Formation Journal Reading Plan

Isaiah 22

22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
22:2 You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
22:3 All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.
22:4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
22:5 For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.”
22:6 Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.
22:7 It happened that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
22:8 He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
22:9 You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
22:10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
22:11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.
22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
22:13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
22:14 Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
22:15 Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
22:16 ‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!”
22:17 Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.
22:18 He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord’s house.
22:19 I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
22:20 It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
22:21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22:22 I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
22:23 I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house.
22:24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.
22:25 “In that day,” says Yahweh of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it.”

Psalm 84

84:1 For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. How lovely are your dwellings, Yahweh of Armies!
84:2 My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
84:3 Yes, the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, near your altars, Yahweh of Armies, my King, and my God.
84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are always praising you. Selah.
84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you; who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
84:6 Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs. Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.
84:7 They go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appears before God in Zion.
84:8 Yahweh, God of Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, God of Jacob. Selah.
84:9 Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.
84:10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
84:11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
84:12 Yahweh of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Galatians 4:8-20

4:8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?
4:10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years.
4:11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
4:12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,
4:13 but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time.
4:14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
4:15 What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
4:16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
4:17 They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them.
4:18 But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.
4:19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you—
4:20 but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.