Old Testament

Few things take me by surprise, anymore. However, this week, as I was into the Word, I had an “Aha!” moment. I had been studying in the Old Testament about Moses, Aaron, & the Levites. During my study, I was curious to what Moses & the children of Israel were learning. They had plague, after plague, then fussing & griping & in the end poor Moses still did not even get to see the promised land. I got to thinking why in the world would God treat his children like this? Shouldn’t they live a life with no worries or heartaches? No pain & sorrow. No problems to be burdened with? After all, they were God’s chosen people. God chose those people. Then all of a sudden it hit me:

Moses killed a man.

Noah got drunk after he left the ark.

David commited adultery.

Paul persecuted Christians.

Peter denied he even knew who Jesus Christ was.

I have been divorced, my Mama died at an early age (after years of needless suffering), my relationships have been strained with some of my family, I have been through my share of trials. But God is still good. Even though He lets tragedies happen to the best of us. He could be doing this to mold us into the people He needs us to be so that He can use us. Otherwise, we may get so full of life & pride that He can’t use us for His will.

I read in Hebrews 12 starting with verse 6

For whom the Lord loves, He chastens….(0r corrects)- so then the Lord must love me, ~~more that your average bear~~ ALOT.

verse 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful:nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

How many times do we say, “Thank you Lord for all these problems, because I know this is going to help me be more like you want me to be?” Uh, yeah, not me. But that’s what He says is going on (Heb 12:11) My deal is I need to submit more to His will in the 1st place, then, maybe I won’t have to endure such correction from the Lord (in the form of troubles). My “Aha!” moment made me realize I need to thank God for thinking enough of me, to not let me remain as I am. That I am worth His time, effort, & energy to be disciplined by trials to make me into what He wants me to be. For that I am truly humbled.

I will be linking up with Falen & Laura at Upward Not Inward’s Into the Word Wednesday. Come on over & see what’s going on. We always have a good time sharing what the Word of God is saying to us. Thanks for stopping by to visit! I have to be going now, because I should be washing clothes.

Alright, I know it’s February & I know you should know by now, sometimes, it takes me a little while to get things straight in my head. But, in my defense, once I do, I can normally “get to doing” whatever it is.

I have been making attempts at reading the Old Testament. I have read all of Genesis, Proverbs, & am working on Job. Today, I decided to take another approach, to keep me on track. After much thorough, grueling, & perplexing research ( I googled it & got my answer in a nano second), I found out, there are 929 chapters in the Old Testament. That is about 18 chapters a week, I need to be reading. One website suggested 2 chapters each week day, 3 chapters on Saturday & 5 chapters on Sunday. I liked that. This way, if I don’t want to read the books or chapters in Bible order, I can still stay on target.

Just wanted to pass this on to my peeps. (Yes, I consider you my peep ). Last year, I read the New Testament from Memorial Day to Labor Day.(You can see the reading schedule in one of my previous blogs in May 2012). You would be really surprised at how differently you understand the New Testament reading it like a book. Not just hopscotching through it, picking out verses and stories here & there. That’s what I had been doing for years. So glad I took the time to read it. I should be going now. I have to continue reading my 18 chapters, of the Old Testament, for this week & after that, alas, washing clothes……..