Let's Keep Reading

19 days and reading where I am supposed to be! I feel good about that. You know, I have never read through the Bible in a year, either. Just like many of you, I have set out to do it, but something has always gotten in the way. Usually well before day 19! Psychologists say it takes three weeks to create a new habit. I am hoping that I am almost to the habit-forming stage of reading each day. I am looking forward to continuing to see new things about God in the biblical story each week as I practice my new habit of reading through the Bible in a year.

This week, we are finishing Genesis and beginning Exodus. We began in a garden and now find ourselves enslaved in Egypt. Isn’t it interesting that with one sentence, "Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph." (Ex. 1:8) a place of refuge and restoration becomes one of oppression and misery? I wonder how many of us have found ourselves in a similar situation? We flee to a place that we believe will provide a safe haven, only to find that we have entrusted our lives to the wrong place and the wrong people. In the case of the Israelites, two generations had lived in Egypt growing and multiplying until their sheer numbers threatened the Pharaoh’s sense of security and power. From there, the story takes a dramatic turn toward continual hardship, cruelty and even mass murder. Not a very hope-filled future for the heirs to God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

But God hears, remembers and looks down on the Hebrews. And God acts. As is God’s way, it is through the ordinary that something extraordinary happens. Shiphrah, Puah, Miriam, and her mother, the pharaoh’s daughter, even Moses – ordinary people who respond in extraordinary ways - ensure that God’s promises and hopes for the people are not thwarted. This is one of my favorite things about God. I love how God takes the least likely and invites them to play important roles in God’s story. Right from the beginning, God has wanted relationship and partnership with us in the grand plan of creation. I can’t tell you how it feels to know in my heart that God has invited me, even me, to play a part that only I can fill. And God has done the same for you.

So let’s keep reading! Where will the story take us next? Don’t be discouraged if you miss a day, or two. Jump back in. This is an adventure that just gets better and better. - Debby Fox, Pastor of Christian Education and Discipleship.