20 Things I learned from my Bible Reading Challenge – Week One

I recently started a Bible Reading plan through the Old Testament. It has been amazing so far and I look forward to my daily sessions. To keep me accountable (disciplined), I have decided to share my insights from my reading. I will be sharing these every week on the blog, with some highlights on social media. You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

For the first week of my Bible reading plan, I read Genesis 1-16. This was an interesting and educative study. One thing I love about the Bible (amongst many other things) is that I usually learn something new each time I read it. There were so many gems from my reading, too many to fit into this blog post so I selected twenty things to share with you.

I have divided this review in two: the first part chronicles the significant parts of my weekly Bible study, while the second part lists interesting and rarely known facts from the chapters read. This format is not set in stone as the weekly format may change to reflect what I learn each week.

Ten salient points from Week 1 of my Bible Reading Plan

I provided this list of 10 noteworthy things I learned from Genesis 1-16. I hope they encourage and strengthen you in your walk with God.

1. God rested after his work, he didn’t rest during creation but after all he needed to do. This shows the importance of timing and doing the right thing at the right time. Genesis 2:3

 

2. Eve’s downfall began with what she chose to see and how she thought about what she saw. This is a reminder that we should be careful of our eye-gate, ear gate and our thoughts or heart gate.

 

3. Before Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they were naked and unashamed but after eating the forbidden fruit they became fearful, anxious and ashamed. That’s what sin does to us.

 

4. My reading of Genesis 3 revealed something new: ever wondered why the serpent went to Eve rather than Adam? The serpent probably knew that once he got Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam would follow suit.

But have you ever wondered why Adam will did as Eve said? This recent reading showed that Eve’s role as helpmeet was also to be the spiritual gatekeeper, she was the one supposed to protect Adam but didn’t understand the full extent of her duty and the import if she failed. Eve, the woman, is the one that births life. I will delve deeper into this at another time. Have you ever considered this?

 

5. Cain and Abel’s story shows that God has always been interested in our heart and motives. Cain and Abel both gave an offering to God but one chose to give God the best while the other just gave something.

When God rejected Cain’s offering, he told him why. In Genesis 4:7 God says: “if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain didn’t take the rejection well. It seems he believed God rejected him but God only rejected his offering. God’s conversation with Cain shows how much he cared. He warned Cain about the folly of his actions but Cain allowed his anger to spiral out of control.

 

6. God gave Noah a detailed description for the ark. This confirms that God is interested in the big and small things. Many times, it’s the small things that will lead to big things. Imagine if Noah had refused or forgotten to coat the ark with pitch Genesis ‪6:14

 

7. Noah’s family was saved because of Noah. He was the only righteous man on earth at that time. I often wonder if sin returned to the world because of Noah’s family who were not righteous like him or because it was inevitable.

 

8. Noah was truly a righteous man. He built an altar to God when he came out of the ark. Imagine that! After the ordeal of staying in such a confined place for close to a year, the first thing he does is worship and sacrifice to God. I believe that Noah’s action led God to promise never to destroy the earth with floods again and to lay a covenant with Noah and his descendants

 

9. In Genesis 9, Ham saw his father naked and joked about this to his brothers. Noah cursed Ham when he found out. The lesson: when people are in dire situations, or dealing with sensitive matters. Our job should be to respect and support them. To conceal rather than reveal. To help them deal with the shame and pain rather than ridicule and condemn them.

 

10. Abram’s story reminds me that God blesses those he calls and these blessings rub off on those close to the blessed. Lot certainly enjoyed this. Similarly, God’s blessings are not limited to riches. Abram was a man who obeyed God, worked hard and was quick to worship and sacrifice to God, I believe his actions ignited the grace and blessings over his life.

One major lesson from Genesis 14: Abram had sworn an oath not to accept any reward from the king of Sodom. What is truly impressive is that Abram had made this decision before he was faced with the offer. Just imagine all that he turned down. It shows that Abram was not a greedy man and that he understood that it is God that gives not man. Incredible stuff. I believe that God was happy with Abram’s decision. In Chapter 15 God said to Abram: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1 God reminded Abram that his reward lies in God not man.

 

10 interesting things you may not have known

Here is a list of ten interesting and rarely known facts from Genesis 1-16

1. In the creation story, God gave a verdict for everything he created:

“…And God saw that it was good.”v10. God did this for everything except in the creation of mankind. I believe this was because mankind was the only thing created in God’s image and likeness, which means there was no need to qualify it. God already knew it was good. Genesis 1:26-28

 

2. We were originally created to eat only plants, basically mankind and all animals were supposed to be herbivores Genesis ‪1:29. But in Genesis 9:3 , God extended this to include animals.

 

3. There were two forbidden trees in the Garden of Eden. The tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Genesis 2: 9

 

4. God curses Cain after he kills his brother and sends him a way. The Bible records that Cain was afraid that he would be killed. But who were these people Cain was talking about? Genesis ‪4:13

There were only supposed to be four people on earth, according to accounts from Genesis 1-3 (Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel). Was Cain referring to fallen angels?! Very confusing. Though I want to believe this chapter was written this way for a reason. Will be good to read the Bible in the original language.

 

5. The rain that destroyed the world in Noah’s time fell for 40days and 40 nights though it took about 200days for the earth to dry up. I wonder if there’s something symbolic about 40days and 40nights or if it’s just a coincidence.

 

6. God used rainbows as a sign of his covenant to never destroy the earth with water. He said in Genesis ‪9:15-16 that the rainbows will act as a reminder. How cool is that?!

 

7. In addition to his other qualities, Abram was also a master strategist, with only 318 men, he was able to rescue his nephew, Lot from the four kings who attacked Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

8. The first tithe ever given is recorded in Genesis 14. It’s important to note that the offering was given voluntarily. It was Abram that decided to give, King Melchizedek did not request for an offering. Also, Geneiss 14:18-19 records the first communion.

 

9. God warned Abram in a vision that his descendants would be enslaved for 400years. Genesis 15

 

10. Sarai believe God made her barren, gave Haggai, her maid to be be her husband as his “other” wife and blamed Abram when Haggai became rude and disrespectful.

 

Thoughts on this review

What did you think of this review? Did you find it helpful, interesting or just the same old? It was such a blessing to write out these facets of the Bible and can you imagine that this was just from the first week?! Looking forward to 51 weeks of these weekly insights.

Are you doing a similar Bible reading? How is it going? I read about someone reading through the Bible in 3 months. I was impressed but I also know that this wouldn’t work for me. It’s not about the quantity but quality. Not how much you read but what you learn.

I pray the Holy Spirit will strengthen us and help us follow through on our reading plans and above all else, that we continue to grow our relationship with God.