"If we are not careful, we can read the Bible as a self-help book, looking primarily for what is says to or about our lives...Its true that the Bible is relevant to use and should be applied to our lives but we can discover its true relevance only to the extent that we encounter God through Scripture."WOW! The Bible is first and foremost about God. He is the hero. Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac are key players in the Bible, but THE God of Abraham, THE God of Jacob, and THE God of Isaac is THE KEY player in the Bible.
A few years ago I was in a local Christian bookstore and walked by their Top Ten best sellers stand. Almost all of the top 10 were some type of "Christian" self-help book. I was floored. Now I'm not trying to degrade any of those authors or readers of those book, but I could not help but think about how it appeared. It sounded like a group of singers warming up - ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.
Yes, I understand God does care about us and wants to be our guide in this pilgrimage we call life. His main instrument for doing that is His Word. I cannot help but wonder, however, if we have forgotten that God is the hero. We live for Him. He IS the story. So let's get to our two stories for today - Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40) and David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).
1 - List three ways God is presented as the hero of this story.
- In v. 37 Elijah prayed and asked God to reveal Himself so that "these people will know that Yahweh is God". God is the hero because of His awesome power in consuming the altar and everything around it
- In v. 39 "When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said 'Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!" God is the hero here because He used this event to lead Israel to repentance. He could have, and rightfully so, used this as a time of judgment and consumed them with the altar.
- In v. 40 we see Elijah taking the opportunity to have the prophets of Baal destroyed. I don't really know if this is necessarily a action that makes God the "hero" but it is worth noting how God feels about and deals with idols in the Old Testament.
2 - Write statements from verses 45-47 that make God the focus of the battle.
- v. 45 "...but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies - you have defied Him". This wasn't David's battle. This was God's battle. Goliath was not mocking or challenging David, he was mocking God and His chosen people. David was fighting God's battle in God's name.
- v. 46 "Then all the world will know that Israel has a God". This is hanky waving time. This was about letting the world know that Israel's God would not be mocked. There was no giant large enough, no army strong enough, no nation strong enough to withstand the power of Israel's God - Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies.
- v.47 "...the battle is the Lord's"
So God is the hero of these two stories - Elijah and David were just the instruments. God should be the hero in our own life. God stands in the center of the Old Testament story and He also stands in the center of your life story. With that in mind think about this question raised by Dr. Guthrie:
3 - How might you live differently this week if you consciously saw God at the center of you life story?
- Priorities would changed and my actions would change accordingly.
- I would pray, then pray again, then pray some more. Every step, every decision would be a "what does God want me to do" moment.
Man this would be a great sermon!
In Christ,
Wag
I've found that reading the Bible this way has made me look at life (my "story") differently. God is still active in everyday events, still revealing his goodness and glory, but because of Christ I also get to be a player in the drama. I find myself asking, "What's God up to this time?" I'm blessed to be part of his cast of millions.
ReplyDelete