Operation All Of It ~ Closing Thoughts

"All Scripture"

2 Timothy 3:16

Okay, well, as you may or may not have known, or remembered, or cared, I spent the month of December doing something I called Operation All Of It.  Every time I came across a Bible verse, in an email, on my calendar, etc., I would not be satisfied reading just the verse.  I would get my Bible and read the whole chapter of that verse. 

So I wanted to report back some of my "findings".

First of all, I read a whole lot more of the Bible than I would have.  Of course, to be honest, I didn't read "all of it" every time I came in contact with a verse.  Sometimes I wanted to finish what I was doing, so I'd put off til later.  Then some of those times I forgot.   But overall, I was definitely in the Bible, and in more of the Bible than I would have been.  And I found that every verse is better ~ richer and more complete ~ with the verses that come before and after it.

But I also noticed that I learned something new almost every time I read the verse in context.  For instance, I was given Jeremiah 32:15 ~ "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.'"  Great verse, right?  Full of promise.  But what I discovered is that chapter 32 is largely depressing.  There's that verse that's uplifting, but most of the uplifting verses are at the end.  I had to persevere through the dismal part to get to the encouraging part. 

Conversely, a verse that had "negative" words led to a chapter of lightness and beauty.  Romans 5:9 says "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."  "Blood" and "wrath" are not really nice words, in and of themselves.  But look at the other words in chapter 5:  justified, faith, peace, grace, rejoice, hope, glory, love, Holy Spirit, given, strength, righteous, saved, reconciled, gift, abound, abundance... Aren't those beautiful words?  I was so glad, that day, that I'd gone the distance.

Some verses made me curious, and I was glad to look to find the answer.  Like Revelation 3:20 ~ "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come to him and dine with him, and he with Me."  I know that the early chapters of Revelation are written to different churches: Sardis, Philadelphia... and as I read that quote, that I've read a hundred times, I found myself wondering which church that was written to.  Reading the whole chapter gave me that answer:  the church of the Laodiceans.

Some verses didn't make sense until I read the whole chapter.  Other times I thought the verse was in one context but realized with reading that it was something else. 

And here's a sideline lesson.  About a week before Christmas, my daughter went to visit a friend while my son and the Apple of my Eye went Christmas shopping.  So I had the whole house to myself.  I was doing some cleaning and baking and decided to have some Christmas music while I did so.  But instead of just turning to my playlist of Christmas favorites, I decided to satisfy a hankering I'd been having for quite some time:

George Frederic Handel's Messiah. 

photo credit: Getty images

Now, of course your mind goes to the Hallelujah Chorus, that beautiful but brief portion that cause our bodies to stand and our hearts to rise when we hear it.  But I'd been hankerin' for ~ you guessed it:  All Of It.  So I found a version on YouTube, which happened to be performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.  And I listed to all two hours and thirty-eight minutes of it. 

And just as with the Bible, I came to the conclusion that if a little is good, more is better.  Though some parts may be more fulfilling, or more rewarding to you, the peace and joy and majesty shine even more gloriously when you experience it in its entirety.

~ "receive the word with all readiness

       and search the Scriptures daily" ~

Acts 17:11

~

Operation All of It ~ Psalm 136

I got a message from a friend today.  She sometimes sends out little uplifting thoughts to her friends, or a Bible verse.  They give a smile at unexpected times of the day.

This friend doesn't know anything my Operation All Of It, wherein I am reading the whole chapter of any Bible verse I come across.  But her message today said this:

"Praising God for blessings extends them;

praising God for troubles ends them."

(Read Psalm 136)

Now, I wasn't entirely sure I agreed with the sentiment.  I mean, praising God for our troubles doesn't mean He's going to take them away.  Although, it will certainly help us to change our outlook, and then maybe we won't see our troubles as troubles anymore. 

But anyhow, whether or not I agreed with her pithy thought, there was an instruction there that seemed just for me:  "Read Psalm 136."  So, of course, I did. 

