Dave Miller's 2024 Bible Reading Challenge

Today's Reading - Nehemiah 6-9 Background Nehemiah finishes the wall in spite of opposition and Ezra leads the people to return to God. Devotional - Real Revival Many books have been written and sermons have been preached on how to bring revival to our land. Most fail because they reduce this work of God to simple formulas and easy steps. We cannot do that. But in Ezra 8 and 9 we observe a real revival in which Ezra led the people of God to return and be spiritually renewed. In these chapters, we see some key aspects of real revival. This is not a formula or easy steps, but there are keys. The word of God was central to the work of God. Ezra begins the renewal by reading the word (8:2-6) as the people stood in the presence of God. There was a group of Levites who took the time to explain to the people what they were hearing from the lips of Ezra (8:7-8). There have been many revivals throughout biblical and church history, but those that have been the most long-lasting and have ha...

Today's Reading - Nehemiah 1-5 Background Until the 16th Century, Hebrew Bibles included Nehemiah with Ezra. Nehemiah was cupbearer to the King and led a return to Israel to rebuild the walls to protect Jerusalem. Ezra led in the spiritual rebuilding of Israel but Nehemiah worked to protect them from physical enemies. He also finds out that Israelites have been backsliding and marrying non-Jewish wives and he confronts that sin. Devotional - Pray and Fight  Nehemiah was operating under the call and blessing of God, who had put it on his heart to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. God had further blessed him by granting him favor with the king who sent him on his way in favor. When he arrived, he was faithful to do the work of God carefully and diligently. The walls were being built. Of course, that meant that everything went well, everyone cheered him on and supported his work and things fell into place. Amen? Uh...no. There was a man named Sanballat,...

Today's Reading - Ezra 7-10 Background This passage primarily focuses on Ezra's prayer of confession because Israel was marrying foreign wives, risking returning to the sinful ways that had caused their downfall. Devotional - A True Leader  Ezra is one of the great men of Scripture. He comes from exile, returning to Jerusalem to lead Israel in its return to God. In Ezra 7-10, he finds the people of God returning to the sin of intermingling with the Canaanite people and intermarrying with them. Ezra demonstrates true leadership in guiding them to return to God and obedience. Let us examine some of the qualities that made Ezra a great leader. 1. Ezra was a man of God's word. 7:6 He was "skilled in the law of Moses" - a man of God's word. True leaders are not derived from their personality, creativity, or talent, but from their grounding in the teachings of the Bible. 2. Ezra was a man under God's blessing. 7:6 As a result of his obedience and fidelity to Go...

Today's Reading - Esther 6-10 Background Esther is a strange book. It recounts some strange behavior from Esther and Mordecai; actions hard to square with the Law of God. But the oddest thing is that from the first verse to the last God's name is not mentioned a single time. How strange that a book of the Bible, inspired by God, free from error, should fail to even once mention the God who is over all. But though God is not mentioned in the book, he is certainly present in it. He is working behind the scenes, in the background, accomplishing his purposes and protecting his Chosen People from yet another genocidal maniac. The sovereign God of the universe may be unseen and unmentioned in this book, but he is ever-present. Devotional - Sovereign Unseen  Chapter 6 is a hilarious story, though it ends in tragedy eventually. Haman hated Mordecai so much that he went off the rails and schemed to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. He devised a plot and suckered the king into s...

Today's Reading - Esther 1-5 Background There are so many questions that surround the book of Esther. It was written for the purpose of explaining the Feast of Purim but there is a deeper purpose behind the book. It is one of two books in the Bible that does not even mention God (Song of Songs is the other), but it is a book in which the hand of God is seen from start to finish. Devotional - Flawed Servants  Esther is a great story but as you scratch below the surface there are a few things that pretty hard to explain. Esther is an Israelite woman of beauty who becomes a part of the harem of the king of Persia. Many have tried to soften that blow a little, but when Esther was "taken to the king" in 2:16, they did not spend the evening playing Parcheesi. And Mordecai? Esther was his adopted daughter (2:7) and he cared for her and about her. Yet, he helped her in the process of becoming a concubine of the pagan king of a pagan nation. It is hard to see these actions as vir...

