Bible In a Year

This morning, several thoughts came to me as I was considering my own struggle with God as he is revealed to us in the OT and I came up with a few things in my ponderings.

First of all, I had to ask myself if I would want anything less than a God who vehemently opposed all evil. Granted, the harshness of his response to sin is startling and hard for me to stomach at times, but I was struck with the task of focusing less on the means of his justice, and more on why he wanted me to read about it…what he wants to reveal to me about his character by giving me the sometimes gruesome details of the OT. It is not like the authors of the OT are tattling on God – He absolutely wants me to know every detail about what he did in the OT…and I want to know why!!! God calls us to be Christ-like in our compassion and gentleness – he knows the stories of the OT would mystify, terrify and repel us, and he set us up for that very reaction…so why then is it all there??? Why did he choose those horrendous stories to take up precious space in the only letter he gave us to introduce himself to us? It is with that purpose that I am going to continue in my reading of the OT – why, oh why, God, do you want me to know about those things you did and ordained? And what am I supposed to do with that???

Secondly, I have been struck by 2 verses I came across in 1 Samuel. “Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.” 1 Samuel 28:18-19a. This was a prophecy made to Saul by Samuel’s spirit from the afterlife when Saul desperately sought the Lord’s word through him. From all evidence I can find, one can only assume that Samuel had eternal salvation with God and was securely Heaven-bound. What juxtaposition as Samuel starts by listing only a few of the ways in which Saul failed to obey God during his lifetime (and there were many if you have not gotten this far yet), and ends by telling Saul he will be at the same place Samuel is. I can’t get past the implications of this – God’s justice continues beyond anything we experience on earth. We are not eternally bound by our earthly sins or His wrath on our earthly beings. He is the ever-loving parent who says “OK – I will give you one more chance…” . This makes the earthly manifestations of his anger towards the Isrealites easier for me to handle because that is but a blink of an eye in His eternity, and where we experience that is all that matters. OK – I am rambling because I cannot articulate my thoughts. Thank you for indulging me if you made it this far!

Love and peace, Amee

PS – BB, could you please post this to the Blog site???