Friday Freelance: FASCINATING

These daily posts are based on Bible readings which work through, by turns, a Gospel, an Old Testament book of history, an epistle, then a series of 25 Psalms. Mark was completed yesterday, and Leviticus was up next. But we'll instead add prophecy to the mix before being beckoned by Levitical pictures of the heavenly tabernacle.

Evangelist Ray Comfort has said that reading through the meat of Leviticus can fill one with longing for a light and fluffy Psalm. But to everything there is a season—a time for Psalms, and a time for Leviticus. If a verse seems tough, perhaps it simply requires being chewed on a bit before desert. We may find a verse uninteresting at the moment, but there's not a single boring verse in the Bible. Each one has a purpose to be discovered.

When searching out roots and family connections, genealogies are indispensable. If you take into account the great significance placed on the meaning of a name, and practices of giving a newborn a name based on the circumstances of birth or amending a name due to life-changing events, genealogies become downright fascinating.

The poetry of Psalms or Job may seem aimless at times. Words poured out from the heart sometimes meander, but they're also an invitation to encounter and experience the emotions of heroes from thousands of years ago.

Prophecies can be difficult to understand, but they actually put everything in perspective—God's perspective. What could be more fascinating than a peek into the mind of God?

And the profound lies in the brevity of the shortest verses, such as "Jesus wept" or "rejoice always."

I started this blog thinking it would be a simple journal of my morning Bible time. It's become far more challenging. No more days of skipped Scripture, no matter how busy days get or how early an appointment is scheduled. I try to post a morning ahead of time (this morning's reading is tomorrow's midnight post), but some days find me still trying to post well after midnight.

Often the morning does get too busy too fast. But many days I simply became too fascinated with the text to quickly jot down the way it inspired or encouraged or pressed me. Most challenging about this blog is allowing the living Word time to capture me and transport me into another realm—and then concisely articulate into a couple of minutes what might have been traveled in a couple of hours.

That challenge can be an agony or an ecstasy or both. But it's always, endlessly fascinating.

Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy