The Psalms in 2025

 Reading the Psalms

Did you know that Psalms is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament? In Psalms we see the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. In Psalms we wrestle with how God’s justice is worked out in the world and in our lives, we confront good and evil, joy and sorrow, grief and joy, friends and enemies, ignorance and understanding. 

In Psalms we can unashamedly confront raw emotion, from the depths of hell to the heights of heaven – there is no religious pretension in Psalms, there is even the abrupt dead end of Psalm 88.  Have you ever faced a dead end in your life? 

In Psalms, the Holy Spirit invites us to hear the Father speaking to the Son and the Son responding to the Father. In Psalms we see “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16) from the Creation to the Body of Christ, from eternity past to eternity future.

The Psalms invite us into the cosmic dance of the Trinity, not as observers but as participants. As Peter writes, we “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). 

In Psalms we hear the Voice of the Son, sometimes this is the Voice of the Head of the Body and sometimes it is the Voice of the Body and sometimes, as Augustine points out, we can’t distinguish between the two.  (If this sounds like a mystery, it is.) Are we learning to see Christ in each and every Psalm? 

What I am trying to say is that there is more to Psalms than we think there is – and saints for ages have known this, which is why Psalms has been the Voice of the Church since Moses and Miriam and Aaron sang of God’s deliverance at the Red Sea. (How have we come to lose our Voice?)

And so I want to encourage us to read a psalm each day, beginning with Psalm One and working through the book, and then beginning again at Psalm One, and so forth and so on for the rest of our lives. What we see and hear will expand and develop and grow and assume texture and nuance and fabric and point and counterpoint – and we will see and hear Jesus Christ coming to us, speaking to us, speaking through us – drawing us onward and upward into koinonia with the Trinity and the Communion of Saints. 

If this sounds like a mystery…it is.

Some observations:

As you become familiar with Psalms you will see that there are different themes in different sections – this is part of the discovery process. 

When I read about “enemies” I tend to think of the enemies of my own soul – my selfishness for example. However, let us not be so foolish as to think that there are not evil people and movements in the world, there most certainly are. There is unspeakable evil in the world working in and through people who have given themselves over to darkness – Psalms gives us an outlet for praying about these things, for giving them into the hands of God and trusting Him to resolve all in His time and in His Way. Psalms teaches us to be God’s Light in darkness, His hope in the midst of despair, agents of His deliverance, in Christ, for those in captivity. 

I encourage us to read Psalms aloud – reading silently is a relatively recent historical practice, when we read aloud we hear and “see” the words – it can be like looking into a View Master…words assume a depth we didn’t perceive. 

Why am I so excited about Psalms? Because I am excited about Jesus Christ, and He comes to us again and again and again in the Psalms. 

Jesus says to us, “Come and you will see.” (John 1:39).

And as Philip says to Nathanael, I say to you in all love, “Come and see.” (John 1:46). 

May you have a blessed 2025 in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Old Testament in 2025

 Reading the Old Testament 

Good morning beloved,

In today’s reflection I want to encourage us to read one OT chapter each day in a manner which will expose us to the entire OT. Since there are 929 chapters in the OT, reading one chapter per day will not result in reading the entire OT in a year, but it is a start for those of us who need to renew our relationship with the Word. 

Again, there are many Bible reading schedules online, such as those found at the American Bible Society and you may find a comprehensive one that appeals to you. The only way to know the Bible is to read the Bible, it is not to read about the Bible. Yes, there are resources to help us think about what we are reading, and the quality and type of resources are varied, but if we aren’t going to read the Bible we aren’t going to know the Bible. Also, as a reminder, this isn’t about information or data, it is about a relationship with Jesus Christ and our Father (and with one another) in the Holy Spirit.

There are 39 books in what we call the Old Testament, filled with names and places and people who are not only not familiar to most of us, but we also can’t even pronounce many of them. As for pronunciation, do the best you can, the people are all dead and won’t care.

When I think about the OT (in our current context), I don’t think about 39 books, I rather think of 5 sections – this is helpful to me because 5 of anything is easier to think about than 39. In terms of a mansion, I don’t think in terms of 39 rooms but rather of 5 wings or sections or corridors. In my own OT reading I want to make sure that I am being refreshed in all 5 wings throughout the year – that is, whether I actually read the entire OT in a given year I want to ensure that I am reading within each genre during the year (and please understand that my own approach to reading has varied over the years – but the key is that it has been consistent, it has been daily – I want to meet Jesus Christ in His Word in the fabric of my life). 

I am not a proponent of reading the Bible straight through from beginning to end. This means that I am not a proponent of reading the OT from Genesis straight through to Malachi. I am not opposed to such straight through reading, it’s just that I like to mix things up and I think varying the genre we are reading is refreshing. Plus, as a whole, the OT is not written in chronological order – parts of it are and parts of it are not – on the other hand, the OT is very much integrated, it forms a coherent whole – which means that while I am reading Malachi that I am seeing its relationship with Leviticus and 1 Kings. (The more familiar with the Bible we become the more we’ll see that in reading one Biblical book we are reading all the Biblical books – but this is something you need to experience yourself). 

