Reading the Bible in One Year as One Story
Verse of the week to live by:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1).
Bible Readings 2026, Week 1; January 1-4
Stage 1: Creation
The Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis tells God’s story before it tells ours. As a theological narrative, it lays the foundation for the whole Bible by revealing the character of God, the calling of humanity, the tragedy of sin, and the hope of restoration. It proclaims one sovereign and good Creator who brings order out of chaos and creates human beings in His image to reflect His rule in the world. When sin shatters that relationship and leads to exile from Eden and deep brokenness, God does not abandon His creation; instead, He responds with persistent grace. Through covenant promises—most clearly given to Abraham—God sets in motion a redemptive plan that moves history toward blessing for all nations. Genesis, therefore, is not a story of human achievement, but a testimony to God’s faithfulness and His gracious purpose of redemption, a purpose that unfolds across Scripture and reaches its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
January 1; Gen 1-2
Gen. 1:1-3; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
Do you believe that God created everything?
Ge. 1:26-28; “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
What does it mean to be created in the image of God?
Gen. 2:15-17; “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
What command did God give to Adam and Eve in this passage?
Stage 2: Fall
January 2; Gen 3:1-14
Gen. 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”
How did the serpent use its cleverness to tempt Eve?
Gen. 3:7; “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
What does it mean that “their eyes were opened?”
Gen. 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Did God not know where Adam and Eve were hiding?
Stage 3: Redemption
January 3;
Gen Gen.3:15-Gen.9
Gen. 3:15; “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
When and how was this promise fulfilled?
Gen. 4:26; “To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.”
What does it mean that “they called upon the name of the LORD?”
Gen. 6:7; “So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
How should we interpret God’s statement, “I am sorry that I have made them”?
Stage 3: Redemption
January 4; Gen 10-11; Job 1-2
The Book of Job
Job likely lived during the patriarchal era (c. 2000–1800 BC).
The book of Job speaks as wisdom literature into one of life’s deepest questions by challenging the common assumption that suffering is always the result of personal sin and that faithfulness to God guarantees prosperity. It tells the story of a truly righteous man who suffers profoundly without being told the reason.
Through the intense dialogues between Job and his friends, the book exposes the inadequacy of human wisdom.
When God finally speaks, He does not offer a tidy explanation for Job’s pain; instead, He reveals His sovereign wisdom at work in a vast, ordered, and mysterious creation that far exceeds human understanding. Job is invited to move from demanding answers to resting in trust, learning that true wisdom is found not in knowing everything, but in reverent dependence on the Creator. In this way, the book of Job prepares us for a deeper biblical understanding of suffering—one that ultimately finds its fullest meaning and hope in Jesus Christ.
Gen 10-11; Job 1-2
Gen. 11:1-5; “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.”
Was building the tower a sin? If so, where was the sin?
Job 1:1; “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”
Who was Job?
Job 2:10; “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
Does God bring evil upon us?