If you are look for a Bible reading devotional guide, I have a great resource for you. It’s called Refresh Your Faith: Uncommon Devotions From Every Book of the Bible.
Many of my friends like to follow One-Year Bible reading plans. As I shared several posts ago, https://karenwingate.com/questions-bible/ my local Bible study group slowed the pace by committing to read one chapter a day while asking discovery questions about who God is and how He reveals Himself within each chapter. By devoting ourselves to only one chapter a day, we’ve delved deeper into the first five books of the Bible and discovered new details that puts the rest of the Bible narrative in perspective. It’s been wonderful.
Daily Bible reading can still feel unreshing and stale at times.
We choke up at Leviticus. We wonder what we’ll ever glean from the Minor Prophets. Worse yet, we yawn through more familiar passages, wondering what fresh insights we can gain from the life of Joseph or the book of Jonah.
Yet, I’ve found through the years that within each book of the bible is at least one wonderful biblical truth or principle that applies to my life here and now and that does tell me in clear language about this all-powerful God who loves me very much.
Lori Hatcher discovered this too and shares her delightful insights in her new book, Refresh Your Faith: Uncommon Devotions From Every Book of the Bible. Each of the 66 chapters is devoted to a different book of the Bible. Lori selects one to several verses within each book and then writes a devotion based on those verses, relating them to the larger context of the book and, in the case of Old Testament books, to the New Testament.
Refresh Your Faith had me hooked in the first chapter on Genesis.
She compared the question God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” with the question the Magi asked of King Herod concerning the whereabouts of the newborn Messiah, “Where is he?” She made the connection that in the first Old Testament book, God’s question represented the severing of man’s relationship with God and the first question of the New Testament showed God’s effort to reconnect man with Himself through the promised Messiah. The New Testament was God’s solution to the problem the Old Testament presented.
I never looked at it that way. But Lori is spot on.
How does Refresh Your Faith handle Leviticus?
Lori quoted verses from Leviticus 25 about the year of Sabbath and the year of Jubilee. God asked his people to take a year of rest, not doing any planting or harvesting in that year. The people were to trust God to provide enough crops in the sixth year that would carry them through the year of Sabbath. This is in the day with no refrigeration or grain elevators too. Lori discusses the matter of trust – do we trust God enough to follow Him in obedience? We show our trust by obeying His commands. Wow!
What are you looking for?
If you are looking for a resource that discusses the purpose of each book or the overall content, this isn’t it. You can find that information in a study Bible, a Life Application Bible, or a Bible handbook like Halley’s Bible Handbook or the New Unger’s Bible Handbook
Refresh Your Faith is a devotional guide that selects uncommon, less familiar passages and draws life applications from each one. The illustrations in many of Lori’s devotions make the Bible material even more applicable. This stuff is real. It does relate to everyday life as Lori draws parallels between her own life examples and the written Word of God.
Here are several ways you can purchase Refresh Your Faith by Lori Hatcher.
Remember, I’m not an affiliate with anyone so I don’t earn a penny from this recommendation. I share these links because I truly believe this is a book worth owning if you want a devotional companion to your daily Bible reading.
Refresh Your Faith is also available in ebook format.
In addition to writing devotional books like Refresh Your Faith and Hungry for God … Starving for Time, Five-Minute Devotions for Busy Women, Lori Hatcher is editor of the Reach Out, Columbia magazine, a blogger (check out her website at Hungry for God. . . Starving for Time ), instructor, speaker, and grandmother of four.
Thank you, Karen, for this well-thought-through and thorough endorsement of Refresh Your Faith. You know, as I do, that the key to falling in love with God is getting to know Him, and the best way to get to know Him is to read His book. I pray you and many of your lovely blogging community will draw ever closer to God as they dive into His Word. Blessings to you, friend, and Grandma congratulations, too!