Week One

This week you'll be reading in Genesis and Job!

Since we are going chronologically, you'll read through Genesis 11 before pausing there to pick up in Job 1. This is because Job is considered the oldest book in the Bible, and his account takes place some time after the Flood and Babel.

Here is the link to the Facebook group for daily check ins (passcode to submit is in the Facebook lecture), or you can check in on this lecture if you're using the Teachable app; just scroll down to submit your comments!

The digital PDF attached to this lecture is important. I suggest printing it at the beginning of the week or reading it before you begin the weekly reading! Here is what is included:

This month's reading list: A list to help you stay on track for January. Feel free to combine or break up the chapters as needed; your "catch up day" will be Sunday.
Note-taking sheet: This is optional, but you can use it to take notes throughout the week! You can use one sheet for all 6 days or you can use one a day.
Habit formation tips: Tips for making reading a habit and confronting the bad habits that keep us from consistency!
Prayer journaling sheet: If you struggle with prayer, this sheet will help you integrate what you are reading into a consistent prayer life. Prayers do not need to be long or involved. Talk to God like you're talking to a friend!
Study tips for Genesis and Job: These sheets can be printed out and kept in your Bible.

Below are the additional resources. A note about extra resources!!!!! These are optional. They are intended as an ala carte resource if you have an additional question or time for exploration. I do NOT recommend reading/consuming all of them, especially if doing so will put you behind in the daily reading.

Prioritize the daily reading, and once that is done, explore the extra resources!

A note about the Tower of Babel from Christian Research Institute:

"Consider... the incident of the construction of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The significance of the tower generally escapes the modern reader. Why did these people begin to build a tower “with a top whose head is in the heavens” (v.4, author’s translation)? Some have proposed that they were trying to build a tower with which they could escape another flood. The historical background, however, suggests a better explanation. First, by investigating ancient religious practices and beliefs, we discover that it was generally held to be true that a person’s god dwelled on a mountain. The mountain was symbolic of the separation between someone’s god and himself or herself as a worshiper. Gods were high and lifted up, while the worshipers were on the ground below looking up. Since there were no mountains in the “plains of Shinar,” as verse 2 indicates, the people decided to construct a mountain in which their god(s) could dwell.

Second, in Genesis 4:26 we find the statement that a son was born to Seth whose name was Enosh, and at that time “men began to call upon the name of the LORD.” The next few chapters deal with the Flood story and the Babel story. Then in Genesis 12:8 we find the statement, “And there he [Abram] built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.” These two statements surround the intervening stories like bookends. They also contrast the practices of the victims of the Flood and the participants in the Babel incident with Enosh and Abram. The idea of “calling upon the name” indicated the worship of the one on whose name a person would call. Enosh and Abram worshiped the true God, and they called upon His name. The people at Shinar, on the other hand, had gathered together to make a “name” for themselves so that they might not be scattered over the earth, even though God had commanded them to fill the earth (Gen. 1:28)."

Video Resources: