the wonders of Job

Finding that reading Job has been a blessing. It's been a good reminder of God's sovereignty and the fact that though we don't know what's going on, God is still in control

I was intrigued by one of yesterday's little side notes in the DWB (daily walk Bible) regarding Job 38:16 

'Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in search of the depths?'

The note mentioned the the Mariana Trench so I looked it up today - it sounds like Adrian's favourite pasta, but it's actually a dirty, great, big trench in the sea! It's nearly 11000km deep and Wikipedia says

'If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft), were set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would be 2,076 metres (6,811 ft) of water left above it'

Now that's deep!

Also another intriguing inclusion in Job 39 about a unicorn!

Job 39:9  Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

There are other mentions of unicorn in the Bible so I wanted to find out more... hence this link to an article by Carl Wieland from Creation Ministries. You may agree or disagree that it is supposed to be translated as a 'wild ox', but as for me and my imagination, we will think of unicorns.

a small taste of Job-ness

So I bought a fishing rod less than a week ago. Brand new, couldn't wait to use it. Spent a few hours probably tying up rigs and reading up about rods and fishing. My brothers and I decided to go fishing yesterday - well it was my idea because i wanted to try out my brand-spanking-new rod. We put everything into the back of the van with the back seat folded up to fit everything in. And off we went. As the car accelerated after reversing from the driveway, the back seat slams back down and a huge crack made me turn around. The back seat landed right on top of my rod, snapping it like a twig. Totally devastated. Tears in my eyes. Hadn't touched the spray of salt water, never even been cast.

Then, later last night, I read the devotion for 22 May. 'Imagine that you have been deprived of possessions, health, and loved ones. Could you still proclaim that your hope is still in the Lord?'

Oh Snap! (literally in my rod's case). Well it's not exactly something that took my hope away from the Lord, but it was definitely a possession, and maybe even a 'loved one'... maybe that's stretching it, but I did like it a lot. It was minor, and can be easily replaced at Kmart for $30, but the sense of loss still felt very real. Imagine how Job felt!

the daily walk

The daily walk continues and I'm currently on a rest day. Yesterday I finished Chapter 10 of Exodus which means I am a quarter of the way through Exodus!

Bible in a Year has been great so far. I was reminded of how much I loved the story of Joseph, the lessons I learnt from Genesis all those years ago in the DHW Bible study series, and am looking forward to continuing the story of Moses tomorrow.

BUT

What keeps looming over me is the inevitable cloud of falling behind or stopping my reading. In some ways it encourages me to keep trying to defy that cloud of failure - but then I am faced with a second cloud of obligation where I dutifully complete my reading  because I am supposed to and not because I want to spend time with God in His Word. The temptation of one is to submit to the other - I try to overcome the failure cloud by making sure I read every day, then I think 'am I doing this out of duty and not devotion?' and then I am tempted to not do it because it becomes seemingly contrived.

SO

What has helped me to find the right heart in doing the reading has been John Piper's IOUS.

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness (Psalm 119:36)

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law (Psalm 119:18)

Unite my heart to fear thy name (Psalm 86:11b)

Satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days (Psalm 90:14)

The times when I have remembered to take time to get my heart right before reading, I am encouraged by what I read. Just makes me wonder, will this work when it comes to Leviticus?

Only time will tell. :)

Bible in a Year (take two!)

I decided to start the Bible in a year again this year - actually I started a few days earlier at the end of December 2010 when I received this Bible...

I have officially done one week of readings and it's been quite good so far. Already once, the passage I read (and the verses that I highlighted) came up the day after - when the verses were the text used for the sermon in church! I remember thinking the night before, it's funny that not many sermons are preached about Enoch and then just like that, the very next morning the message was about how Enoch walked with God!

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. 

Genesis 5:22-24 

What will be better this time round is that there's a group of us doing Bible in a Year with the same Bible, and hopefully, this will give the extra motivation and positive peer pressure to keep up with the readings. If you're interested, the link to the blog that we will be keeping is here

Thought it was also funny that Jon Acuff's Stuff Christians Like blogged about Bible in Year today too

We'll see how this goes in the coming year...

cramming for camp

I decided last week that I will go to National Camp in Adelaide this year. Camp goes from 29 November to 3 December, and I booked my airfares on Friday (19 November) - kinda last minute, but I'm glad it's done.

The only thing I have left to do (other than pack) is to do my pre-camp reading of ALL the minor prophets! yowsers! So I have started cramming and doing big chunks of reading to try get through all 12 books. Praise the Lord that they are only minor prophets and some of the books are quite short!

