Reading & Praying Week 2
Week of Oct. 12th

Jon Weatherly • Associate Pastor
October 9, 2026

3 Minute Read
Weekly Devotional – Starting Mon. Oct 12, 2026

This Week’s Readings
  1. Monday - Genesis 3
  2. Tuesday - Psalm 76
  3. Wednesday - Ecclesiastes 12
  4. Thursday - Isaiah 24
  5. Friday - Matt. 7:1-27
  6. Saturday - John 5:1-46
  7. Sunday - Genesis 4
Monthly Prayer Focus - Psalm 51

Hi, friends! How was your first week of Reading and Praying the Bible? I hope you gained insight into the way we all participate in the fallen world but how God’s mercy is even more abundant than our stubborn rebellion.

In response to the sermon text for October 11, which narrates God’s judgment and promise for Adam and Eve, we will reread Genesis 3, considering both the act of willful rebellion and God’s response. Then as the week continues, we will read more widely to reflect on God’s judgment and our response.

Some of our texts will be descriptions of God’s judgment. Psalm 76 is such as text, reminding us that God stands alone as judge. He alone is to be feared, not human authorities with all the power they wield, for even kings must bow to him.

Isaiah 24 will take that thought further. This chapter describes in vivid imagery God’s judgment against those who rebel against him. The prophet Isaiah had in the preceding chapters detailed the sins of Israel and her neighbors. Here he warns of the judgment their rebellion warrants. They had relied on their economic and military power, and so the judgment against them is pictured as a deprivation and defeat. In the Creator’s moral world, the punishment fits the crime.

But Genesis 3 is about more than judgment. It is also about victory: the woman’s seed will crush the snake’s head. Matthew 7 and John 5 remind us of this. Here we see Jesus presenting himself as divine judge and as the one who gives divine mercy. In Jesus, God fulfilled the promise to bring life where sin has brought death. By turning to him in faith, we not only escape sin’s deadly punishment but receive God’s blessing of power to overcome sin and live in true righteousness.

So what do we do with all this? Ecclesiastes 12 tells us to remember the Lord while we’re young, and to realize that all of life points us to the only way of life, to fear God and keep his commandments. Every other alternative means judgment.

Finally, it preparation for the coming week, we will read Genesis 4. The story shifts from parents to children, but sadly the issues remain the same: refusal to submit to God, with all the terrible consequences such rebellion produces.

Yes, Lord, have mercy on us, for we are sinners, as we pray in Psalm 51. But as you remind us in that text, your mercy is far greater than our sin. Amen!

More Reading & Praying the Bible Info
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From this Tag: Psalm 51
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Reading & Praying Week 3
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Jon Weatherly

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October 9, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
Reading & Praying Week 2
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Jon Weatherly

Associate Pastor

October 2, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
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Jon Weatherly

Associate Pastor