The Proverbs Challenge and Psalms Challenge

Proverbs Challenge and Psalms Challenge are my daily default reading. I heard once that this was what Billy Graham read daily. Its pretty simple. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs and days in the month, so read the chapter that corresponds to the date. As I write this its the 22nd day of the month and I just got done with the 22nd chapter of Proverbs. If you miss a couple days no problem, just pick back up on the chapter for that date, if its the 25th, read the 25th chapter.

You don't have to start on the first, start today. You don't have to go back and read what you missed, you will read it next month. And the month after, and the month after, for the rest of your life. That's the thing with the Proverbs challenge, its a lifelong thing. Why? Because every time you read it you get something new. I had a mentor suggest I read all six chapters of Ephesians daily for 30 days, and sure enough I got something new out of it every time. The Word of God is active and alive and the Holy Spirit is working in you when you read.

The Psalms challenge is just the same thing, but with 150 chapters you read five chapters a day, 30 days in the month. To figure out where you need to read today, multiply the date times 5. Today is the 22nd so I started at Psalm 110 and read through 114, five chapters. Now don't freak out, most of the chapters are very short, just a few verses. But this way, throughout the day, you can pull out your phone and have something to read and meditate. And that's the point here. You always want to have a Word in your head to meditate, chew on, focus on.

There are lots of good reading plans, ones that get you through the Bible in a year, or focus on peace or prosperity, and that's great. This plan supplements those. You can select other reading when you are done, and you can literally chew through the Psalms and Proverb for the day in 15 minutes. I generally move to the new testament after. Sometimes I switch it up and read it backwards from the last verse to the first. Sometimes I read it in another translation.

But Proverbs was mostly written by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, to his sons, to pass on wisdom. Reading it daily for the rest of your life gives you daily access to the Wisdom of God. And we all need wisdom. Psalms was mostly written by King David, a man after Gods own heart. So you get a daily dose of how God thinks, how He operates, how He protects and provides for his people. Need peace? Read Psalm 91, or any of a score more that are full of the peace of God.

By internalizing the concepts found day after day, you wash your mind in the way God thinks instead of how the world thinks. You find answers to problems you're struggling with, ethical dilemmas, interpersonal relationships. When you oit in the world dealing with situations, the Holy Spirit will remind you of some proverb that covers it, and you will make it through based on following the Biblical advice. You will learn to see the difference between foolish people and wise people, and catch when you are acting one way or the other.

And that's the goal, wisdom daily. The wisdom of God.