Today's Reading - Zechariah 8-14  Background After the prophecy of chapter 8, chapter 9-14 concludes Zechariah's book with two great oracles from God (9-11, 12-14), each of which contains familiar messianic prophecies. They focus on the great victory of God over Israel's sin. Devotional - The Jesus of Prophecy  It is dangerous to delve into the end times in a devotional such as this since people have such varying views. However, a passage such as today's reading almost demands it. Chapter 9-11 contains the first great prophecy of God's destruction of Israel's enemy, the restoration of the nation, and the coming of Israel's king. Then, chapters 12-14, the second prophecy, carry on the glorious refrain speaking of the cleansing of the people and the glorious reign of the king. There are two familiar messianic moments, one in each of the great prophecies, that encapsulate the work of Jesus. The Triumphal Entry is a story recorded in each of the gospels, but it...

Today's Reading - Zechariah 1-7 Background Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai and his prophecies are likely dated to about 520 to 518 BC. Zechariah is of the priestly tribe and his name means "God remembered" - God did not forget Israel in Babylon. His message dovetails with Haggai's. Devotional - He Defends the Guilty What a powerful vision Zechariah had - not really a vision but an insight into reality. In Zechariah 3:1-5 we see a man named Joshua, a priest, the chief priest in fact who was standing before the Angel of the Lord. The identity of the "Angel of the Lord" is difficult to discern in the OT - is it just an angel, or Jesus himself? We will likely not know for sure until we are in heaven. Joshua is standing before this representation of the divine presence. And Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is right there beside him doing his thing. He is accusing him. He is unworthy to stand in your presence, God. He has no right to be here. Look how f...

Today's Reading - Haggai 1-2 Background Today's reading is unusually short but powerful. (Tomorrow's will make up for the shortness of today's - seven chapters of Zechariah.) Take a little extra time to meditate on the message of Haggai. It is written within the time period of Ezra and Nehemiah. He prophesied in 520 BC. The decree of Cyrus went out in 538 BC and nearly 20 years later the procrastinating Israelites were still making excuses as to why the Temple had not been rebuilt. Haggai challenged them to "give careful thought to their ways." The book contains a series of 4 prophecies which passionately call on the returned exiles to rebuild the Temple and so to return to the full favor of God. Devotional - The Curse of Misplaced Priorities A youth pastor I knew gave the best illustration of life I ever heard. He rented a limousine and took his small youth group out for a night on the town (in Cedar Rapids). He took them to a fancy restaurant, to museums, t...

Today's Reading - Ezra 1-6, Psalm 137 Background  Several of the books of the Hebrew Old Testament seem to have originally been one book and were divided into two. This is true of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, which were likely divided because of the length of the scrolls. It seems that originally Ezra and Nehemiah may have been one book and were later separated, though that is less clear. Ezra is of priestly descent and his task is to bring Israel back not just to the LAND but to the LAW. They had returned to Jerusalem but not to God. He led a revival after God had orchestrated a return. The order of the Ezra and Nehemiah is significant theologically, even if it is not chronological. First, the decree comes in which God was at work by his sovereign power among the nations. Then, the Temple was rebuilt, then the community was purified under Ezra, then the walls were rebuilt under the ministry of Nehemiah. God's activity, the building of a place of wor...

Today's Reading - Daniel 9-12 Background The last four chapters of Daniel contain visions of the future - some of the most significant in the Bible. Daniel 9:24-27, the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, is a template for all future prophecies regarding the End Times. The prophecies of chapter 11 and 12, while having some historical content, also look forward to the great battles of the last days, which we often loosely call Armageddon and tells us much about the Antichrist, modeled on the evil man known as Antiochus Epiphanes. Devotional - War of the Angels  I often find myself confused by the Bible's teachings on so-called "spiritual warfare." We know that our God is in control and that demons flee before him. We know that Satan was created as an angel and rebelled against the Father, leading a third of the angelic forces to create the kingdom of darkness. We know that he goes about on this earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We know that he is defeate...

