For instance, the Old Testament. I used to think it was a REALLY LONG list of genealogies, rules, and predictions that didn't make a ton of sense. I tended to focus on the exciting stuff like the stories of Joseph and David and Esther among others. I definitely could see that they were there for a reason, but in the last year, I have begun to see all the other little treasures inside that I never knew existed.
The Jesus Storybook Bible is one book that has helped me to see things in a new way. I bought it off of Amazon because I had heard it was a great little kids Bible. We had Mason read a chapter every day last Spring for a part of his schooling routine. With each story I found myself tearing up and amazed at how every story in the Old Testament really does point towards Jesus and a Rescuer!
I always thought the story of Abraham offering his son Isaac was just an extreme Faith Test. But this is how the Jesus Storybook Bible ends it's chapter on this story:
"And as they sat there on the mountaintop, watching the embers of the fire die in the cool night air, the stars above them, sparkling in the velvet sky, God helped Abraham and Isaac understand something. God wanted his people to live, not die. God wanted to rescue his people, not punish them. But they must trust him.
"One day Someone will be born into your family," God promised them, "And he will bring happiness to the whole world."
God was getting ready to give the whole world a wonderful present. It would be God's way to tell his people, "I love you."
Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back. Like Isaac, he would trust his Father and do what his Father asked. He wouldn't struggle or run away. Who was he? God's Son, his only Son - the Son he loved. The Lamb of God."
I know that the Holy Spirit reveals things and gives wisdom when we ask and for that I am truly grateful because I have thoroughly enjoyed digging in and understanding more...
In Randy Alcorn's book Heaven he writes. "God made us with fertile, curious minds so that we might seek truth and find him, our greatest source of pleasure. In Heaven our intellectual curiosity will surely surface- and be satisfied- only to surface and be satisfied again and again." He quotes Ephesians 2:6-7: "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace." The the word "show" means "to reveal" and he believes that in the the coming ages there will be "a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God's grace." So even in heaven we won't know everything. We will be marveling at God's knowledge and wisdom while continuing to add to our knowledge and discoveries.
I have been doing a personal Bible study book called the Old Testament Prophets that has really opened my eyes to the realities of their lives. I always considered their strengths, but never really their weaknesses...
For instance, I never knew that the day after Elijah had that great victory in Mount Carmel with the big sacrifice showdown against the prophets of Baal and the altar with fire, he was intimidated and afraid of some death threats from Jezebel. He ran and hid instead of having faith in God to deliver him and he subsequently experienced one of the lowest points of his life and ministry. He was so low he wandered into the desert and asked God to just kill him. Spiritual highs will often be followed by spiritual lows. I learned that in my life, if God has done something really cool and I feel "high" from it, I need to be careful that I don't just keep dwelling on that victory but to stay in constant communication with God and keep having faith in him instead of my very temporary circumstances.
Also, I was encouraged by a weakness from one of Elisha's servants. The city had been surrounded by the enemy and he began to get scared. Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his eyes. The Lord did... and what he saw was amazing. There were chariots of fire surrounding the city as well and protecting them from advances from the enemy.
And that story reminds me (this is how I think... usually in rabbit trails) of one told to me and my teammates when we were on a mission trip in Papua New Guinea in Hauna Village. The missionary who originally had gone there, Marilyn Laszlo, had built a house in a disputed location. I don't remember all the details except the part where she said there were some tribesmen who wanted to kill her over it. The men waited 'till nightfall and were going up to the house to kill her when they were stopped in their tracks. They couldn't go through with it. She only found out about the incident the next day. They told her the men didn't kill her because when they went up to her house, they found that it was being guarded by several large shining men wearing white clothes.
Likewise, Mincaye, the Waodani tribesman who killed Nick Saint with a giant spear in the jungles of Ecuador, later told Nick's son Steve about what he saw the day he murdered his father. He said, "We saw them. Your father saw them too. Shining Ones!" They had also seen angels appear in the sky after they had speared the missionaries on the beach in the jungle.
It makes me excited to hear these stories of another dimension that we can't always see. But just because we can't see them doesn't mean that they aren't there!
Jonah is another example of a prophet I thought I knew. Really. This story has been told so many times since I was a little kid. I've taught it to little kids... But of course I learned something new. I learned, or maybe realized in a new way, that "a Christian saying no to God is far more repulsive to the world than a pagan who lives an ungodly life." (quote from my devotional book). The men on the boat with Jonah were shocked when he explained that he was running away from God. They didn't know God and yet they had more faith than he did. I don't want to lose my testimony to the world like Jonah did. And yet I know I already have at points in my life. Thank God for second chances! I also did not realize that when he finally obeyed, all he had to do was relay, from God, one sentence to the Ninevites and they believed and repented. What? I thought it was more than that! We don't need to worry that the people will or won't respond to us. We just need to listen, obey and believe. They are ultimately responding to God when we witness and we can rest in that :)
When people reveal that they have weaknesses, it's so encouraging to me. We can learn from the weaknesses we find in each other to help us in our future walks with Christ. I believe God gave us these examples to encourage us. Some of the greatest men in the Bible had major issues and at times, a severe lack of faith. Abraham gave his wife to a foreign king because he was scared for his life. Lot offered to give his daughters up to be raped to a perverse and violent group of men who were knocking down his door looking for homosexual sex with his "guests" to appease their lustful desires. David was a murderer, an adulterer, and a liar. Peter was a deserter and a denier of Christ when he was put a little bit of pressure from a curious servant. And yet, God specifically called these men righteous!
Yes. They were sinners. But they became right with God so they were declared righteous.
They failed. But they confessed their sins and were reconciled with the only Holy God.
I too, fail at times... many times. But I take great courage in the fact that if God called these men righteous, the same grace is offered to me. I pray that my heart will be soft and ready to accept instruction and correction and that I will be humble and repentant daily.
Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
Yes. I'm enjoying the stuff I never knew before and wondering what's next!
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