Sometimes, to help you know where you are going, you really need to know where you have been.
I often have people tell me that they don’t like to read the Old Testament. They get bogged down in all of the names and places. “What’s the point?” they argue. “It’s all before Jesus, anyway.” People seem to prefer to focus on grace and that’s understandable. As Christians, Jesus is the center of our faith, but we still need to know where we come from.
There have been times when my children have questioned the point of learning history. It’s all just the past after all. Of course the answer to that argument is that if we don’t learn about the past, how can we learn from it? For example, the importance of learning about the horrors of the Holocaust and what lead to it, is so that humanity never allows it to happen again. We learn from our mistakes.
The Old Testament is full of God’s history with humanity and with His chosen people in particular. I just finished reading the little Book of Nehemiah. In thirteen short chapters, a man answers God’s calling to rebuild a wall. With deep faith, he boldly asks the king who he is in service of, for permission to go, as well as for assistance, in his journey.
Upon arrival in Jerusalem, he meets all kinds of threats and opposition. He soldiers on, knowing that this is God’s plan, not his own. God is with him and he organizes the people and the wall is built in a relatively short amount of time. God’s protection is on him. He talks to the people about repenting and returning to following God and they do. They are sad about their disobedience and they turn their lives around.
This is a success story and Nehemiah returns to the king. After some time, he returns to Jerusalem. What does he find? They are breaking many of the laws once again. They are not keeping the Sabbath. They are intermarrying with foreigners. He is furious. He calls them out and attempts to set them straight.
The book ends with Nehemiah asking God to please remember him with favor. It doesn’t end with a happy ending all nicely tied up with a bow.
What’s the point? Well, let’s see, people turn away from God and their world crumbles and they find themselves in a mess. God sends them a messenger or a leader of some type, to help them get back on the right path. They return to God for awhile. The worship wholeheartedly, for awhile. Everything is going well, for awhile. The messenger leaves or they leave. They stop worshiping and listening to God. They turn away. Their society crumbles.
Does any of this sound at all familiar? The Old Testament is full of these stories. If we focus on God, follow God, worship God as individuals, as a community, as a society, as a nation, God’s hand will remain on us. If we don’t, it doesn’t turn out very well.
The good news is, that it’s never too late. We do have the gift of grace and God always welcomes us back, but we have to take the steps to turn toward Him and not away. The Old Testament reminds us of this and I think it’s probably worth being reminded.
What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