Deb (my wonderful mother-in-law) sent me (Lisa, hi!) an email the other day asking me if I’d like to guest post about my Daily Walk experience with the Old Testament. I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet when I read her email, but I was PUMPED!! First of all, because I’d finally caught up in my readings (see below), and secondly, because I love writing about what I’m learning from God. (<– that link opens up a new window to my own blog, if you’re interested.)

In the few years that I’ve known and loved her son, Deb has been a huge encouragement to me spiritually. From the beginning, she has treated me like her own daughter, and without her, I never would have even heard of the Daily Walk Bible, let alone been given a chance to participate in reading it alongside other wonderful men & women.

So without further ado, my guest post:

Believe it or not, I’ve been a Christian for almost all of my life (I’m 27 years old) and, until this very weekend, I had never read through the Old Testament.

What? You’re not surprised?

Actually, I can’t claim that I’ve read through every single verse in the New Testament either.

And you know what? For me, that’s been pretty embarrassing baggage to carry around in my Christian backpack.

Now, I’m not saying that reading or not reading the Bible makes God love us any more or any less, or any more or any less a Christian, or is the final verdict on our faith or salvation or anything like that. Jesus took care of our salvation when He died on the cross for our sins, and if we believe and confess our sins and continue to submit our lives to Him, we are saved. BUT – the Word teaches us who God is. How can we claim to know, love, and follow Him if we don’t study all He offers us on who He is and what He’s done? How can we grow if we don’t know? (<-Catchy.) And – how can we witness to others on who God is, what He’s done, and what He says if we aren’t familiar with His Word?

If you read the Old Testament, you can see that there was a time when the Israelites stopped reading the Word. And generations passed to the point where no one even knew where or what it was. And I can tell you – they didn’t end up in a good place over all those years. They wandered so far from Him that they didn’t know the first thing about how to know and follow God. (cf. 2 Kings 22 & 23)

Granted, it’s daunting. The Bible is a huge book, and it was written over thousands and thousands of years, and most of it takes place in a culture that is totally & completely different from ours. Not all of it is easy to understand, especially the prophecies. But I have to say, after reading through the Old Testament, I have much more in common with David, Esther, Ruth, Jacob, Isaac, Sarah, Zechariah, Jonah, Jonathan, Esau, Saul, Josiah, ETC. than I ever thought possible. I saw my own questions, thoughts, desires, and doubts in their actions. I heard my heart in their prayers. I saw God’s tenderness and closeness to each of them, and throughout the entire Old Testament I was surprised to see the New Testament, loving, forgiving, patient God I knew acting exactly as Himself.

Why. was. I. surprised.?

God is who He says He is. He doesn’t change. Jesus was (and is) the TOTAL manifestation of His character and glory. So why was I thinking for so many years that Jesus is the countercultural, hip, revolutionary God who suddenly shows up around 3 B.C.*?

*Just googled to verify my guess for Jesus’ birth year and never knew there was a concrete answer. There you have it, folks; Jesus was born in 4 B.C., courtesy of Google.

Was Jesus younger than God? No. Does Jesus have a different personality from His Father? No. All these backwards assumptions that I carried around in my head because I was too busy and relevant and contemporary to read the Old Testament all these years. I knew how it ended – Jesus came and changed (excuse me, fulfilled … but isn’t that what we believe?) the Law, so the Law isn’t relevant anymore.

Or is it?

I just want to challenge the assumptions we tend to carry around in our modern-day Christianity (and that I’ve certainly had at one point or another): 1) That the Law (or Old Testament) is irrelevant. 2) That Jesus’s words & ministry are all we need to know since we’re Christians, not Jews. 3) That the New Testament shows a different side of God’s character than the Old Testament. 4) That Jesus is easier to relate to than God. 5) That we are too busy to study the Word and that that’s okay. 6) That hearing sermons on God’s Word on Sundays is enough to carry us through the rest of the week. 7) That we are prepared to witness effectively if we don’t internalize some Scripture.

I’m really saying all of this to judge myself. I really needed and continue to need to grow. Reading through the Bible word for word, day by day, throughout thousands of years of history is exactly what I needed to be doing. It has rewarded me beyond measure; it has taught me to trust God more than I ever have before. It has revealed amazing truths to me about God’s plan that He’s been flawlessly implementing from the creation of the world to its end. It has shifted my perspective when I desperately needed to just STOP focusing on my circumstances and continuing in a downward introspective spiral. It has taught me to look for God at work. In everything.

Not that I’ve ARRIVED or anything like that, but the Old Testament has so deepened my walk with a personal, loving, pursuing God who has always been this way. It has taught me to take sin seriously, particularly idolatry – what am I putting before God? God HATES when we put things and people before Him. It’s truth. Read the Old Testament.

We live in a world of instant gratification and impatience and easy answers (see Google screenshot above). But some things are worth the countercultural effort. I implore you to take the Word of God more seriously. Even if you’re doing the Daily Walk (which I assume you are if you’re reading this post) – how can you and I commit even more to Him? Because He’s worth it.

If you need a little extra motivation, consider the following:

1) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” (Colossians 3:16, emphasis mine) – Do you feel rich in God’s word?

2) “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17, emphasis mine) – Have you set yourself up to be defenseless against the spiritual darkness in this world (which can manifest itself in illness, stress, discouragement, depression, exhaustion, difficulties in relationships, low self-esteem, selfishness, addictive behaviors, isolation, etc.)? This verse says to take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God – it is yours to take and start using against the lies of Satan.

3) “For the Word of God is living and active.” (Hebrews 4:12, emphasis mine) The Bible is not one and done; it is constantly relevant. I’ve been thinking about re-doing the Daily Walk Bible in 2013, so I can catch some of the things I missed or glossed over. You are never beyond Scripture; it is alive and God is constantly ready to use it to speak to you.

4) In my life, as well as in others’ lives, everything always seems to come down to a matter of priorities. Where your priorities are, there you will spend your time and energy. I have to be honest – in July & August I was about a month behind in my Daily Walk Bible because my husband and I were away on vacation for ten days and I got out of a routine. I could have let that defeat me and given up quite easily. Looking at the number of pages I had to read to catch up was discouraging. But I made it a priority – I determined to do it because it was important to me not to miss anything and to finish the year on time – and I caught up over several weeks. Granted, circumstantially I had a lot of free time to read. BUT I think sometimes you need to cut things out in order to really prioritize what’s important. This could be anything from extra sleep to unnecessary chores to a social activity to even a Bible study or ministry if you’re overbooked; pray about it. One Sunday this even meant that I didn’t go to church so that I could read, because I really felt pulled to read and catch up. I’m not advocating skipping church all the time, but I am advocating evaluating and possibly shifting your priorities. Nothing can replace or even compare to your spiritual health.