It is a most privileged way of life to meditate upon God’s Word. In so many cultures throughout the history of the world, average people did not have access to books or ability to read them. Rather, Christians could only encounter the scriptures at church, where clergy often read them aloud in languages that were foreign to the people. Everything they knew about the scriptures was from stained glass windows made about them, homilies delivered by the parish priest, or myths passed around by the culture.

Today, the Bible is the most common book in the world. Even so, it is not read nearly so commonly read or known as it should be. People in my culture are increasingly ignorant of the contents of the Christian canon. It is a problem. This is the only way to fix it: intentionally spending the time in scripture. I pray you do it. I pray you meditate upon the meanings of these words. I pray you are changed by them, that you are empowered by knowing what the scriptures do and do not say. Let these words speak to your life. May it be a blessing to you!

Genesis 12

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”

So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh. He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.

Genesis 13

So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him. And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.

From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched, to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist. And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 14

In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.

Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country. The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way.

They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom.

Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram.

And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High— and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.”

But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”

Genesis 15

After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”

And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”

So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.

You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Genesis 16

Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

John 8

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He went back into the temple courts. All the people came to Him, and He sat down to teach them.

The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”

They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” And again He bent down and wrote on the ground.

When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there. Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”

Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

But even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone; I am with the Father who sent Me. Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am One who testifies about Myself, and the Father, who sent Me, also testifies about Me.”

“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”

He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts, near the treasury. Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

So the Jews began to ask, “Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

“Who are You?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.

“I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the One who sent Me is truthful, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world.”

They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.”

As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him. So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I know you are Abraham’s descendants, but you are trying to kill Me because My word has no place within you. I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham. But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. You are doing the works of your father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me! Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?”

“I do not have a demon,” Jesus replied, “but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. I do not seek My own glory. There is One who seeks it, and He is the Judge. Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

“Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death. Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, as did the prophets. Who do You claim to be?”

Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say ‘He is our God.’ You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.”

Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?”

“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.

John 9

Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him. While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes. Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.

At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was, but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” But the man kept saying, “I am the one.”

“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He answered, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes, and He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.”

“Where is He?” they asked.

“I do not know,” he answered.

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. The man answered, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was division among them.

So once again they asked the man who had been blind, “What do you say about Him, since it was your eyes He opened?”

“He is a prophet,” the man replied.

The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents and asked, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see?”

His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

That was why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”

He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. There is one thing I do know: I was blind, but now I see!”

“What did He do to you?” they asked. “How did He open your eyes?”

He replied, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.”

“That is remarkable indeed!” the man said. “You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will. Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do no such thing.”

They replied, “You were born in utter sin, and you are instructing us?” And they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, He found the man and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

“Who is He, Sir?” he replied. “Tell me so that I may believe in Him.”

“You have already seen Him,” Jesus answered. “He is the One speaking with you.”

“Lord, I believe,” he said. And he worshiped Jesus.

Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?”

“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

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