GBC Bible Reading Plan 2025: Week 4

Week 4, January 19–25: Exodus 4–23
- Sun Jan 19 Exod. 4–6
- Mon Jan 20 Exod. 7–9
- Tue Jan 21 Exod. 10–12
- Wed Jan 22 Exod. 13–15
- Thu Jan 23 Exod. 16–18
- Fri Jan 24 Exod. 19–20
- Sat Jan 25 Exod. 21–23
Exodus contains some of the most familiar and famous stories in all the Bible: Moses and the burning bush, the plagues in Egypt, Israel’s exodus out from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Epic movies have been made about these epic events. (I’ll probably always imagine Moses looking like Charlton Heston from Cecil B. DeMille’s classic film.)
Some parts of the Bible are more familiar than others. Whether you’re reading a passage that is quite unfamiliar, or it’s a story you’ve heard or read many times, either way it is good to try to read with fresh eyes. Try to notice the details in the text. Everything that is said has been included for a reason. You may be surprised at the new things you will see that you may not have really noticed before.
And there’s a flip side to this principle too. As you read, you will also probably realize that the Bible sometimes does not say what you always thought it said, and it definitely will not say what you sometimes wish was included. Just as everything that is in there is there for a reason, so also everything that is missing is missing for a reason. Sometimes the authors—and God as the divine author—leave our questions unanswered. And that’s okay! Resist the temptation to import or assume something that is left out. There are gaps in the text, and those gaps are important. It can be good to let the unanswered questions remain unanswered.
In Exodus, God delivers the Israelites out of Egypt with mighty acts against Pharoah and the Egyptians. The Lord’s miraculous care for his people does not end after they leave Egypt or even after they go through the Red Sea. One of the most consistent threads running through the story of the OT is the theme of God demonstrating his infinite power, and his infinite love, through miraculous acts for his people. This theme runs through the whole Bible and culminates in Jesus at the cross.
There’s another interesting detail in one of these stories in Exodus, another part of God’s mighty acts we encounter in this week’s reading. In Exodus 17, when the children of Israel defeat the Amalekites in battle, which is clearly a victory from the Lord, he instructs Moses to “write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua.” (Exod. 17:14) This is the first time the idea of writing down Scripture occurs in Scripture. There are other occurrences of this them—places in the Bible where it talks about writing something down that would later be known of as Scripture—but this is the first. God wanted his people to remember what had happened here, for future generations to know what he had done. The Bible was and still is God’s way to make himself known to his people.
As we said last week, the two general purposes for doing a read thru like this are 1) to meet with God regularly and hear what he has to say, and 2) to cultivate a lifelong habit of growing in familiarity with God’s word. We will come back to the second point later, but let’s think for now about meeting with God and hearing from him regularly. In John 15, Jesus instructs his followers to abide in him as he abides in us. His word abides in us, and we bear fruit, act as his true followers, and glorify God by abiding in him. Having a plan to set aside a little time each day to sit and read a few chapters of his word is perhaps the most tangible and practical way to put into practice the principle of abiding in Christ.
We have the Holy Spirit in us. God is with us. The very presence of Christ, by his Spirit, is dwelling within us as Christ-followers and among us as his church. That is an astounding benefit of the gospel and the true experience of every follower of Jesus. And the same Spirit that dwells in us is the Spirit who carried along the prophets and apostles in the writing of Scripture (2 Pet. 1:21). We are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17) in our daily battles that are not against flesh and blood. Reading God’s word is a way, probably the best way, to encounter the God who created all things, who loved us and saved us through his Son, and who is near us and with us.
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