This summer we will have a sermon series on heroes of the old testament, or great stories of the old testament. As I have been reading about, and thinking about some of these folks, it is always surprising to be reminded of some of the really despicable things that they did.
Even though they did some very bad things, God loved them and they became the saints of old. This is not to say that we should run around and do whatever we want and God will still love us. But it should make it pretty clear that God does not throw us away when we do bad things. He still loves us and works with us. We are always a part of his family.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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Hey Jeff,
When I first read the Old Testament, it was after I had been following Christ. Even so, I had a lot of struggles with the stories I was reading. In the long run, these struggles turned out to be really helpful to me in learning to wrestle with my faith (which reminds me that the Jacob story about wrestling with God is an awesome story.)
Anyway, durign this time, I heard someone talking on the radio about how the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") are often descriptive rather than prescriptive. They are meant to tell us the truth about what happened. To show us real flesh & bones accounts of these people.
And in the long run, that is beautiful. I begin to trust the Scriptures more because they aren't covering up the messy stuff. And ultimately they are working to reveal the story of a God who loves us, messiness and all. Because if there is a God that loves David, murderous affair and all, then that God can love me. And not only that, he can bring something beautiful out of the messiness of my life.
This morning, I am kind of wondering about the aptness of the title "Heroes of the Old Testament." Are we really meant to heroicize the men and women in the stories -- or the God that these stories work to reveal? Maybe that is just my "postmodern" brain working, but I am thinking that these men and women were probably a lot like me. Great potential, but falling on my face a lot.
Yet, like me, they had a relationship with a God who was always there, picking them up, dusting them off, teaching them to walk taller next time, stand straighter. Of course, I'm not suggesting you change the title. I just wanted to offer my thoughts since I haven't commented and a while, and since I so cherish these stories.
i think of Davids mighty men...
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
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