Another Year in the Word

I've decided once again to spend this year doing my devotional reading of the Bible with Robert Murray M'Cheyne's calendar. If you're not familiar with it, this particular calendar takes you through the entire Bible once and the NT and the Psalms twice; it is a wonderful journey that helps the student of Scripture see the big picture--so vital to understanding the Bible. However, this year I'm also doing something I'm not that big a fan of: I'm using devotional guides along with my reading of Scripture. Since one of my favorite authors is D.A. Carson (and by the way, he should be one of yours, too!), and since he just happened to write two separate guides based on M'Cheyne's calendar, I'm reading through them as well. I'm now seven days in, and the reward has been well worth the risk. If you're interested, you can find them here and here (vols. 1 and 2, respectively).

After thinking through Gen 3 (Adam and Eve), 4 (Cain), and 6-7 (Noah) afresh, it strikes me again as amazing cause for worship that our God is a Redeemer by nature. For instance, in 3 Adam and Eve had no thought but to hide themselves from Him, and when confronted with their disobedience, their natural recourse was to blame-shift. But God [one of Paul's favorite phrases]! God took the redeeming initiative--amazing love, amazing mercy, amazing grace! The God of the Bible--yes, the "mean, vengeful, blood-thirsty" God of the OT (!)--is a Savior by His very nature (cf., Ex 34:6-7)! Praise be to our redeemer God!

To let you know how you can pray for us, we have signed up through TMS to go to Israel this May. The price is unbeatable, but we don't have the money. Please pray with us that God would provide the $7000 my wife and I need to go. The down-payment ($3500) is due at the end of February.