PREPARING FOR A PILGRIMAGE WEEK ONE: DAY THREE

I’m on a roll.

And it’s not the roll you were possibly expecting.

I am rolling my way upon the Lord.

This year, I am reading through the entire Bible – it’s not the first time I have ever done this but thanks to a friend’s recommendation I am doing so using George Guthrie’s “Reader’s Guide to the Bible: Chronological Reading Plan.” And it's on my Kindle so I read it anywhere, any time, as well as my regular 'first thing in the morning evangelical upbringing Quiet Time.'

Previously I have tried the Cambridge Daily Reading Bible, which was great because it gave a reading from both of the Testaments – and actually takes two years.

Less of a hurry, more time to ponder.

I’ve started that twice. Not sure I ever quite finished on either time.

Then I used the NLT iWorship Bible which goes straight through from Genesis to Revelation in a year. By August when I was still on the Old Testament I was longing, really longing for the New Testament! I found it moderately tedious if I am honest, in spite of the wonderful daily reflections printed alongside and the worship-thoughts inserted regularly.

So now I am using a chronological reading method – and so far, am loving it. Interspersing Job with Genesis to remind us Job was in the time of the Patriarchs; reading David’s story alongside the Psalms he wrote at the time; and seeing it all as God’s Plan for His people, mapped out on a time-line.

Act One: God’s Plan for All People

Act Two: God’s Covenant People

Act Three: God’s New-Covenant People.

So I’m on a roll.

Yesterday, I read Psalm 37.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: he will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

And every day, alongside the Bible, I read a daily thought from Amy Carmichael – one of my most favourite spiritual writers. Today, it’s from Psalm 37 in Kay’s translation:

Roll thy way upon the Lord.

She writes:

Way means a trodden path, the journey of life, today’s life. Often when we cannot lift a thing we can roll it and so the Hebrew uses this simple word which we can so easily understand. Roll everything that concerns thee upon the Lord. Roll it again, no matter how many times you did so before, and then rest, “assure thyself in Him; and He, He Himself, will work.” (French Version, Darby)

I am preparing for a Pilgrimage.

I am on a roll.