I have found The One Year Bible extremely valuable in my daily walk with God. The One Year Bible is a Bible that has been specially arranged for daily reading. Each of the 365 readings contains an Old Testament portion, a New Testament passage, a section from the Psalms, and verses from the book of Proverbs. If you stay on schedule you will have read the entire Bible—and the Psalms twice—in one year. I had to do some serious catch-up during December to get through the whole thing by the end of 2012!
Over the past several years I have chosen a theme to watch for in my reading for that year. I have a colored highlighter at hand to mark the verses which reveal that theme. The first time I did that I was on the lookout for predictions of Jesus. I used a yellow highlighter. The next year the theme was God speaking and the color was green. Last year it was “kingdom” in blue. This year I have two themes: the Holy Spirit (orange) and the poor (pink). I keep all five colored highlighters ready so I can both mark the new themes as well as catch the themes I missed in the previous years. This approach not only helps me learn more, it also increases my alertness while reading.
As I got to Isaiah in my reading last year I noticed how God speaks of Himself. Over and over He points out that He is Creator, Judge, Redeemer, Sovereign, and Provider. (Yes, I know. Those are not any of the themes I have been marking with my colored highlighters!) He wants His people to know this about Him, to hold on to Him as Creator, Judge, Redeemer, Sovereign, and Provider.
Isaiah was God’s prophet to the Israelites during the time leading up to and following the invasion of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. It was a time of calamity and heartache. God called His people to Himself, to see Him as Creator, Judge, Redeemer, Sovereign, and Provider, to anchor their lives in Him.
It struck me that God’s people, then and now, need to know these things about God in order to live. Not to be able to talk theology or to catalog the characteristics and activities of God. But to live. This is what we really need for our 24/7 365 experience.
Who is God? Join me over the coming Sundays as we come to know God, to know God as Creator, Judge, Redeemer, Sovereign, and Provider.