It's funny that they are called minor prophets because what they have to say was pretty major - so far in my cramming, I have noticed common themes along the lines of 'watch out! God has been seeing what y'all been up to and He's not happy - y'all better watch out for the judgement, 'cos God is up-set and He gonna let y'all know about it really soon...'

It's not too often that you come across a solid section of the Bible devoted to God's judgement, so reading chapter after chapter about it has helped me to reflect on God's holiness and my own sinfulness.

It's a timely reminder.

Anyways, I still have heaps to go through so better not waste any more time blogging. Feels like I'm in school again haha!

I have read the Bible!

After two years, and seven months - I have read the Bible from cover to cover. I'm not sure exactly when I started reading, but that's how long I have been documenting my reading (albeit sporadically). My thoughts? Well, in a way, I am very happy that I can finally say that I have finished reading the whole Bible. I have always felt a bit sheepish as a Christian because I had not read through the whole Bible before. Though it is no sole indicator of how 'good' you are as a Christian (in God's eyes anyway), it was something that I just always felt a bit guilty about. How could I say that I believed the Bible when I hadn't even read through the whole thing?

It had also crossed my mind a few times that if I were to die and meet God, I wouldn't be able to say to Him that I had read His number one best-seller in it's entirety. Not that He would hold that against me, but it would be a bit embarrassing!

I'm also glad that it's all done, because, though I got a lot out of reading the whole Bible, at times (I am ashamed to say) it felt like a bit of a chore. While I was reading some parts of the Bible, my heart was just elsewhere and I just wished I could finish the Bible off quickly so I could go back to my favourite books and study them more instead. There were also other times that other non-Bible books were much more appealing to read because compared to the relatively 'dry' patch I was reading in the Bible, the other book offered either something more practical or entertaining and I subsequently took breaks from my reading scheme. It sounds terrible, but I must admit that is what I was feeling in my sinful heart. I really thank God that He taught me to appreciate even the 'boring' parts of the Bible as they too have valuable lessons that help me to understand who God is and how we should view Him.

But in the end, the biggest lesson I have learned from the reading the whole Bible (in conjunction with the last few months where at church and Bible Study we have been studying the Old Testament books Ezra,2 Chronicles and 2 Kings) is that perspective and context really help aid understanding of God's Word. Reading the whole Bible has given me a wider view of the Bible and all it's events. I still find it absolutely amazing how the Bible is so linked and so interconnected. It has not only made me realise how LITTLE I know about the Bible and how MUCH I have yet to learn, it has shown me in new ways how much God loves us and how constant His love is toward us - yesterday, today and forever.

I think the next step is to read through the Bible chronologically to gain an even better understanding of when stuff happened. Then dig deeper and deeper. I think the rest of my life will never be enough to study the Bible completely, but I will try my best!

the home straight

After a long time of procrastination, I finally made a dent in my last book of the Bible - Ezekiel. On the way to Melbourne last Thursday, I had my Bible in my carry-on and I thought it would be a good time to do some reading - it's not like there was somewhere I could go or something I could do - I was just stuck in a seat in a plane for a few hours.

So with the help of my good friend, Alexander Scourby, I started reading, and reading, and reading. I got through half the book! Which was 24 chapters!

It turned out that Ezekiel wasn't as boring as I had remembered it to be, and in fact, there was one chapter that really spoke to my heart. Chapter 16.

Have a read of it yourself here.

The all-too-common story of God finding Israel, caring for her, making her beautiful and respected, and loving her deeply, only to be forgotten, cheated on, humiliated by and despised in return, is told by the prophet, Ezekiel. What a heart-breaking story. It really gives us a true understanding of how bad our repeated trespasses are against our God.

It was a real blessing to read through that big chunk and hopefully, I can finish off the last chunk really soon too.

bible in a year (or 3)

I finally finished Jeremiah tonight. And wow, blogging this is quite convicting. I haven't blogged about my Bible in a year since February this year! As Ruey would say to Ynez 'Shame Shame!'. Shame Shame indeed.

I've been really slack with my Bible reading. I think I have had Jeremiah and Ezekiel as my last two books to read for a while now (maybe not quite as long as February, but still it's been pretty long). I think with Jeremiah, I didn't really know what was going on. I get that the people of Israel had rebelled, and I get that Jeremiah was saddened by this, and I get that despite all of that he kept trying to preach to them, but I just found that my mind kind of wandered off and never came back.

I guess the main lesson I got out of Jeremiah was that it's a serious thing to mess with God's people. God won't tolerate unfaithful shepherds and He will weed them out to ensure His sheep are protected.

Now all I have left is Ezekiel. I have read part of it already I think, but I have no idea where I read up to, so I think I might have to start from Chapter 1 again. Let's hope I'll stick it out to the end and that I won't take too long to do so!

don't diss the bald guy

This passage in 2 Kings I thought was funny. The naughty kids in Bethel tried to make fun of Elisha as he passed through...

2 Kings 2:23-24 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

And then got ripped up by some angry Mama bears... Moral of the story. Don't call people names. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will cause a bear to rip you up!

767 pages later...

I just finished my first book of 2009! I finished the complete Chronicles of Narnia tonight - all seven books! All 767 pages! You'd be impressed if you saw the thickness of the book - I have to admit, I am pretty surprised that I finished it too! I started reading in at the beginning of January and read it all with two days left to spare!

You might think I am getting a bit excited about something quite small, but it's a pretty good achievement for me. I really hope I can keep this up!

My Bible readings are coming along nicely too. I've got one more chapter of 1 Kings left, and then a few more books after that. 1 Kings has been really interesting so far. Such an interesting book. The last few chapters I read were about Elijah, and I have to say, they were pretty cool. It would've been really amazing to be Elijah - he truly witnessed and did some crazy things! Still using Alexander Scourby too - I love how he read out 1 Kings 18:26-27 (if you have Scourby's Audio Bible check it out - it's a hoot! 'Oooooooooo Baal! Heeeaaar us!' - Gold!)

I'm really liking this whole reading thing!

of punishment and plugs

I like 2 Chronicles. It's cool how each chapter is the mini-biography of each of the Kings of Jerusalem. They all seem to use the same formula to intro each king, name, age, how long they reigned, whether they followed the ways of David, and then their story. You can usually determine from the first few verses if they were a good king or a bad king, and then you kind of prepare yourself to be either impressed, disappointed, or sometimes even shocked!

One thing is for sure, I would NOT like to have been one of the bad kings. Just look at what happened to (the pretty despicable) Jehoram...

2 Chronicles 21:14-15,18-19 Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day....And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

Gross man.

On another note, I find it quite amusing to see the verse at the end of some of the chapters in 2 Chronicles that go a little like...

Now the rest of his story is written in the book of the kings

The little plug at the end makes me chuckle - if you want to read more, check out First Kings! It's like seeing a trailer for the sequel of a movie! But I think it actually works - on me anyways. As I near the end of 2 Chronicles, I can't help but feel a little excited to see what 1 and 2 Kings will have in store!

being a bit Asa-ish

Something came up tonight while I was reading about King Asa in 2 Chronicles.

Now Asa was one of the 'good' kings of Israel. He not only cleansed the land of idols and images that had been made previously, he ruled in a way that feared God. The Bible even says that Asa's heart 'was perfect all his days'. But like most other people in the Bible, Asa had his shortcomings.

His problem was that he relied on men more than he did God. He first did it when in the war against Baasha...

2 Chronicles 16:7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

And then later, when he had a disease in his feet...

2 Chronicles 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

These verses kinda related to me because I reckon I can be a bit Asa-ish when it comes to my faith. Often, it so much easier for me to just believe in what I see rather than in God who I don't see. When situations seem dismal, I lose heart quickly and forget that God is still in control. Though I am aware of my lack of faith, I still fall into the trap of trusting man above God and in the end, I end up suffering for it.

If I could only walk more in faith, I would save myself a lot of worry. It's an ongoing struggle for me, but I know that as God keeps teaching me, my faith is growing little by little in every day.

current reading

Bible: 2 Chronicles. Very interesting so far.. it's so interesting seeing how the different Kings of Israel ruled. The 'good' and 'bad' kings, and what exactly made them good or bad. I'm still going strong with the audio Bible and have just finished Chapter 12.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I think I'm getting to the end of this book now and it's been pretty cool. While I read this book, I can't help but think it would have been so cool to have read this as a child. But at the same time, I really do appreciate the books a lot more as an adult because there is quite a lot in there that I just wouldn't have fathomed as a child.

Rise and Shine - A Wake Up Call (by Charles Swindoll). This book has been a blessing so far. I picked it up from our church library on Sunday and have been reading it and tagging pages with post-it-notes because there have been so many really good things that I would like to share with other people. Two such gems I will share below.

10 Statements About Ministry (originally from Warren & David Wiersbe)
1. The foundation of ministry is character
2. The nature of ministry is service
3. The motive for ministry is love
4. The measure of ministry is sacrifice
5. The authority of ministry is submission
6. The purpose of ministry is the glory of God
7. The tools of ministry are the Word of God and prayer
8. The privilege of ministry is growth
9. The power of ministry is the Holy Spirit
10. The model for ministry is Jesus Christ

About instruction, Swindoll shares the following:

Before leaving this objective, it might be helpful to add several ways to know when instruction is moving toward an unhealthy extreme. Three situations bear watching.

First, when knowledge remains theoretical, watch out. It will soon breed indifference or arrogance.

Second, when preaching and teaching are not balanced by love and grace, watch out. Intolerance is not far away.

Third, when teaching becomes an end in itself, watch out. At that point, scriptural instruction is coming dangerously close to bibliolatry.

So true.

I'm happy to say that I am still enjoying my reading. On a pretty exciting note, I only have about 8 books left to read until I have finished reading the WHOLE BIBLE!! Wow! Pretty cool hey?

audio-nicles

I have blogged about the audio bible before, but since then, I had kinda forgotten about it until tonight when I was trying to read through 1 Chronicles. With the many genealogies and lists of names, I was starting to lose motivation for reading this book. Though there were little exciting bits in between all the Biblical roll-calls, I have to admit I was struggling.

Then I thought, Why don't I use the Audio Bible! What a brilliant idea that turned out to be! I got myself reacquainted with my old friend Alexander Scourby, with my other good friend Sword Searcher, and he read to me (in a lovely, eloquent voice) while I followed and scrolled through Sword Searcher. After a few chapters of 1 Chronicles I found myself at Chapter 29 and realised I had reached the end of the book! Woohoo!

It must be an audio thing because I reckon in the same time I would read maybe two chapters and not really remember what I had read because my mind would wander off and I would forget what my eyes had been reading. With Mr Scourby reading to me, I have realised that I am a lot more attentive and I actually follow what I am reading! It really works!!

One verse that I thought was pretty good was from Chapter 28. KIng David was briefing Solomon about building the Temple for God and after giving him heaps of instructions he gave him some encouragement (which you could imagine he probably really appreciated having been faced with such a daunting task!). The verse is:

1 Chronicles 28:20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

Best of all, another book bites the dust and I am one book closer to finishing the Bible in a year (or two).

numbers

Woooo! I finished Numbers!

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was expecting boring genealogies - and even though there were some very repetitive chapters (like chapter 26, oh! and 29..), - there was also heaps of action and even some jaw-dropping moments.

Take for example this excerpt from Numbers 16, Moses is trying to show everyone that Korah, Dathan and Abiram have sinned against God. The people were not entirely convinced so Moses says...

Numbers 16:29-34 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

:O Whoa.... That beats the genealogies for sure.

But Numbers is really a book about God's leadership of His people and their defiant rebellions in the wilderness. Ken Casillas gave us some really good points during the Old Testament Survey in EBI. Casillas took a closer look at the many rebellions of the Israelites in the book of Numbers - complaints about food, water, going to battle, and pretty much everything else they had to do. Add to this idolatry, immorality, demands for power and it amazes you that God still gave them a second, third, fourth (and it goes on) chance - you really see just how merciful God was (and still is).

We also see the different causes of rebellion and we realise that the causes back then are the same causes for rebellion today. Casillas identified five:

1. Discontentment (with God's provisions is really discontentment with God Himself)
2. Inordinate physical desire
3. Ambition
4. Faithlessness (failure to trust what God had said)
5. Ungodly influences

So another book is done and dusted and I am one small step closer to finishing the Bible in a year.

another book bites the dust

The whole reading through the Bible has been a pretty long process, but it has been quite a blessing in many ways. Books that I had previously written off as boring, too long, or irrelevant, have been completed one by one. The latest book to be polished off?

Leviticus.


I guess I have always avoided this book because to me, it was just a book of old Jewish laws that are no longer relevant because of what Christ did on the cross in the New Testament. However, when I read through this time round, it was actually quite interesting. However, some parts got be a bit perplexed - like why some laws are said to be kept for all future generations (or something like that), yet we don't seem to be following them today.

So I phone a friend. Well, actually, I emailed Pastor Ed. And he gave me a pretty good explanation.

As far as the laws in Leviticus are concerned, there are basically three kinds of laws: civil laws, ceremonial laws, and moral laws. The civil laws deal with the government of the nation Israel back then and are not applicable for us today. The ceremonial laws you already commented on in your email -- "I understand that this has to do with it no longer being required because of Christ's work at Calvary in the NT". That's correct. The last group are the moral laws, such as the ten commandments; they are repeated in the NT and are still applicable to us today.

The other thing I asked him about was the issue of food (you can stop your sarcastic looks of shock now). What's the deal with the whole clean and unclean animal thing? The answer was pretty simple...

Consuming blood, eating pork or beef, etc. are controversial issues due to Christians cultural and national backgrounds and interpretation. For instance, some Chinese Christians will not eat beef and some Korean Christians will not eat pork. A good guideline to follow is Romans 14:21 -- "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." In other words, if it causes a fellow believer to stumble, don't do it.

All in all, Leviticus turned out to be a pretty good read. Very interesting to see all the laws that the Jews are supposed to follow (must be really difficult to be Jewish!). It's a shame that they don't see that they don't need to do these things any more because of Calvary!

God's tick of approval

I finished Exodus a few days ago but haven't had the chance to blog my thoughts until now. I guess the main thing that stood out for me was that after many chapters of tabernacle requirements, description of materials, measurements, and instructions, and then after that, even more chapters about how the Israelites did as they were told - to the letter (there was so much repetition that I kept thinking I was reading the same chapter as the previous night) - it got to the point where right at the end of the book of Exodus, God gave the Israelites His tick of approval and subsequently came down behind a cloud to dwell in the tabernacle.

I felt really happy reading that, not just because it was a welcome break from the building instructions, but because it showed that God truly blessed the obedience of His people. That would have been a sight to see - after years and years of hard work and following detailed and precise instructions, the Israelites got to see something truly amazing! God Himself, coming down to enter His tabernacle... That's pretty cool.

Exodus 40:34-38. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

It's a reminder to us all that no matter how tedious our obedience may appear to be, God knows exactly what He is doing and will bless us and show us amazing things if we just obey Him and do as He wills. It may seem like a trivial or insignificant thing - but it is important in His eyes and therefore we should do it cheerfully - even if you reckon your way is better.

exodus 18

Just a short one about Exodus 18. At a time where Moses was starting to feel a little bit discouraged, God sent Jethro (his father-in-law) to come visit Moses, reunite him with his wife, Zipporah, and two sons, and give a bit of fatherly advice. The family reunion would have been a big boost for Moses, but Jethro's words to Moses, I think, would have been just as encouraging.

After debriefing with Moses, Jethro warned him that he was going to burn himself out if he kept trying to lead the group of rebellious Israelites by himself, and suggested to Moses that he needed to delegate some of the responsibility to some God-fearing leaders. He genuinely wanted to help Moses and his care and concern really shone through.

I also like how Jethro was used to encourage Moses (Exodus 18:8-12) and rejoice with him about how God had been moving in the situation thus far as well.

I thought this was a nice chapter in Exodus, because it shows how God used someone in Moses' life who cared about him to lovingly counsel and advise Moses of how to manage the difficulties he was faced with. I guess it shows that our God truly understands our feelings and knows exactly what we need. He could have just told Moses directly, but chose to use Jethro - and in the process, He really helped to grow and develop that relationship. I thought that was pretty cool!

genesis

Genesis. What a book! I finished reading it for the second time (in full) on the weekend. We had previously gone through all 50 chapters (DHW-style) in YPG Bible Study - over the span of 6 years (or something like that), but this time it was just a read-through rather than a study - and needless to say, it was a lot faster.

Stuff in Genesis is pretty funny. Not only do we have the naming system of the Leah and Rachel's children (e.g. Rachel's handmaid gives birth and then Rachel names the child something that loosely translates into 'take that Leah! I got's me a son!'), but there is also the gold mine of Joseph. Joseph - bless his heart - was just such a character! I love the way he says to his brothers who already despised him for being their dad's favourite son 'Hey guess what?!? I had a dream! And we were all sheaves of wheat, and all of youse guys, bowed down to me! Crazy huh? Oh! And then, I had another dream where we were all stars this time round, and again, youse guys all bowed down to me again!! But then - get this - after that, even the moon and the sun bowed down to me too! How weird is that??!'. Classic - what was he thinking? And then later when Joseph is in Egypt, Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him and grabs his coat. So what does Joe do? He leaves his coat in her hand and runs away! hehe..

What's also great about Genesis is that it is just like reading a novel. There's so much action! So much drama! I mean, how cool would it have been to witness the time when Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers when he was in Egypt and they came looking for food - or when Joseph was reunited with Jacob (who thought Joseph was dead for several years!). There is just so much cool stuff that happens in Genesis - but in the end, the message that we really get from Genesis is just like how Ken Casillas summarises it in EBI 'God is at work to restore His fallen creatures'.

So many times we see in Genesis how God has given a commandment or instruction, how pretty much all the 'stars' of Genesis disobeyed God, and then surely enough, how God fixed up the problem - somehow. In fact, as Ken Casillas points out in EBI, the majority of sins in Genesis are committed within God's chosen lineage of Christ! That's amazing - that's grace.

These people in Genesis did some crazy stuff that we would all (if we were being honest with ourselves) consider to be unforgiveable! Murder, adultery, rape, deception, incest, theft, malice, dishonesty (and this doesn't even include Sodom and Gomorrah) - you name it, someone did it in Genesis. When I take the time to think about God's grace, I am always left wondering how God can respond in such awesome love (by sending Christ to die at Calvary) when we have so blatantly disobeyed, rejected, disappointed, angered, and taken Him for granted.

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

ebi: old testament survey class - sessions 1-2

The new semester of Evangel Bible Institute started last week and tonight was the second lecture. This semester I decided to do both the Old Testament Unit (video messges by Ken Casillas) and the Pre-Marital Counseling Unit (video messages by Jim Berg - yeah we use Jim Berg a fair bit at our church!). I am currently doing both units as an Audit student but I am still deciding whether I should change to be a Credit student later for the Old Testament unit (the name of the unit is 'The Pentateuch and Historical Books' and it looks at Genesis to Esther).

While I decide, I thought it would be a good idea to consolidate what I learn at EBI by blogging main points for the Old Testament Unit. So I will start off now and summarise last week and tonight's lectures.

Here we go...

Lesson 1: Getting Motivated

- each book has a 'message' that helps us have context when reading
- the OT has unity and progression when looked at as a whole
- there is a practical relevence in the OT that we can understand

We often have insufficient motives when reading the Bible. These aren't wrong motives, just insufficient. They will be insufficient in keeping us passionate about reading God's the Word. These motives could be things like...

> To fulfil our duty or obligation. We think that God's love and acceptance of us is dependent on us keeping to our duty, but 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us that we are already accepted by God through Christ.

> To accumulate information. e.g. the Corinthians were rich in spiritual knowledge but carnal in their personal lives.

> To find a 'verse for the day'. This can distract us from the intended context of the passage we are reading.

The ultimate motives for Bible study will keep us motivated to read and study His Word. These include:

> Communion - to fellowship with God. In the Psalms God aids and ministers to the psalmist through the study of the Word and the psalmist responds to the Word. The bottom line is that studying the Bible is not for your self - it is for GOD. The Bible isn't just a group of principles to live by, it is the self-revelation of God, the unfolding of His character, thinking and relationship with man.

Something to be reminded of was that when the psalmist writes so passionately about the Word and the love for the Word (e.g. O how I love Thy law.. etc) he only had books like the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible), Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Can you imagine having such a response after reading Leviticus? It's a sad indictment on our own love for the Word isn't it? Ok let's keep going..

> To be transformed by God (2 Timothy 3). The Bible changes us in doctrine (by teaching truth and giving instruction), reproof (proves it wrong), correction (makes it right), and instruction in righteousness (keeps it right).


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Lesson 2: Why the Old Testament?

The OT is often seen as irrelevent for the following reasons:
- the size and breadth of historical coverage
- distant historical / cultural settings
---(e.g. Sarai giving Hagar to Abraham to wife - our culture says 'what the?', in their culture it was normal practice)
- the inclusion of moral perplexities
- unfamiliar or enigmatic styles of expression
---(e.g. Song of Solomon, complements to wife sound strange)
- the differences between old and new dispensations
- the inferiority of the old covenant

So why should we study the OT?
> It makes up 77% of the Bible!
> Deals with some doctrines more completely than in the NT
>>> e.g. creation, attributes of God, sin, Satan, angels, eschatology
> provides perspective on God's work throughout history
>>> not reading the OT will be like watching a play from Act 2.
> The OT was highly valued by Jesus and the Apsotles
>>> NT writers quote OT (almost 1/3 of NT is OT quotation)
>>> NT writers base arguments on OT texts

Why does the NT value the OT?

A. Because the OT continues to be God's means of spiritual enlightening. 2 Peter 1:19-21 refers to OT writers.

B. The OT continues to be God's instrument of salvation and sanctification, leading to effective service (2 Timothy 3:14-17).