Today's Reading - Daniel 5-8 Background The book of Daniel is self-revelatory. Modern liberal scholars are convinced that it cannot have been written by Daniel because of the prophecies made about the kingdoms to come. If Daniel actually wrote the book then it is evidence of the supernatural nature of scriptural prophecy and skeptics cannot accept that. They claim that the book was written after the events took place and that the words were put into the mouth of the prophet Daniel. The only evidence for this is their lack of faith in predictive prophecy. Those of us who believe in the divine nature of Scripture have no trouble believing that God is the author of the Bible and that he could describe events accurately centuries before they take place. Devotional Wouldn't it be great if we could see the kind of miracles today that was seen in Daniel's day?  Three men were thrown into a fiery furnace who come out unharmed; a hand writes a message to a pagan king on...

Today's Reading - Daniel 1-4 Background Daniel is one of the truly great men of biblical history. He is one of the few characters of the Bible's story without a major flaw or a sinful failing. From his boyhood in captivity until his older years in the lion's den and through all the visions God gave him, he is an example of spiritual courage and moral excellence. Devotional - Into the Fire It is one of my favorite stories in the Bible and has been since my youth. It has drama and tension and intrigue - everything that makes a story grand. It begins in the mind of a megalomaniac named Nebuchadnezzar, who constructs a 90-foot high golden idol and demands that everyone in his kingdom bow down before it when the music sounded. Babylon was filled with captives, people from all over the world who still worshiped their own gods. The king didn't care about that as long as they kowtowed to his demands and when the instruments played demonstrated their loyalty by bowing before hi...

Today's Reading - Joel 1-3 Background Joel is a mystery prophet, with almost no specific historical information to date it. Some put it among the earliest of the prophets and many place Joel at the end of the kingdom of Judah and as a contemporary of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Devotional - Tear Your Hearts  Joel tells the entire story of sin and redemption, a microcosm of Israel's history, of God's grace and restoration toward them. In chapter 1, Joel calls Israel to task for their sin and explains the consequences of that sin. Israel was suffering greatly, and they often wondered why. They thought that since they were the chosen people of God that he should shield them from trouble. But God was allowing them to suffer the consequences of their wicked sin. Tell your children about it,  and let your children tell their children,  and their children the next generation. What the devouring locust has left,  the swarming locust has eaten;  what ...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 43-48 Background There are many questions about the millennial temple - the biggest of which is why sacrifices are mentioned after the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. But this passage describes that temple that will exist in the times after the Lord has returned to set up his kingdom on earth. Devotional - Living Water  Though we have many questions about this idealized and future temple that will never be explained until the end of time, there are some things that we do know - and those are the things that matter most. First of all, the glory of God returns. In the early chapters of the prophecy, Ezekiel described the presence of God departing from the Temple because of Israel's sin but now we see the Glory restored in the new Temple. God wins; sin never does. Israel may have strayed but God's power is stronger. We have been reading in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and it is easy to see these books as "downers." They are in one sense....

