I have now read half of the Bible. I am halfway done. Wow!
The last week of reading has been very tedious for me. We have been reading Psalms and Proverbs. I know most people love these two books. I, however, do not love one of them and the other, in my opinion, is not meant to be read in large chunks. My real dislike is for Psalms.
I think my problem with Psalms is my dyslexia. I find all poetry difficult to read and Psalms especially so. I have to focus so much on the actual task of reading because the poetry flows so differently that I start seeing words wrong. One example came when I kept reading "a round of applause" as "a round of applesauce." The first time, I thought it was strange but chalked the wording up to poetic liscense. The second time around I realized I must be missing something and looked a bit closer. Yep, "applause" made much more sense. The other mix-up I remember was reading "immortal" as "immoral," Yeah, that one I caught the first time because the verse was completely contradictory when I thought it said something like "the righteous will be immoral." This word mix-up problem happened several times in Psalms and made the reading especially tedious. It made it hard to focus on what was being reveled because so much effort was required just to read the words correctly.
Honestly, I've never liked Psalms, so finding it difficult this time is no surprise. Here is an interesting aside. Do you know that until my mid twentys I thought Psalm 23 started off saying "The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want." Not, "The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not want." I know those look the same but that silly little "." in there makes a world of difference. I always thought the Psalmist was saying he did not want God, which given the rest of the Psalm makes no sense at all and thus caused much confusion for me. I now get that the psalmist is saying because God is his shepherd he wants for nothing. Totally changed the Psalm for me. Totally. See why I don't like the Psalms? I just don't get them.
Proverbs is a book I really do like. It is very straight forward and sensible. What I haven't liked this week is reading it in a big chunk. It is very hard to really take in all of the wisdom imparted in Proverbs in two or three sittings. I will definitely spend more time re-reading Proverbs in smaller bits after I finish the Bible in 90 Days.
Part of the problem this week stemmed from the books we had to read, but I think I am also having a problem with complacency. Reading the Bible in 90 Days is no longer a new and daunting challenge. I've learned I am capable of doing it and that has taken some of the excitement and novelty out the process.
Some days my Bible reading now seems like folding the laundry, just another chore I have to do. And on those days, I am very tempted to put my reading off to the next day or to only do part of it. So far, I have resisted that temptation and have kept up because I know if I get behind things will only get more difficult. I really hope that now that we are past Psalms and Proverbs I will find the reading more engrossing and enjoyable and the chore-like feeling will fade.
I have been posting my daily progress to Facebook to help keep me accountable to doing my reading. I do have to say that it felt good to post "Day 46 of B90Days complete, 44 more days to go" and have the days read be higher than the days left. I can do this. I will do this.
I am glad I have taken on this process. In the end, I know I won't feel like it was a chore but a blessing God has given me. I know I will not be the same person when I finish this process that I was when I started. I know God has specific things He wants me to learn from His word and this exercise. Now, I just have to stick to it and listen.
Jenn
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