Come on, let's be honest about something...   [THE BIBLE- 1 of 2, the setup before our return to Dr. Luke.]
O, I mean you want to, but let's be honest, it really isn't easy to love...at first. Since I am a book lover, I cannot, will not, be converted to reading the Bible solely on my phone or device except if I am checking a reference or have no other option.Â
I like the feel of the pages, I like to underline and take notes in my Bible, dating and even marking where I got a profound download of some sort or another. (One of my treasures is my mother's Bible which has her underlining and notes in her beautiful scripted penmanship. Will your children get  your well-read, personalized Bible someday? And then, recently a cousin gave me my paternal grandmother's Bible who passed away six months before I was born. Wow. Treasure indeed!)
Friends, holding our Bibles in our hands is just the beginning of seeing the context -- the ordering of the 66 books of the Bible, the surrounding verses of particular texts. Today I genuinely love my Bible,  but I didn't always.  For years, I read it because I felt like that's what I was supposed to do--you know, my good Christian girl duty. One thing I've noticed:  Â
>having a working understanding of what is in the Bible has helped a lot, and so has asking God to give me a love and understanding for his Word.                           Â
S o ...  grab your Bible. Let's take a look at what is within the cover of the book containing God's words.         Â
When you hold a Bible in your hands, your left hand grasps the Old Testament, and your right hand, the New Testament.Â
The Old Testament spans more than a thousand years,,                    Â
while the New Testament just 80 - 90 years,  (mentioned in last briefing)
with 400 years of silence from God in between.
It is important to remember the Bible is not ordered chronologically.
Step a little closer, please, as we look first at the Old Bible, as my mama called it.  The Old Testament is a written record of the history of Israel, written between 1440 b.c. and about 400 b.c.
-There are 39 books in the Old Testament which can be broken down into several categories:
The Pentateuch (meaning five books), also called the Torah. These first five books of the Bible are also known as the books of the law because they contain the laws and instruction the Lord gave Moses for the people of Israel, except for the last portion of Deuteronomy because it covers the death of Moses.1                             Â
                        Â
The Historical Books include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, covering about 800 years of Israel's story-from the life of the nation as they possess the land of Canaan through two exiles and loss of land because of their unbelief and disobedience.2
The books of Poetry lend greater insight to Israel's spiritual life and include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.  In them, we see expressions of praise and prayer, wisdom writings, growth through suffering, and precepts for living.
The books of Prophecy are divided between the Major Prophets and Minor Prophets. The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; they deal with Israel's history with a prophetic bent. They include messages God gave these men to deliver to his people. The Minor Prophets make up the rest of the O.T. books including Jonah, Micah, Habakkuk etc.; they were dubbed 'Minor' by Augustine in the late fourth century, because they are smaller books than the 'Major' writings. They include words of direction from God--judgment to the people of Israel as well as exhortation and salvation messages.Â
The Protestant church accepts identically the same Old Testament books as the Jewish people and as Jesus and the apostles accepted.  The Roman Catholic Church, since the Council of Trent in 1546, includes 14 books of the Apocrypha as well.
So now when you take a look at the pages of the Old Testament, you have an idea of what is involved. Traveling to Israel has made the stories of the Old Testament come alive for me! Seeing Mt. Carmel where Elijah called forth a miracle, Gideon Springs where God gave Gideon a new name, seeing the caves of Ein Gedi where David hid from Saul, [look up Psalm 91; David wrote this while hiding at Ein Gedi - so comforted am I by this truth: He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.3] Indeed, seeing with my own eyes these venues anchors scripture to real places ... totally awe-inspiring!
So don't be put off by the Old Testament; it is very rich - and all of it points to Jesus. Start with the Psalms, read Proverbs, and then dig a little deeper.  Why Psalms?  It encompasses every human emotion - from joy, grief, fear, despair, doubt, great sorrow, guilt, repentance, worship, gratitude and more. David and the other authors of Psalms convey the truth that God can handle our total honesty; in fact, that is how he wants us to come to him.  Listen, we've got a God like that, y'all! Our Father invites us to come as we are to him. When we come bruised and battered, like my mom used to scoop me up in her apron when I was a little girl, so he gathers us to himself - to dust us off, stand us up and give us hope and strength.
'And Proverbs?  Well, there is a lot of wisdom to apprehend, and since there are 31 chapters, there is one for each day of the month.  hmmm...
My daily Chronological Bible has me in Job just now which is rather mind boggling, but how I love Job's steadfast position from the outset, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.4
Now come on, let's be honest ~ you're a little more ready to explore, aren't you?
And this is for my friend, Steve, who is back from a deployment, looking for strong connection with God. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ETVqqSXTc
Let's thrive in '25,
Christine
3 - Psalm 91.4
4 - Job 1.21