This month hasn’t started so great for me. See: What does it feel like to have shingles on your face? Let me tell you. So I’m a little late getting this month’s reading plan up. But if you’re like me, that’s no problem because you’re probably a few days behind anyway. No worries!
But you guys, I’m so excited for our October Bible reading plan because . . . we get to finally meet Jesus! The One we’ve been waiting for as we’ve read from Genesis to Malachi over the last nine months. We’ve just seen the Israelites down on their luck, exiled in Babylon, and had finally returned home and started to rebuild. They felt that their time was now. But what did God ask them to do? Wait 400 years. Silence. Nothing.
Download: October Bible Reading Plan (PDF)
And then, dawn breaks through and light appears in the infant child Jesus. Emmanuel. Our God is with us.
Over the next 31 days we’ll be reading all of Matthew and Mark, and a good portion of Luke. Jesus is the fulfillment of our hope—of Israel’s hope. And after slogging through the dark time of exile and abandonment, doesn’t the desire for that promise to come true mean a little more?
For those of you who have fallen behind and feel a little lackluster about finishing this year, here’s an idea: Pick back up with Matthew and start reading through the New Testament. As we head into the winter of this year, the story of our fresh beginning and renewed hope might be just what you need.
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