Read the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 9, Isaiah 51-53
I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.
Isaiah 51:12-13a ESV
Afraid of Man? Have you Forgotten your Maker? FormerAtheist58
Christ our Hope in Life and Death – Getty
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 149-150, Isaiah 30-32
The Israelites put their trust in Egypt to save them, rather than God. Where is our trust?
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! … The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
Isaiah 31:1, 3 ESV
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7 ESV
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
Psalm 150 ESV
Stop Trusting in Horses and Chariots. Start Trusting in God – FormerAtheist58
Everyday Hallelujah – Phil Wickham
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 148, Isaiah 28-29
Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.
Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.
This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Isaiah 28:23-29 ESV
A farmer doesn’t only plow; he knows when to stop plowing and when to level the ground, when to plant, and what to plant where. A farmer uses different tools at different times and works them all together to produce crops. In the same way, God knows what instruments to use in our lives, and when to use them. We don’t have to doubt or despair at what God is doing in our lives, because He is an expert farmer, working on us with all His wisdom.
David Guzik
God is an Expert Farmer – FormerAtheist58
How Firm a Foundation – Grace Community Church
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 142, Isaiah 15-16
“Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive; let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.” Isaiah 16:3-5 ESV
“Isaiah wanted Judah to be a place of refuge and protection for Moab under judgment. This is exactly what the church should [be] when people receive the judgment that fits their rebellion against God. If they humbly flee for refuge among God’s people, the church should be a place that will hide the outcasts and receive him who escapes, never to betray them.”
David Guzik
“Whenever pride is not broken by humility, it will have to be broken by justice.”
Harry Bultema
Sheltering the Outcasts – FormerAtheist58
Leaning On (Acoustic) Stephen McWhirter
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 141, Isaiah 13-14
My Savior’s Love
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned unclean. How marvelous! How wonderful! and my song shall ever be; How marvelous! How wonderful! is my Savior’s love to me!”
Charles H. Gabriel (1856-1932)
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
Isaiah 13:9 ESV
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 ESV
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 ESV
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Matthew 5:1-12 ESV
I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus – FormerAtheist58
I Stand Amazed in the Presence – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Come Unto Jesus – Getty, Laura Story
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Read the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 140, Isaiah 10-12
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
For [the king] says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones….”
Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
Isaiah 10:12-13, 15a ESV
If it is easy for an unknowing instrument of God to become proud, it is also easy for a willing instrument of God to become proud.
Jesus said we should have a different attitude: So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10) As wonderful as it is to be an instrument in the hand of God, the instrument deserves no special glory.
David Guzik
Tools in the Master’s Hands – FormerAtheist58
Led by the Master’s Hand – George Younce – Gaithers
J. D. Sumner – Touch of the Master’s Hand
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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 131, Galatians 4
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
– Galatians 4:4-7 ESV
27 years ago we were packing our bags to travel to Russia to finalize the adoption process for our son. Adopted as a six-month-old, Nick learned to sit and crawl on our carpeted living room floor. He learned to cruise along our comfy brown couch. He learned to say “Mommy” and “Daddy” on my lap.
From the moment he became a part of our family, he was given equal standing with his older sister who had grown in my womb. There were no extra rules to keep. He was our son, and we were his parents. End of story.
Thank You, Father, for adopting me as Your daughter, for placing Your Holy Spirit in my heart as a seal of the genuineness of my faith. You have engraved my name on the palms of Your hands (Isaiah 49:16) and You have caused me to bear the name of Christ. Thank You for causing me to be born again, creating me anew after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Finding my Identity in Christ – I’m More Than a Homeschool Mom – FormerAtheist58
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 130, Galatians 3
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the gift of faith, the grace given to me through Jesus Christ, the righteous for the unrighteous. Thank You for the example of Abraham who was counted righteous by his faith, not by his works.
Thank You for the gift of the law as a tutor and guardian to protect us until our eyes might be opened by Your grace to the beauty of that Savior hanging on the cross.
Please help me to be a good steward of Your Word. Let me not breed little Pharisees who take pride in their own good deeds. I don’t want to raise better liars and hiders and sin-concealers. May I diligently and faithfully point my children to the perfect Lamb who kept the Law in every point, teaching them to be quick to repent, to run toward reconciliation with Jesus, with their parents, and with others.
