring Word website, chapter 3 here and chapter 4 here.
Here is one of my favorite parts.
A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
Song of Songs 4:12 ESV
Guzik writes,
“Seeing the high value of virginity also helps us to understand the Biblical commands against pre-marital sex. It is helpful to refute many myths about pre-marital sex:
· Myth: “The Bible says nothing against premarital sex.”
Fact: The high value placed on virginity, seen here and in other passages such as Deuteronomy 22:13-29 shows premarital sex is wrong. But it also clearly found in the passages that speak against the sexual sin known in the New Testament as porneia, and commonly translated “fornication” (1 Corinthians 6:13 and 6:18; Ephesians 5:3 and 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Porneia broadly refers to all types of sexual activity outside of marriage (including homosexuality); it encompasses practically all sexual behavior outside of that which is practiced between a husband and a wife in the bonds of their marriage.
· Myth: “He wants to have sex with me because he loves me.”
Fact: His love for you will be proved by his willingness to wait for marriage. The desire for sex does not prove love in a man. In one survey, 55% of men said “yes” to the following question: “If you could be certain that your wife or girlfriend would never know, would you have sex with any of her friends?” And to the question, “Have you ever had sex with a woman you have actively disliked?” 58% of men said “yes”. You are foolish if you think a boy loves you – or even likes you – because he wants to have sex with you.
· Myth: “My boyfriend is a Christian and loves the Lord. I don’t have to worry about that.”
Fact: Christian men face the same challenges as non-Christians when it comes to sexual desires and lusts. They have the ability to overcome those lusts by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it isn’t easy and many who thought they were strong enough have fallen to these sins.
· Myth: “We are going to get married, so it doesn’t matter.”
Fact: It does matter. First, you are setting a value on your own sexuality; there is a sense in which a woman then gives her future husband the right to treat her as an object. Second, you are setting a pattern; you are agreeing that in some circumstances, sex outside of marriage is acceptable, and this is something you don’t want in your mind or in the mind of your marriage partner; especially because one of the most important aspects of a long lasting, fulfilling sexual relationship is trust. Third, you are only taking away from the blessing God intends for your sexual relationship when married.
· Myth: “We can be married before God.”
Fact: If you were on a desert island without any intuitions of government or society, this might be an argument. But marriage in both the Biblical and cultural sense is being joined together in a public ceremony that is recognized as legal and legitimate by the law and the culture. You aren’t on a desert island
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your gifts of marriage and of forgiveness. Thank You for the cleansing blood of Jesus that washes white as snow. I lift up all the single women and men. Please help them to be strong and patient as they wait for their spouse and their wedding day. Help us to trust You and turn to You, believing the truth and casting out the lies. For Your glory and our good. Amen.
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 27, Song of Solomon 2
I’ll be using David Guzik’s commentary to better understand the book of “Song of Solomon.” Read it here or download the “Enduring Word Commentary” free from the Apple Store or the Google Store or read Mr. Guzik’s commentary in the Blue Letter Bible app, also available from the Apple Store or Google Store.
Additionally, he has sermons available for you to watch or listen to on his Enduring Word website here.
I’ve excerpted a few of my favorite parts.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.Song of Songs 2:7 ESV
Guzik writes, “It is like letting a flower grow until it naturally blooms, instead of trying to force a flower to grow and blossom. This isn’t repression – the rejection and denial of the feelings, often in shame; this is suppression – the conscious restraint of natural impulses and desires.”
Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.Song of Songs 2:15 ESV
Guzik writes, “Clearly the maiden speaks poetically here, using the little foxes as emblems of that which would damage the love relationship she shares with her beloved. The idea is that their relationship is like a fruitful vineyard and the little foxes will damage the vineyard unless they are stopped and caught. Glickman lists several “little foxes” that may trouble couples:
· Uncontrolled desire that drives a wedge of guilt and mistrust between the couple.
· Mistrust and jealousy that strains or breaks the bond of love.
· Selfishness and pride that refuses to acknowledge wrong and fault to one another.
· An unforgiving attitude that will not accept an apology.
My beloved is mine, and I am his;
Song of Songs 2:16a ESV
Guzik writes, “Charles Spurgeon preached eight sermons on Song of Solomon 2:16-17, and in one of them titled The Interest of Christ and His People in Each Other, he meditated on the meaning of each aspect.
“Ways that I belong to Jesus, ways that I am my beloved’s:
· I am His by the gift of His Father.
· I am His by purchase, paid for by His own life.
· I am His by conquest, He fought for me and won me.
· I am His by surrender, because I gave myself to Him.
Ways that Jesus belongs to me, ways that He is mine:
· He is mine by connection in the same body; He is the head and I am part of His body.
· He is mine by affectionate relationship; He has given me His love.
· He is mine by the connection of birth; I am born again of Him.
· He is mine by choice; He gave Himself for me.
· He is mine by indwelling; He has decided to live inside me.
· He is mine personally, He is mine eternally.
Which is the greater miracle — that he should be mine,
Charles Spurgeon
or that I should be his?
Heavenly Father, Thank you for making me Yours. What a miracle! I’m not worthy of that kind of love. Indeed, while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. Yet, You have made me worthy by Your love. And, You are mine. What a miracle! You dwell in me, and You live with me. Even death cannot separate us. Thank You. I pray Your blessings on my marriage. Make us one, wholly devoted to one another and to You, a three-fold cord that cannot be broken. Bless my children with godly marriages that reflect Christ and His bride. For Your glory and our good. Amen.
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 26, Song of Solomon 1
I’ll be using David Guzik’s commentary to better understand the book of “Song of Solomon.” Read it here or download the “Enduring Word Commentary” free from the Apple Store or the Google Store or read Mr. Guzik’s commentary in the Blue Letter Bible app, also available from the Apple Store or Google Store.
Additionally, he has sermons available for you to watch or listen to on his Enduring Word website here.
I’ve excerpted a few of my favorite parts.
David Guzik writes, “The best way to see this book is as a literal, powerful description of the romantic and sensual love between a man and a woman, observing both their courtship and their marriage. It does not give us a smooth chronological story, beginning with the introduction of the couple to one another and ending with their married life together. Instead, it is a collection of “snapshots” of their courting and married life, with the pictures not necessarily in order. Yet, because God deliberately uses the marriage relationship as an illustration of the relationship that He has with His people, we find that this great song of songs illustrates the love, the intensity, and the beauty of relationship that should exist between God and the believer. This is clearly a secondary meaning, sublimated to the plain literal meaning, yet nevertheless valid and important.
“The fact that this “greatest of all songs” focuses on romance and marital love shows us what a high regard God has for the institution of marriage. We might expect that the songs of songs be a song that only praises God instead of one that celebrates love and sensuality within marriage. This idea is decidedly contrary to the negative view towards marriage that came early in the history of the church…. In 386 Pope Siricius commanded that all priests live as celibates, and later this order was extended to include deacons in the church. In this period, many people who were ordained as priests were already married. Leo the Great (440-461), out of concern for these wives, did not allow priests to put their wives away but commanded that the priest and his wife live together as brother and sister — that is, without any sexual relationship. This command led to the rule that a married man could not be ordained as a priest unless he and his wife took a vow that they would live as celibate, and then led further to the refusal to ordain anyone who was or had been married.
“This idea that the truly spiritual cannot or should not be married and enjoy sexual love is not based in the Old Testament. The Old Testament has no word for a bachelor; in Old Testament thinking, there were to be none. Every patriarch was married, all priests were married, and as far as we know every prophet was married except for Jeremiah, who was uniquely commanded by God not to marry (Jeremiah 16:2). Since the office of high priest was hereditary, the high priest had to marry…”
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine;”
Song of Songs 1:2 ESV
Mr. Guzik comments, “Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of Victorian England, followed the custom of his age and understood the Song of Solomon primarily as a poetic description of the love relationship between Jesus Christ and His people. In his sermon titled Better than Wine, he drew forth two main points:
Christ’s love is better than wine because of what it is not:
Christ’s love is better than wine because of what it is:
Guzik continues, “Marriage-eligible women today should have the same perspective [“rightly do they love you”], considering that the Apostle Paul summarized the responsibility of a wife towards her husband in Ephesians 5:33 with one word: respect. Though it is common – in the words of a modern film – for women to select a man for who he almost is, or to choose him for the man she can make him to be, this is unwise. An unmarried woman should ask herself the serious question: “Can I genuinely respect this man as he is right now? Do I respect him enough to submit to him the way the Bible says a wife should submit?” The maiden of the Song of Solomon had already asked and answered this question.”
Like modern women, the Shulamite maiden worries that her appearance is not good enough but her beloved. Guzik writes, “There is an old story about a thief who broke into a department store and stole nothing; but he switched the price tags. The next day an expensive Swiss watch was marked as being worth $1.50; a fine leather handbag was marked for $1.75. A simple rubber ball for a child was marked for $150.00 and three pencils were marked for $175.00. If people bought or sold at those prices, you would think they were crazy. Yet all the time people value precious attributes and characteristics in other people very cheaply (especially when it comes to love and romance), and they assign high value to attributes and characteristics that are actually worth little.”
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the gift of marriage, for love that remains steadfast even when we’re no longer young fillies and handsome stallions. Thank you for men who faithfully study and teach your Word with honesty and integrity. We pray your blessings on David Guzik, his ministry, and his family. Keep his heart, mind, and life pure and devoted to You. Please teach us and transform us by Your Spirit at work in us. Help us to pursue You single-heartedly. Amen.
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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 3, Romans 14
Pray with me.
