Dave Miller's 2025 Bible Reading Challenge

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   1 Kings 17-22 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     This reading details the battle between Elijah and evil king Ahab, and later the story of Micaiah and Ahab. Ahab is the worst of Israel's kings, embracing idolatry at the insistence of his wife Jezebel and Ahab and Micaiah are both men who stood for God against him. Daily Devotional:   Kill the Messenger "Don't kill the messenger." That is exactly what Ahab wanted to do. The phrase is meant to show the absurdity of attacking the bearer of bad news. It was not uncommon i...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   1 Kings 15:25-16:24, 2 Chronicles 17 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Our readings today bounce between the kings of Israel and Judah. In 2 Chronicles we see Jehoshaphat, one of the second-tier kings - good but not great. The 1 Kings readings focus on Israel's increasingly evil kings. Daily Devotional:   The Heavenly View My college was not exactly a fundamentalist stronghold! Professors regularly taught us that the Bible's teachings were inaccurate, biased, or historically faulty. I recall my Old Testament pro...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   1 Kings 15:1-24, 2 Chronicles 13-16   In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     We begin to work through the kings of Israel and Judah. In Kings, we see both nations' kings while Chronicles only looks at Judah. All of the kings of Israel are condemned because they continued the sin of Jeroboam, idolatry. However, the kings of Judah are essentially graded in four different ways. The top grade goes to the good kings who obeyed God and also got rid of idols and high places.  The second tier was the good kings who obeyed Go...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   1 Kings 12-14, 2 Chronicles 10-12 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Solomon taught that life is choices and that those choices have consequences - the basis of the book of Proverbs. Then, his life spiraled downward as he made bad choices and, at least for a time, embraced folly. In today's reading, we see the consequences in his son's life of the folly he embraced.  Daily Devotional:   Choices Have Consequences The Bible makes it clear that each of us stands before God and accounts for our own sin, that we are n...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Ecclesiastes 7-12 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     A brief overview of Ecclesiastes: Introduction: (1:1-11) "Everything is meaningless Investigating the Meaninglessness of life (1:12-6:9) Conclusions about the Meaninglessness of life (6:10-11:6) Introduction (6:10-12) Man cannot discover what is good for him to do. (7:1-8:17)  Man has no idea what comes after him. (9:1-11:6) Concluding poem (11:7-12:8) Epilogue (12:9-14) Daily Devotional:   Bad Stuff Happens What is Solomon's problem? In Proverbs, Solomon sets ...

  Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2026 This year, we will read the Bible chronologically, as it happened, instead of simply reading from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New.  Bible Readings :   Ecclesiastes 1-6 In Bible Gateway, we will link to the NIV this year, though you can choose any version you prefer.  Background:     Ecclesiastes is a mysterious book, written from an earthly and even somewhat cynical viewpoint. It says some strange and confusing things, mixed in with some powerful wisdom. It is generally believed that Solomon was the author, but he is not identified by some. Some believe that the "son of David" (which can also mean descendant) might have been Hezekiah. Both ideas had support in Rabbinical traditions. It is most likely that Solomon was the author. We know of three peri...