Day 14

Today my challenge comes from my friend Scott.  I met Scott at church and have enjoyed getting to know him.  An interesting story I can share about Scott is from last spring outing to the Austin Rodeo.  A group of friends decided to go to the Rodeo and fair before hand we all had a fun time. While waiting for the Rodeo to start Scott decided that he wanted to ride a mechanical bull.  This is something that I have done once at a rush party but would not by choice do again. It was truly great and fun watching Scott ride.  I also had the privilege to pray for Scott during his July mission trip to Boston working with Arabic Baptist Convention. He is a great guy and so glad he wanted to be part of this 30 before 30 challenge.  He sent me my challenge a couple of days ago but I didn't open it till this morning on my way to work. 

Choose a verse of scripture that corresponds with your birthday.  Use your birth month for the chapter and your birthday for the verse.  Like my birthday is January 4th.  So I would choose a verse like Ephesians 1:4 or Genesis 1:4.  With your birthday being in September, there would be some books you won't be able to choose from like Philippians or Ephesians.  So, once you've chosen a verse, then memorize it and/or apply it to your life somehow.
Scott

So as I drove down I-35 I started thinking through this.  What a great idea and something that is fitting coming from Scott.  I also new that it had been a while since I set out to memorize a verse.  But would be something I would need to start doing regularly since I will be working with the Awana kids at church.  How would I choose just one?  For those of you who don't know there are 66 books in the Bible.  But like Scott pointed out several books don't have 9 chapters.  I decided that I needed to look at every possible verse before I chose the one. I was also thankful that I had my travel Bible in my car that would be useful today.


When I got to the office and as I waited for the computer to boot up I got through the first 8 books, looking up chapter 9 verse 17 of each.


"So God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on earth.'" Genesis


"You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go." Exodus


"He also brought the grain offering, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning's burnt offering." Leviticus


""whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped." Numbers


"So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes." Deuteronomy


"So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Bibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim." Joshua


"and to think that my father fought for you, risked his life to  rescue you from the hand of Midian." Judges


Ruth has 4 chapters.


I had potential options with these but the quest continued at lunch.  So I typically don't take lunch or snack while I work, but knew I needed some time to look up verses. 


"When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him "This is the main I spoke to you about; he will govern my people." " I Samuel


II Samuel has chapter 9 but only has 13 verses.


"And Solomon rebuilt Gezer. He built up Lower Beth Horon." I Kings


"When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu's troops approaching he called out, "I see some troops coming." "Get a horseman," Joram ordered. "Send him to meet them and ask, 'Do you come in peace?' " " II Kings


"The gatekeepers; Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their brothers, Shallum their chief"  I Chronicles


"Then the king made a great throne in-laid with ivory and overlaid with pure gold." II Chronicles


Ezra has chapter 9 but only has 15 verses.


"They refuse to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.  Therefore you did not desert them" Nehemiah


"This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy." Esther


"He would crush me with a storm and mulitphy my wound for no reason." Job


"The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God." Psalm


" 'Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!'" Proverbs 


Let me pause here and note that scripture should be read in context. The verse from Proverbs for example is being said by the woman of folly, thus not a principle you should actually follow.


"The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools." Ecclesiastes


Song of Songs has 8 chapters


"Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is till upraised." Isaiah


And as I took  break to eat a peach, I opened the word to continue my search.  There have been a couple that I could memorize and few that I could apply to my life but I was determined to continue.


"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Consider now! Call or the wailing woman to come; send for the most skillful of them.' " Jeremiah


Lamentations only has 5 chapters


Ezekiel has chapter 9 but only 11 verses.


"Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary." Daniel


"My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations." Hosea


Joel has only 3 chapters.


Amos has 9 chapters but only 15 verses.


Obadiah has 18 verses.


Jonah 4 chapters.


Micah 7 chapters.


Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah all have 3 chapters.


Haggai has 2 chapters.  Then finally I came to another book of prophecy with at least 9 chapters


"How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women." Zechariah


Malachi has 4 chapters. 


I had finally finished the Old Testament and was amazed that through so few verse I could see the skeletal history God's chosen people could be seen. Such a rich and sad history but ended on a note of hop. Once at home this evening I would see that hope revealed the New Testament and was eager to see which verse would pop out.  And with that my break was over and my focus was back to work.

While on my way home I started the gospels.  They show so plainly the Healer and Provider.

“Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst forth, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”  Matthew

“A man in the crown answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.’”    Mark

“They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve bucketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” Luke

“Finally they turned again to the blind man, ‘What have you to say about him? It was your eyes that were opened.’ The man replied ‘He is a prophet.’”  John

“Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hand on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Acts

“For the Scriptures says to Pharaoh: “ I raised you up for this purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth..”” Romans

“If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.” I Corinthians

II Corinthians chapter 9 has only 15 verses.

As I expected Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon were a few chapters too short.

“because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who has made it is living.” Hebrews

James has 5 great chapters.

I  & II Peter and I, II & III John were also too short to help in my search.

“The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths cane fire, smoke and sulfur.” Revelation

Now I just needed to pick one and after much thought today I went back to Zechariah.  The verse speaks of God’s people being saved, delivered and refreshed by His coming.

“How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.” 

The latter half of Zechariah chapter 9 is truly beautiful.  And my prayer today is that He might find me faithful, continuing to mold me and make be beautiful in His eyes alone.

Scott, thanks so much for this challenge. It has been wonderful discovering verses that I have often read too quickly.  I hope you all have enjoyed reading these and have been blessed.  If you have never done this I would highly recommend it.

XOXO- Amanda Gravitt