An Epic Read!

Who reads the Bible anymore? I mean really reads the Bible………..not just a study or a scripture lookup but the kind of cover to cover, epic, You & me God, kind of read that takes you on an odyssey of discovery. I know there are a lot of folks that read the Book all the way through once a year every year on some kind of “Bible in a year” reading plan and there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those ways that we hide the word in our hearts.

I have been bouncing around from book to book and scripture to scripture for some time now and God is always faithful to illuminate His will and Wisdom in it, but as I had completed a read of Ecclesiastes the other day and began, for no other reason than the fact that I felt led, to read Ezra I started to feel this strong sense for a journey; an epic sense.
I stopped and prayed for a second and began to remember when I was a brand new Christian filled with Gods’ Holy Spirit.

One of the very first things I ever sensed Him saying to me was to open up the bible at Genesis 1:1 and read and don’t stop or skip around until I got through Revelation. This was very difficult because I had all these very well intentioned Christian around telling me I was doing it wrong. “You need to start in Mathew and read the Gospels first,” one would say. Some had other scenarios to transport me to an understanding of this or that. It was hard to stand my ground. I just quit being specific when they would ask if I was reading my Bible.

I had another difficulty later when I got to the lists of all those names in Numbers and else where. I would begin to fall asleep in those sections so I decided just to skip over the names and move on. No such luck. I began to get headaches every time I tried to read past the parts I skipped. I know it may sound silly but it took me 2 whole weeks of fits and starts before I finally got it. I was thinking my eyes were going bad on me, but I prayed about it and God said, “Remember my instructions and be obedient.” I went back and read the parts I had skipped with no problems. How Great God is!

I have read it since but now I am on that epic journey seeking to know only Him in it. I can’t wait to see where He takes me………………………..