This is officially the first post where I raise some questions that I have when reading through the Bible. I hope that you will join me in asking God for understanding a lot of this hard stuff.
I decided to read through the books of 1 & 2 Samuel this past week. The story of Samuel, Saul, and David (primarily). I have to be honest. My mornings with my coffee reading about armies running all over Israel killing villages didn’t really bring me closer to God like I had hoped. I was looking to hear from God about leadership and being a person after God. It’s there and it’s good stuff (it’s the Bible so I am biased). But my mind had a hard time getting around the times when David would get angry and want to go kill a man because he wouldn’t give David some food. Or the times when Saul, God’s anointed, had all the priests murdered because they helped David.
I’ve been taught my whole life that all scripture was useful for teaching, and that it is all to weighed equally. But when I’m honest with myself I have a hard time wanting to say that these passages are equal with the time that Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (he also said to love our enemies!!!)
Or in Micah when God says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” .. Or when Peter says “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
I am trying to reconcile all of these things in my mind…What do you think?
Justin-
Ever read the entire book of Leviticus? (Thats a rhetorical question). I’ve often wondered “How in the heck am I going to apply this to my life?” I think that all scripture IS useful for teaching, but I also think that there is a distinguishment to be made between personally weighing every part of it equally. There have been times for me where I couldn’t wait to pick up the Bible and read the O.T., and other times where to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less about reading the O.T., or vice versa. That doesn’t negate the validity of certain parts of the bible (I know that that is not what you are saying), but what I’m saying is that in terms of weighing it equally, so much of the Bible is relative to where we are at in our lives, our walks, our current attitiudes. I think that those O.T. stories are important for showing us the character of God, and what we would have to do to be atoned if it wasn’t for Jesus, but for our daily living, I think you would be hard pressed to find someone that would fault you for weighing the words of grace, mercy, and truth heavier than other parts of the bible. Grace and mercy are not only how we are to try and live our lives, but they are also why we trust in Jesus for our salvation; they are our hope. I hope this post wasn’t a ” Yeah, I already know that” moment for you, but it’s good for me to write something like this, because I am kind of in the same place too. Not a crisis of faith, but a “WTF” moment.