Ch. 21 - "Obadiah says..."

Old Testament:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

New Testament:
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation

Tonight I memorized the books of the Bible. I wrote those lists without any help. That's right. One point for Natalie. I actually had the New Testament under my belt for the most part, but sometimes I forget about Titus and Philemon, the placement of James... you know, stuff like that. It took me maybe, I don't know, twenty minutes? to finally know them all.

At my home church in Iowa (St. Paul's United Methodist - represent!), the third graders learn the books of the Bible throughout the year in Sunday school. I would teach Sunday school and each Sunday that I had the third graders, the shepherd would take the last fifteen minutes or so and work with them on the books. She used candy as an incentive to make sure they had memorized the section they learned the previous week. At the end of the year (the school year, that is), the third graders are presented with Bibles during a church service.

I wasn't at St. Paul's until eighth grade and wasn't in church in Alabama during third grade, so I don't know if it's common for third graders to learn the books of the Bible and such; at The Mount a couple weeks ago two third graders were given Bibles, so I'm guessing it's common that third graders are at least given Bibles, regardless of whether they've been learning the books.

I was upset that I wasn't at all feeling up to going to the Ash Wednesday service at Mount Olympus tonight, I really enjoy traditional services and seasonal services mean a lot to me. I slept, instead. And when I woke up, I felt just fine. Of course. So I spent some time in prayer and finished Revelations (I will never, ever tire of reading that book). I then decided to do some Old Testament reading, because I really don't read enough of it. It was when I decided to read Obadiah and couldn't find it without either a) taking the time to cautiously (that's code for slowly in Natalie-speak) flip through and locate the book, or b) using the table of contents at the front of my Bible, that I decided to memorize the books. Now I will know more approximately where to turn next time I want to read a certain book. Wonderful.


'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.'
[Psalm 119:105]

' "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the Lord. '
[Obadiah 1:3-4]

......

Ch. Twenty-One, Part Two:

The reason my title is "Obadiah says..." and why I felt like reading Obadiah is this: I was reminiscing on a retreat I went on with my youth group; it was the second retreat I had been on, as well as the second my youth pastor lead. We had been split up into groups named after certain books of the Bible. At the end of each day the teams would gather and study their namesake's book, and present some information from it to the other teams in either a serious or silly fashion. Well, Obadiah was a pretty crazy group, lemme tell ya. First of all, they didn't have much to work with - Obadiah is the shortest book in the Bible. It tells of the destruction of Edom, mostly due to Edom's refusal to help Israel when it was attacked, even though the people are related through the brothers Jacob and Esau; the last section of Obadiah tells of the restoration of Israel and the wiping out of Edomites. So anyway, the group split the book into a few sections and presented them to the other teams through skits, raps, etc. But they always started their presentation by saying, "Well, Obadiah says..."