I pray that my children would indeed be made sons and daughters of Abraham, being recipients of Your blessings because of their faith in Your Son. Protect them from believing the lie that they can be good enough to deserve Your mercy or merit Your grace. Help them to recognize that this is a lie sent from that liar, tempter, and accuser, Satan, who tempts us to sin and then accuses us when we fall.
I pray that my children would receive the gift of redemption found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. May they receive that matchless inheritance which is found not in the blood running through my earthly body, but in the blood of Jesus Christ poured out on the cross.
Grant my children the faith to believe that we are each sons and daughters of God by faith in Jesus Christ, that when we are baptized into Christ we are clothed in Christ and made one in Christ.
Help my sons take joy in being boys, and help my daughters take joy in being girls. Protect them from the sin of pride, from thinking they know better than You do.
May they humbly recognize that their eternal inheritance begins and ends in You.
Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 126, Hosea 11-12
Have you ever had those days when you want to say to your adult children, “Honey, don’t you forget, it was me who changed your dirty diapers. It was me who nursed you in the middle of the night, and it was me who bathed your naked little body. It was me who sang to you and rocked you to sleep. It was me who washed your skinned knees when you fell down in the driveway. It was me who brushed the knots out of your hair. It was me who taught you to sing the ABC’s and count to ten. Honey, trust me. You should listen to me.”
God has those days with us, too.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
Hosea 11:1-2
God hasn’t given up hope for His children, and we shouldn’t either.
Heavenly Father, please, draw our hearts back to You. Discipline us with Your rod of kindness and woo us with Your love. Lead us with the cords of kindness and hold us fast with Your bands of love. And Father, please, draw our children back to You. Discipline them, too, with Your rod of kindness and woo them with Your love. Lead them with the cords of kindness and hold them fast with Your bands of love. Teach us how to parent them with love and grace and humility and gentleness and courage and firmness and truth. Make us parents after You. Teach us how to be godly mommies because You are the perfect daddy. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Our Perfect Example of all things we pray. Amen.
Read Through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 125, Hosea 9-10
Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.
Hosea 10:1 ESV
God has given us every good gift to enjoy. He has blessed us with heat and sunshine and air to breathe. He has given us homes to live in and children to fill them. He has blessed us with abundant food and wealth. He has given us eyes to see, ears to hear, and minds to comprehend. Yet, what do we do with all of these gifts?
Do we enjoy them or neglect them? Do we praise Him or take credit for them? Do we use them for good or for evil?
When was the last time you thanked God for the children sitting around your table or clinging to your legs?
When was the last time you thanked the Lord for dirty dishes and floors littered with clothes and toys?
When was the last time you took a leisurely walk outside and thanked God for the blue sky and warm sun?
It seems that the more full our homes and lives become, the less interested we become in the Lord. Why is that? Why would the Lord bless us with more if it will just turn our hearts away from Him?
His mercy keeps us begging for our daily bread. His mercy makes us hunger for the gift of a child. His mercy keeps us dependent on Him for a roof over our head and money in our bank account.
Sunday night I flew home after spending six long days and five short nights with my daughter and her three children under five. It was hard. It was messy. It was exhausting. But, oh, the memories it brought back.
Like all good farmers, this soil-preparing, seed-sowing, plant-tending work requires rising early and working late, but oh does it bear GREAT FRUIT.
“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” Proverbs 14:4 ESV
Last week, while I sat on the floor building trains with the 4.5 year old and 2.5 year old, we listened to “Sing the Bible” Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 by Slugs and Bugs on Pandora. “The Ox Song,” based on Proverbs 14:4, croons, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” How true!
The Ox Song – Sing the Bible Vol 4 – Slugs and Bugs
No children = no legos to step on, no trains to pick up, no diapers to change.
But no children also means no little ones to put a smile on your face and joy in your heart and no older ones to help care for you in your old age.
One day I’ll be alone with a hot fresh cup of Joe Wishing that someone would just drop by And I’ll sit and reminisce, the times that I sure miss Scattered toys and a baby on my hip I thought finding peace in the quiet’s what I wanted But I’d give anything to go back to being needed
String Cheese – Hannah Harper
Heavenly Father, Help me to be faithful in the little things that You might entrust to me more things. Help me to be thankful for every single little gift, the birds that sing before the sun rises, the wind that blows gently through the trees, the sound of trickling water. Thank You for giving me eyes that see and ears that hear. Thank You for giving me a mind and heart that know You. And thank you especially for the children and grandchildren that you have blessed me with. May I be grateful for every day and every memory. The days are indeed long, but oh are the years so short. Amen.
Teach What is Good 
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