This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
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2:1 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
(ESV)
The last year and a half has not been a great time for my cycling. Many things have gotten in the way, including work, major life transitions, weather, and various other distractions. My body is not in the shape it should be in. It needs some serious conditioning to get back to the place where I can ride a long distance in a decent amount of time. Unfortunately, getting back to that place is hard work. It's a lengthy, painful process. It takes time on the bike and time in the gym, and so far, I haven't found time for both. But I love to ride and as a result I'm determined that I will get back to a place where I can ride a hundred miles in a day without suffering. But getting there will take some suffering.
Isn't that ironic? It reminds me of the irony of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 2:4: "For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you." Paul wrote words to the Corinthians that were painful for them to hear. He had to confront their complacency and tolerance of sin.
Sin had grown up in the midst of their congregation, gross, blatant, even flagrant sin, yet they did nothing about it. Left unchecked, it would have become a cancer that would have destroyed the body of Christ in Corinth. So Paul had to condemn and convict the Christians there for turning a blind eye to such sin. He had to rebuke them and chide them into action in order to excise the sinner from the body and set things right.
Paul's words hurt. The action that the Corinthians took against the unrepentant sinner in their midst hurt. It was a painful process. Ironically, the reason for the pain was love. Paul loved the Corinthians and could not stand to see their complacency toward sin destroy them. But demonstrating his love for them caused them pain.
Isn't it ironic that if we love someone we must sometimes cause them pain in order to set them straight. I can remember as a child my mother saying when I was going to get a spanking: "This hurts me more than it hurts you." I didn't understand her words then, but I do now. It's painful to us when love demands that we cause another person to feel pain in order to correct them. But if we truly love them we must bear our pain and inflict the pain on them that will set them back on the right path, the path of life in Jesus Christ.
Is there someone you love whose sin you need to confront? True love will not let them go on sinning without correction. And if you stay in touch with the pain you feel as you confront them, then your rebuke and correction will truly be a loving act and will be done in a loving manner. God's love for us was so great that he bore the pain of our sin himself. He sent his Son to die for our sins. By his wounds we are healed. Now that's amazing love!
36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh1 from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me2 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
[1] 36:2
[2] 36:16
(ESV)
At this point, Isaiah turns from prophecy to history. He does so to show that the words he spoke concerning the destruction of Assyria's army came true, just as he said they would. This is crucial, since God had given His people a very simple test to determine if a man was truly a prophet of the LORD. "And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:21-22) God's people needed to know that Isaiah had not spoken presumptuously. This account of God's acting on Judah's behalf demonstrates that Isaiah was a true prophet of God. Isaiah dates the advance of Sennacherib's army against Jerusalem in the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign, that is, 701 BC. An official of the Assyrian King was sent to deliver his threats against Jerusalem to officials of King Hezekiah. He warned that Egypt would not be able to rescue Judah. Then he proudly boasts that the LORD himself had told him to march against Jerusalem. Hezekiah's officials asked the Assyrian Rabshakeh to speak to them in Aramaic, so that the men on the walls of the city could not understand his words. His purpose, however, was to intimidate those who were guarding the city, so he refused. He told them not to listen to Hezekiah when the king promised that the LORD would deliver them. Instead, he argued that by removing the high places, Hezekiah had depleted the religious resources of Judah. Instead, he warned that they would be forced to survive on their own waste if they would not surrender and come out of the city. The Assyrian official insulted the God of Israel, claiming that He was no stronger to save than the idols of the other nations Assyria had already conquered. Upon hearing the words of the Assyrian officials, Hezekiah's officials tore their clothes and, returning to King Hezekiah, told him what King Sennacherib had said.
10 All my bones shall say,
“O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 Malicious1 witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.2
13 But I, when they were sick—
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed3 on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I bowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,4
they gnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the lions!
18 I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Let not those rejoice over me
who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
who hate me without cause.
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, “Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
[1] 35:11
[2] 35:12
[3] 35:13
[4] 35:16
(ESV)