Weekly Devotional – Starting Mon. Oct 5, 2026
- Monday - Genesis 1
- Tuesday - Genesis 2
- Wednesday - Genesis 3
- Thursday - Exodus 32
- Friday - 2 Samuel 11
- Saturday - 2 Samuel 12:1-26
- Sunday - Ephesians 2:1-10
Welcome to Week 1 of Reading and Praying the Bible! Each week you will receive an email like this one introducing the texts we will be reading.
This week we are reading the first three chapters of Genesis, reminding ourselves of the lessons of the creation story from chapters 1–2 and setting the context of chapter 3. These texts are so full of important insights. Note especially God’s care for his creation, how humans are at the center, and how God provides for humans in all he does. That in turn helps us understand the tragedy of humans turning away from God, seeking their own autonomy over dependence on their loving Creator. This isn’t just Adam and Eve’s story; it is ours, each of us and all of us.
Other stories of the Bible are classic examples of people turning from God to find security in themselves or something they control. Exodus 32 will show us Israel during the exodus from Egypt, impatient as Moses hears from God atop Mt. Sinai, demanding that the priest Aaron make a god for them. This god of their own making is an act of rebellion against the God who liberated them. Adam and Eve’s story is also Israel’s story, and ours.
Another classic story of abandoning God is the account of David’s sin with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. But here we also have a story of profound repentance, as God reveals David’s sin in 2 Samuel 12. This also is the narrative context of the text we are praying in October, Psalm 51. As God promised our first parents forgiveness through the seed of the woman, so David receives forgiveness as he confesses and repents.
The week wraps up with Ephesians 2:1-10. This text summarizes what the previous stories have told us. Whether we are Israelite or non-Israelite, we have rebelled against God, and as rebels, we’re under the rebel’s sentence given our first parents: death. But despite our unworthiness and offenses against him, God’s rich mercy reaches us through Christ, who gives life to our dead selves and restores us to life and fellowship with him, even restoring our role in creation as his co-regents as we are “seated with Christ in the heavenly places.” All this is God’ doing in Christ, not the result of being observant of the Mosaic law or any other moral code. But through it God re-creates us to begin a journey of restoration to joyful obedience, exercising our role in God’s rule though the good work he gives us to do as his people.
This week’s readings are about sin. But where there is sin, God’s grace abounds. Let the grace of God abound in your heart and mind as you read and ponder his word.
