If you have ever done a Bible in a Year Program (or other time-frame variation) you know how hard it is to get through books like Leviticus, Lamentations and the minor prophets. It doesn’t make for a lot of stimulating reading, especially if you do your catch-up at night. Judges is just plain violent, it could give you nightmares!
At some points, I have even caught myself nodding off in early morning quiet time, after a full night’s sleep! Everyone has their own coping mechanism to get through certain books and passages seem both culturally and contextually out of sync with life in the 21st Century.
For a long time, I had a problem seeing the God of the New Testament as the same God of the Old Testament. It took me really reading Scripture, with a keen eye for God’s plan of truth to see the entire Bible really applies to all of my life. Randy Terry, the pro-life activist said: The early Church had nothing but the Old Testament. The New Testament lies hidden in the Old; the Old Testament lies open in the New.
As I work through the hard stuff, I try to see how everything relates back to Christ. I want to have a great foundation for my faith, not just be able to check the box of having read every page. It can still get murky how everything in the Old Testament was meant for us born of the New Testament but I have found 10 truths this year as I’ve made my way through the Old Testament.
- God’s grace has been around since the beginning of time.
- When we repent, deliverance is just around the corner.
- The world and people in the world are no different today than they were back then.
- Fear and anxiety are not new health issues.
- A search for holiness and temperance still makes sense.
- Depending on God is the best way of introducing Him to others.
- Faith has always been hard because life has always been hard.
- A lot of promises are conditional but God’s love is not.
- Character is best built in struggle.
- God wants to provide the best life for His children, even if getting there isn’t the easiest way.
If you are getting bogged down in your reading, or have never made the attempt, focus on the truth of Scripture. There will always be those that claim inconsistencies or that the situations can’t apply to modern day life. But the Bible stands alone and is ready to be taken to heart. When we devote ourselves to reading it, we will find new windows of grace opened where we thought the door was already closed. God still speaks to His People and will open the ears of your heart to hear His voice. Are you ready to meet Him in His Word?
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