The Old Testament

Recently, I took a course called "Introduction to the Old and New Testaments"

One of the essay questions asks "What have you learned as a result of taking this course?"
Here is part of my answer to that.

I have known all the stories for my whole life, yet to see how they interacted in the big picture of God is so amazing. It gives me another piece of the puzzle of who God is.

Every moment of Scripture is meant to bring us to an understanding of His character. I have never thought of the Old Testament as anything more than some gory stories, a bunch of rules, some poems and a few nuggets in Proverbs, and I often wondered what purpose it all served-apart from setting the groundwork for the “real” story-the New Testament. Now, I see the character of God in the midst of it. I have come to know the character of God in a new way. Recently, in direct relation to what I was learning in this course, I began an aggressive reading schedule for the Bible, starting from Genesis, and for the first time ever, the love story of God calls to me. I am driven to consume it more and more. Something has changed in me!

As I was reading the detailed descriptions of the tabernacle, and what they needed to have done, and what God was instructing, I began to ask Him questions such as: “Lord, why would it matter the order of the stones on the Ephod of the priests, isn’t there more important stuff to worry about?” The response that came was “I am intimately interested in all the ‘mundane’ details of your life, because everything you do is important to me”. He took the time to teach His people everything that they needed to know about how to approach Him. There is a provision for every question that they might have encountered.

I have always known the love of God, but sometimes it has felt as though He is the God of the mountaintop, rather than the God in the garden, seeing the Bible in a new way though, has reminded me of how much work He does to be in relationship with us.

Like errant children He repeatedly gives the Israelite people direct, and specific direction regarding how they are to live, and tells them even how to be successful in their relationship with Him. They repeatedly let him down, but God is merciful, and He goes to them, sends a redeemer, and repeats His commands, and blesses them, and the cycle repeats. In all the times that He threatens to wipe them out, He still manages to find someone who is righteous. He gives use every opportunity to be successful, in the NT Jesus has so much patience with the disciples who walked with Him, and who witnessed the miracles He performed, yet when they doubt, or question, or act rashly, He doesn’t throw up His hands and walk away.

So how does this change me? As with any relationship, the more you know about the character of a person, the better the relationship. When you are talking about the Lover of my Soul, knowing more about His character changes me because it causes me to fall deeper in love with Him. The resulting effect in this case is: the more I know, the more I WANT to know. It has become a catalyst for deeper intimacy with God, and that will change you everyday.

I see more than ever before, the unchanging character of God. Since He was willing to feed a whining people, He will take care of me. Since He saw that in the midst of everything, Job stayed firm, I do not doubt Him in my circumstances. Since He made a way even before the dawn of time, today His grace is enough, and that is life-changing truth.