I was a junior in college when God started working in my life in a whole new way. I had been reading the Bible for years; but something was different now. Suddenly I realized I needed a plan, a roadmap of sorts, for my Bible reading. It turned out to be a great thing in my life.
I perused a variety of devotional and Bible-reading-plan books and decided to start with “The Pentateuch: Chapter by Chapter.” As the name implies, it really was a chapter-by-chapter guide to the first five books of the bible. Some chapters had only a couple paragraphs of commentary or notes about them; others had closer to a whole page. But this little book literally guided me through the beginning of what would wind up being my first time to read the entire Bible, cover to cover.
The most surprising thing happened as I read these five books: I made a friend.
And I began to care. Moses was a key guy in these books, reluctantly taking Pharaoh head-on, leading Israel out of Egypt, wandering around lost in the desert listening to everyone whine to him and about him, and getting the gang ready to head on into this land God had promised to His people. I liked Moses. He was a leader. And he was just a regular guy who was flawed. I identified with him. I cheered for him. I got frustrated with him.
But do you know what happens right before the Israelites cross over into the promised land? Moses dies. He DIES! I saw it coming. God said it would happen. I read every word of it. And yet it caught me by surprise. How could this happen? I was rooting for this guy, and now he’s gone?! Gone. I remember feeling truly sad, oddly surprised and even almost abandoned or betrayed.
Since then I’ve identified over and over with different characters in the Bible. It amazes me every time how God shows us different parts of ourselves... and Himself... through the story of scripture. It’s a great book. I hope you’re reading it too.
Kathy Raines, UBC College Minister
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