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 37-42 Background Two of the better-known passages of Ezekiel are in today's reading. In chapter 37; God makes the dead live - which only he can do. Then, in 38 and 39 we have the prophetic history of the great future battle known as Armageddon. We are also introduced to the millennial temple. Devotional - Dry Bones Live It is the greatest miracle of all. The Bible records many wondrous works done by God. He parted the Red Sea and stopped the flow of the Jordan. He made the walls of Jericho come tumbling down and sent fire down on Elijah's sacrifice. Jesus walked on water, fed the crowds, made the lame walk and the blind see. But there is one miracle that is greater than all others. It was the miracle that God previewed when Elijah raised the Widow of Zarephath's son, when Jesus interrupted the funeral in the Jezreel Valley, and when he spoke to his friend Lazarus, calling him from the grave after four days. And it is the ultimate miracle of hi...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 31-36 Background Today's reading finishes the second major section of Ezekiel, the judgment on the nations, which concludes at the end of chapter 32. The rest of the book, chapters 33-48, focus primarily on God's restoration of the nation. Devotional - Restored One of the most amazing truths of God's word is that there is still a future for the nation Israel. This is a controversial teaching among students of God's word - Amillennialists and certain other eschatological views challenge this. But every text that speaks of the end focuses on the nation of Israel. Why is that so amazing? Because if you look at the history of Israel in the Bible it is anything but a shining example of fidelity and godliness. They were an idolatrous and disobedient people far more than they were walking with God. They gave God every reason to destroy them, and he just about did. The destruction under Nebuchadnezzar came very close to being total and eternal. Bu...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 25-30 Background We turn to the second section of Ezekiel today, in which Ezekiel prophesies against the nations. Devotional - Downfall of Pride In Ezekiel 28:1-10, God speaks to the earthly ruler of Tyre, describing his wealth and splendor, but also his vainglory and pride. Because of all he possessed, he lost his heart to arrogance and self-exaltation. God will bring them "down to the pit" (28:8), a prophecy that came true in the violent destruction of the nation. In verse 11, the prophet focuses his attention on another ruler, this time the "king" of Tyre. It's two different prophecies and seem to be directed at two different people. The second prophecy, in Ezekiel 28:11-19, is focused on the true power behind the throne of Tyre, Satan himself. The earthly ruler of Tyre was simply mimicking the heart and behavior of the spiritual ruler. You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the ...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 19-24 Background More vivid, graphic prophecies against Judah as the first main section of prophecies against God's people comes to an end. Devotional - An Ugly Win Wow, that's depressing, isn't it? In chapter 22, God spells out the ongoing sin of Israel that caused all this judgment, then laid out one graphic onslaught of retribution after another. A fire. A sword of judgment. Jerusalem as a furnace in which God would burn off the dross of sin from his people. Two wicked sisters. A boiling pot of God's wrath poured out. And the sudden death of Ezekiel's wife. Not an uplifting six chapters to read, is it? On the surface, that would seem to be true, but in reality, you should draw great encouragement from these chapters. Unfortunately, you, like Judah, have a sin problem. You recommit yourself to God and then slowly drift back. That cycle can tend to repeat itself over and over again. It is depressing and sometimes we think we will neve...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 13-18 I have been so busy at the Southern Baptist Convention, I simply FORGOT this. My humblest apologies. Background In today's readings we see some of the vivid, graphic prophetic words of Ezekiel. The description of Israel as the adulterous wife is especially graphic and would have been shocking to the hearers. God takes sin, especially idolatry, seriously. Devotional - False Prophets There were many prophets in Israel, not just the men of God about whom we read in Scripture. These were the false prophets, the ones who told the people what they wanted to hear. As we read in Ezekiel 13:1-7 and 10-12, look at the characteristics of false prophets. 1. They prophesy out of their own imagination. 2-3 The word of God must be interpreted and applied, but it is not subject to our imagination or reinvention. We do not get to make it say what we want it to say. These false prophets created their own prophesies out of their own spirits and had "seen noth...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 7-12 Background The great vision in these early chapters is of the "glory of God" rising and departing from the Temple - what a terrible figure. Devotional - Ichabod"  It was a tragic and fearful vision that Ezekiel had in Ezekiel 8-10, a tour of the holy city, Jerusalem. The Hebrews constantly wondered why their God would abandon them, why the terrible things that they were experiencing were allowed by God. How could he do such a thing to his chosen nation? God answered that question clearly to Ezekiel in chapters 8 and 9. He showed him a pagan statue north of the altar gate (8:5), the people and even the 70 elders engaging in idolatrous worship and practices (8:11), women weeping for Tammuz, a Babylonian deity (8:14), and several other despicable acts. God was showing Ezekiel that the divine havoc being wreaked on Israel was just and justified. In chapter 9, Ezekiel is shown the destruction that God will pour out upon Israel - a harsh judg...

Today's Reading - Ezekiel 1-6 Background Ezekiel is a great prophet, who gives his prophecies from the banks of the Chebar River in Babylon, one of the early captives taken away before the destruction. The book records six great visions from the prophet - great unveilings of heavenly things. Ezekiel 1-24 records God's judgments on Jerusalem and upon Judah. Chapters 25-32 declare God's judgments on the nations. As is almost always the case, Ezekiel 33-48 prophesies the restoration and future blessings of Israel. Devotional - Bloody Hands  Ezekiel is one of the fortunate men of biblical history for whom God pulled back the veil and allowed him to see the glories of heaven and of eternity. He was a prophet to the exiles, those who had been carried off to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. He saw the glory of God and then, in chapter 2, God called him to prophesy to sinful Israel, and called him to be hard as stone. If the hearts of Israel were harden...