And it was glorious.  One of those readings that somehow makes you feel like you're seeing a bit of Scripture for the first time.  It's longish, but so full of praise, and with frequent reminders of the most important thing about Him.  I hope it blesses your Sunday...

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
    For His mercy endures forever. 

 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
    For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
    For His mercy endures forever:

To Him who alone does great wonders,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who made great lights,
    For His mercy endures forever— 

 The sun to rule by day,
    For His mercy endures forever;

The moon and stars to rule by night,
    For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
    For His mercy endures forever; 

 And brought out Israel from among them,
    For His mercy endures forever;

With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
    For His mercy endures forever;

And made Israel pass through the midst of it,

For His mercy endures forever;

But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
    For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who struck down great kings,
    For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings,
    For His mercy endures forever—

Sihon king of the Amorites,
    For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
    For His mercy endures forever—

And gave their land as a heritage,
    For His mercy endures forever;

A heritage to Israel His servant,
    For His mercy endures forever.

 Who remembered us in our lowly state,
    For His mercy endures forever;

And rescued us from our enemies,
    For His mercy endures forever;

Who gives food to all flesh,
    For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
    For His mercy endures forever.

~

Operation All Of It - Day One

"all Scripture"

2 Timothy 3:16

Well, today was the first day of Operation All Of It.  Yesterday, as I enjoyed singing every verse of the Christmas carols in church, as opposed to just a verse or two, I challenged myself to enjoy the same thing about Scripture passages this month.  When I see a verse, in a devotion, or an email from a friend, I'm going to read the whole chapter from whence that verse came.

{It's the Christmas season... a time to think of days gone by... 

like "the days of yore" and "yesteryear"... 

So I'm celebrating those by using words like "whence".}

My first one was a daily email "Promise" I got when I first got up.  The verse was John 15:10 "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, even as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love."

A beautiful promise indeed.

But when I enjoyed all of John 15, I also got verse 2:  "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit..." and verse 9: "Now remain in My love..." and verse 15: "everything that I learned from My Father, I have made known to you..." and verse 27: "you have been with me from the beginning..."

Then, about lunchtime, I got a prayer request from a friend, which included Psalm 16:8 ~ "I have set the Lord always before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."  Such a firm proclamation of faith in Him!  But when I read all of Psalm 16, I was also reminded that my heart should be glad, and my tongue should rejoice; that He has assigned me my portion and my cup; and that apart from Him I have no good thing.

After lunch I checked my emails, and a friend sent me Psalm 118:24.  I didn't even have to look that one up; it's one of my favorite verses!  "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!"  {See?  I've known that verse for so long, it's in my head in the King James lingo.}

But the reading of the whole of Psalm 118 also gave me choice tidbits such as: "Give thanks to the Lord, for His is good; His love endureth forever." {Whoops!  KJV again.}  and "The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation."  But it also reminded me of sobering truths such as, "The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death."  And this wonderful visual: "With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar."

In the afternoon I was doing some work on my computer, and I needed to pull up a new tab in my search program.  And the home page I have chosen is a site that illustrates a verse a day.  Today's verse was Ephesians 3:14-15 ~ "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives His name."  This was not a verse I was readily familiar with, so reading the whole chapter gave me some context.  Paul followed that line by saying to the Ephesians, "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

That's a beautiful prayer, and I'm glad I noticed it.  But then it's followed by one of the most powerful verses in Ephesians; maybe in the whole Bible ~ "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that this love surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. "

I read four chapter of Scripture today.  They were varied and interesting.  And it was hard to stop what I was doing, and change my thought process by getting out my Bible and reading the chapters I'd been led to.  But it was worth it.  My brain was able to get back to whatever mundane thing I'd been working on, but I took with me what I had just read. 

Give thanks to the Lord, indeed.

~ "All Scripture...

is profitable for doctrine,

for reprove, for correction,

for instruction in righteousness..."

2 Timothy 3:16

~