Heavenly Father, May my life be lived daily “in honor of the Lord.” Whether I eat or whether I abstain, let me be fully convinced in my own mind, walking by faith and not by flesh. I want to be prepared to give an account to You for how I have lived. I am thankful that You are my judge because You are impartial and righteous and merciful and wise, and I am selfish and foolish and petty. I am not my brother’s judge. You are. You are the all-knowing, all-righteous judge of the world. I pray that I will pursue what makes for peace and building up the body in unity and holiness. I pray that I would not do anything that would cause my brother or sister to stumble. May the body of Christ be pure and holy, without blemish, in word, thought, and deed, to the glory of Your Name, and may that begin with me. In the perfect name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior I pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 1, Romans 12
“Let love be genuine.
Abhor what is evil;
hold fast to what is good.’
Romans 12:9
I love Romans 12. It’s so full of practical wisdom. I’d love to memorize all 21 verses in order, so I could remind myself of every ounce of it every time I needed it.
First, I need to be reminded that my body is a living sacrifice for God, that I might walk daily in the holy obedience of faith.
Second, I need to be reminded not to think of myself too highly, but to remember that my faith is a good gift from God, that I might serve Him by serving others in my teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and serving.
And then, I need to be reminded that my love must be genuine and sincere, free from hypocrisy, that I would hate what is evil and cling to what is good. This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:6, Love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” Our culture says that we should applaud others’ choices, no matter what they are, but our Lord says that genuine love HATES evil and LOVES good.
And finally, I need to be reminded how to treat those enemies that genuine love will make, that I am not to repay wrong with wrong, but to overcome evil with good.
Light and love are our secret weapons in the fight against the evil one
and those in his grasp.
Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not us. We are His servants, called to put on the full armor of God, to resist the devil and fight the good fight of faith. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, please help us to remember that we are Your soldiers, Your workmanship, Your children, Your servants, that we are in a battle between good and evil. Let us fight this battle well, with the sword of the spirit ready in our minds, mouths, and hands, overcoming evil with good by Your power at work in us. Let us not grow weary of doing good, knowing that at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart. In the Almighty and Good name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Luke 7
The seventh advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with Luke 7. If you don’t have your own copy, you can order your own a Kindle version instantly, while you wait for the paper copy to arrive. I’m really loving this “mash up” of the advent devotional with the daily reading in Luke. I hope you are, too!
How was Joseph able to forgive his brothers after they had perpetrated such great sin against him? I think the answer might be found in Luke 7.
“Then turning toward the woman [Jesus] said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””
– Luke 7:44-50 ESV
So long as I think my sins aren’t really that bad, it’s hard to forgive other people. But when I recognize how much God has forgiven me, then I’m able to love God and love others.
And if I think that God is mean to allow such terrible things into my life, then I will be bitter toward Him and toward others as well. But if I think that God is the master weaver, creating a masterpiece of my life, then I will humbly accept whatever others do to me and keep praising Him through it all.
Heavenly Father, I know that You are good. I trust You. Help me to love others with the love that You have poured out lavishly on me. Help me to remember how MUCH I have been forgiven, how GREAT my sins are and have been. Help me to be so busy working on getting the log out of my own eye that I don’t have time to fret about the splinter in my brother’s. I love You, Lord. Help me to love You more!
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Luke 4
During the Advent season, I’ll be reading from both my daily Advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with our 2-year Bible Reading plan, so that I read Genesis 1 along with Luke 1. Tomorrow is the last day that the Kindle e-book version is available on Amazon FREE. Merry Christmas! Hurry and get your copy today and share it with your friends!
“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. … So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.”
– Genesis 12:1, 4a ESV
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.”
– Luke 4:1-2 ESV
My husband and I are about to celebrate our thirty-first wedding anniversary. Many of those years have been hard, friends, and sometimes I’ve questioned what God is up to. Why did He put the two of us together?
In the first five years of homeschooling, I often second guessed whether God had really called me to this because it was an uphill battle day after day. Now, with my homeschooling days behind me, I can look back and see God’s hand with me every step of the way. I know that God carried me and walked with me, even though the path was often twisty and rocky.
Our culture has sold us the lie that if we obey God, then everything will be smooth sailing. Don’t believe it. It wasn’t smooth sailing for Noah or Abram. It wasn’t smooth sailing for John the Baptizer or Jesus Christ or His disciples. Don’t be surprised when it’s not smooth sailing for you.
My job isn’t to question and argue and second-guess, to help God figure out where I ought to turn. My job is to follow where God leads and stay on the path that He has set before me. My job is to trust and obey.
Heavenly Father, You know all the answers. You know what path is best. You are almighty. You are all-knowing. And You are good. Help me to trust You and to stay on that straight and narrow path. Help me to go where You lead me. Help me to follow You rather than trying to get out front. Help me to go where You send me. Help me to trust and obey. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my faithful Shepherd I pray. Amen.
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