March – Promises Kept and Broken
See A Plan for Bible Reading for the year-long schedule of reading with downloadables.
Our study this month assures us that God is always faithful to His promises even as His people struggle to live faithfully in response. Through seasons of moral failure and chaos, God continues to work toward redemption, pointing forward to the ultimate fulfillment of all His promises in Christ.
Week 1 — East of Jordan
Total reading: 21 Chapters – Numbers 22-36; Deuteronomy 1-7
Before Israel enters the Promised Land, God prepares them spiritually, morally, and practically for what will come. These chapters focus on leadership, inheritance, obedience, remembrance, and boundaries for living in right relationship with God and others. Balaam’s prophecy reminds Israel that God’s purposes cannot be undone, even by human opposition or our moral failure.
Guiding questions:
- What stands out as significant elements in these preparations before entering the land of promise?
- How does Balaam’s prophecy (Num. 22–24) reveal God’s sovereignty, justice, and faithfulness to His promises?
- Why are remembrance, vows, and inheritance emphasized so strongly through these chapters?
- How does Deuteronomy 4–7 clarify what it means to live faithfully within God’s promises?
Connections: Read Genesis 12:1-3 as a reminder of God’s original promise to Abraham.
Week 2 — “Lest You Forget”
Total Reading: 22 Chapters – Deuteronomy 8-28
Moses repeatedly warns Israel not to forget the Lord once they experience prosperity and security. Thankfulness and obedience are closely connected, but so are forgetfulness and rebellion. This section reveals the tension between God’s faithfulness and human forgetfulness and the results of this on human societies that either accept or refuse to live within God’s design.
Guiding questions:
- Why does Moses emphasize remembrance so strongly in this retelling of Israel’s story?
- What does forgetting God look like practically for individuals and for communities, according to these chapters?
- How are blessing and obedience described as relational rather than merely transactional?
- How do these warnings remain relevant for God’s people throughout history?
Connections: Read Psalm 106 as both a poetic and historical reminder of God’s faithfulness and Israel’s failure.
Week 3 — Moses’ Final Words and the Conquest of Canaan
Total Reading: 22 Chapters – Deuteronomy 29-34; Joshua 1-17
As Moses’ leadership comes to an end, he charges Israel to choose life through their faithfulness and obedience to God’s Law. Joshua steps into leadership and God begins to fulfill His promises through the conquest of Canaan. Victory is closely tied to trust in God’s presence and obedience to His commands.
Guiding questions:
- What themes dominate Moses’ final words to Israel?
- Why is the call to “choose life” (Deut. 30) so central at this point of transition for Israel as a nation?
- How does God establish Joshua as the new leader and what does this process reveal about leadership from God’s perspective?
- Where do you see God keeping His promises and where do you see human weakness emerging?
Connections: Read Hebrews 11:23-34 as an insight into how acts of faith have eternal significance in spite of personal failures or past sins.
Week 4 — Division of Land, Cycles of Sin and Repentance
Total Reading: 21 Chapters – Joshua 18-24; Judges 1-16
The land is divided and Israel formally renews the covenant. Yet quickly, a pattern of compromise and disobedience emerges. Judges introduces a recurring cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance, revealing the consequences of partial obedience and failure to “choose life”.
Guiding questions:
- Why does Israel struggle to fully trust and obey God after entering the land?
- What particular patterns of sin and deliverance repeat throughout Judges and what variations show up?
- How do these cycles expose deeper spiritual problems in Israel’s leaders and as a nation?
- What do these stories teach us about the danger of forgetting God’s promises and living outside His Covenant?
Connections: Judges 2:6-23 is a concise explanation of the cycle of sin. Where have we seen this cycle occur already since Genesis 3 and what is different this time?
Finishing Up — Accounts of Depravity and Redemption
Total Reading: 9 Chapters – Judges 17-21; Ruth 1-4
The book of Judges ends in moral chaos: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In contrast, Ruth offers a quiet, faithful story of loyalty, kindness, and redemption. Together, these poignant accounts reveal both the depth of human brokenness and God’s ongoing redemptive work behind the scenes.
Guiding questions:
- How do the final chapters of Judges reveal the consequences of life apart from God’s rule?
- What contrasts stand out between Samson’s life and the faithfulness seen in Ruth?
- How does the story of Ruth point toward God’s larger plan of redemption?
- Why is this contrast an important conclusion to the period of Israel’s Judges?
Connections: Matthew 1:1-6 genealogically outlines God’s redemptive purpose through Tamar and Rehab, Canaanite women, and Ruth, a Moabite woman, all of whom are grafted into the linage of our Great Redeemer. Why is this important to note?