Here are the 5 wings of the mansion: The Books of Moses, History, Poetry, the Major Prophets, the Minor Prophets (“minor” because their books are not as long as those of the “major” prophets). As I said, thinking about 5 is easier than thinking about 39. 

The Books of Moses are the first 5 books of the Bible. The books which give us the story of the history of Israel and Judah are Joshua – Esther. The books of poetry, also known as the Wisdom Books or Writings, (though there is poetry elsewhere in the OT) are Job – Song of Solomon. The Major Prophets are Isaiah – Daniel. The Minor Prophets are Hosea – Malachi. 

Whatever your Bible reading plan may be, I suggest that it include each of these sections. For reading one OT chapter a day in 2024, here is a suggestion:

Note: I will send out a separate reflection on the Psalms. It has a special place in the Bible. 

Genesis: this is foundational on many fronts, plus, there is nothing quite like the story of Joseph – a picture of Jesus in many ways. O yes, if you want to glance through the genealogies rather than deeply ponder each name, I think you will be okay. There are treasures in the genealogies to be sure, but perhaps it’s best to pan for gold another time so as not to get bogged down. 

1 & 2 Samuel: This gives the foundation of Israel’s monarchy, centered about King David – as with Genesis, there are many foundational elements here that are woven throughout the Bible. 

Job: I make a point of reading and pondering Job at least once each year. Not only is suffering a mystery which we will never fully understand this side of heaven, but the book of Job is a reminder of how foolish our (or at least mine) thinking can be and of the danger of justifying ourselves. 

Jeremiah: Here we see our challenges in living for Christ in a hostile cultural and religious environment. We also see challenges in vocational ministry and in other forms of church leadership – will we be faithful to Christ, or will we cave into what the crowd wants? (2 Tim. 4:1 – 5). Will we align ourselves with the Kingdom of God or with nationalism and political agendas? I make certain that I work through Jeremiah every year, as well as his book of Lamentations (which I’ve read multiple times in 2023 – it is so contemporary!).

Hosea – Malachi (the Minor Prophets): I’ve included all of the Minor Prophets in my suggested reading. They span a broad spectrum of time and location. Some of these prophets were in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, some in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and some spoke specifically to other nations (Jonah, Nahum, and Obadiah). Three of these prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, served during the Restoration after the Babylonian Captivity. Some will be easier to read than others, but don’t we want to put more weight on the bar if we are going to grow?

It's a shame we don’t live in these prophets because they have much to say to us about Jesus Christ and about our own life situations – as individuals, as families, as congregations, and even as nations. The Bible is more than history, it is God speaking to us and into our world today in and through Jesus Christ. 

If nothing else, once you’ve read the Minor Prophets you will have done something few others have done…including no doubt many in vocational ministry. 

When you get to Haggai ask yourself, “Is this a picture of me and my church? Are we looking after ourselves or are we putting the Kingdom of God and His Temple before our own agendas?”

Exodus, chapters 1 – 24: Here is the foundational narrative of Moses, the Exodus from Egypt, and the forming of the Hebrews into the entity of Israel – a people called to worship and serve God and serve the peoples of the earth.

Proverbs: This book of wisdom has many treasures, and Jesus appears throughout it if we have eyes to see Him…for let’s recall that in Him is all wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:1 – 3). 

Judges: This takes us back to the time before the Monarchy – a time of anarchy, and yet in the midst of anarchy we see God revealing Himself to men and women and groups of people. Can we see our own society mirror the lawlessness of the book of Judges, a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”? Will you and I stand with the faithful minority and seek to be faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ, or will we go along to get along and sell our souls? 

Well, the above are simply some suggestions that will take you through 2024 by reading one chapter a day. Hopefully we will want to “read the rest of the story” – but we need to begin somewhere and somehow. 

Much love,

Bob

The New Testament in 2025

 Good morning beloved,

Below is a suggested order for reading the New Testament in 2025. If we read one chapter each day we will have read the entire NT by the end of September (if memory serves me well). 

There are numerous Bible reading plans available online, such as can be found at the American Bible Society. The important thing is to read the Bible – to get started and to continue with it. After all, if we aren’t practicing the basics we have nothing upon which to build. This is like learning certain steps in dance class, or certain plays in football or basketball, or learning the scales (and practicing them!) in playing music. 

The suggested order is meant to give us exposure to different elements of the NT throughout the year, for example you will see that the Gospels are spread out every 2 – 3 months. You might also note that we usually have short books and then longer books, that is by design. 

If you are already reading the entire NT throughout the year, wonderful! But if not, I hope you’ll please give this (or something similar) a try. 

Much love,

Bob

If you'd like this in WORD or PDF please send me a note at robertlwithers@gmail.com

New Testament – Suggested Reading Order

Mark

James

Philippians

Romans

Acts

1 Peter

Matthew

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Corinthians

Titus

1 John

2 John

3 John

2 Corinthians

1 Timothy

John

2 Timothy

Philemon

Galatians

Hebrews

2 Peter

Jude

Revelation

Ephesians

Colossians

Luke