But the Old Testament is old

Romans 15:4

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Oh, I love and adore the Old Testament. I study it, drink it in, ponder it, meditate on it, imagine myself there and thank God over and over again for it.

I know most people love the New Testament. I know why-I mean, Christ is there. How do we know Him, other than to study where He is? A wise friend of mine told of how a wise friend of hers reads the Gospels once a week. This friend told of the intimacy with Christ that this practice brings. I do want to add that into my weekly routine.

I think the reason, though, that the Old Testament speaks to me so loudly is because my life feels so much like that of an Old Testament believer. Their faith was exercised, stretched, demonstrated and demanded over and over again. I feel like I am serving an Old Testament God.

The God of my life demands that radical faith. He's performing miracles. He's asking me if I'm going to believe. He's telling me to do wonderful, strange and amazing things, the likes of which makes me feel totally and certifiably crazy.

For me, it's so easy to read these Old Testament stories and nod my head and go on. I've heard them from the time I sat on my tiny stool in my little Sunday School class, most likely illustrated with water color posters or felt boards. It was as an adult that I read these stories with fresh eyes. I read parts that I had NEVER heard or read before (God almost killed Moses on the way to Egypt because he hadn't circumcised his son so his wife whips out a knife and does the deed right there in the middle of the road to save her husband's life? WHAT? Miriam, along with Aaron, later become so jealous of Moses that they vehemently oppose him, which leads to their leprosy and only Moses' intercession heals them? WHAT? Those parts weren't on the felt board!) There is so much to these tried and true stories that I somehow missed all these years. This sent me scurrying back to Genesis to start over with a fine tooth comb. And oh the joys that were there to be found.

I think for me, as it always blasted does, it comes back to faith. Over and over again these people's faith is what is demanded, tested, stretched and rewarded. I mean, think of it. Noah. Build a boat. Come on, really, really put yourself there. God speaks to you, tells you to go out to a vacant lot and build a boat 450 long and 3 stories high. (A football field is only 360 feet long.) This is where I get fired up. COME ON and really, really think about it. Put yourself there. What did his wife say? His family? His neighbors? What did he think, day after day, when he's pounding away on that ark? How many times did he ask, "God, are you sure about this?" Did he look up at the cloudless sky, shake his head and keep nailing those nails? Did he ever feel like giving up? Did God offer constant reassurance? Did he ever lay in bed, wondering if he had heard God all wrong? Did he decided that even if he were crazy and he had gotten it all wrong that God would bless his obedience anyway?

I ask myself questions about this, of course. What if God just told me to go buy a boat and put it in my front yard. You know, because we might need it one day. Would I?

It happens over and over again. I get to see, with the indescribably beauty of hindsight, the amazing way that God worked in people's lives in the OT. I get to see the beginning, the middle and the end of a story where that person had to stumble through step by step, blindly treading a path that they had no idea where it would lead.

The story I'm most in love with right now involves Elisha. He had a crazy couple of chapters: seeing his beloved Elijah being taken up to heaven, seeing 42 young men mocking God being killed by a bear, dealings with a king involving a water miracle... He was a busy man. A sweet widow approaches him and asks for help. She couldn't afford to pay her family's taxes, and her two sons were going to be taken as a slaves for payment of those taxes. She had already lost her husband, and now she was about to lose her sons. This is where I pause, and sink into this woman's situation. I can't imagine her fear. Her panic. Her desperate situation. She runs to Elisha, tells him her predicament. He asks her what she has in her house and she tells him all she has is some oil. So he says this to her:

Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside."

So here is when I interject my self into this story. I, as this sweet woman, look at Elisha and do the double blink. *blink, blink* "Um, I'm sorry. Did you hear me? I need help. Money preferably. Someone to talk to the government for me. Did you hear what I said? And you want me to go do what? Um, okay." I would have walked off, shaking with fear and trepidation. Feeling frustrated. Did he hear me? I am about to lose it all.

Now maybe this is where my faith already fails me. Maybe she was desperate enough to immediately do what he said. Maybe she didn't even do the double blink. Maybe she never gave it a second thought.

But, whether or not she thought that things were going to work out, she obeyed. Stepped out in faith. Because here she goes. She sends out her sons to knock on her neighbor's door. "Hey, there, neighbor. Can I borrow your jug? I'll bring it back."

Neighbor: "Why do you need it?"

Sons: "We don't know."

Neighbor: "You don't know?"

Sons: "No. We don't. We will let you know later though. Thanks"

I'm guessing they answered this question over and over again. Got some weird looks. Blank stares. And that's not really the huge deal. I get weird looks and blank stares a lot, and I'm not asking my neighbors for random objects. But anywhere during this process, did the sons think she was crazy? Did she think she was crazy? Go back to Elisha and say, "Are you sure about this?" What did she tell her sons? Did they look at their living area crowded with jugs and wonder what the heck they were doing? Was there doubt and/or fear?

Whether or not there was, they started pouring that oil. The obvious miracle was that the tiny bit of oil that she had filled those jars over and over again. She went back to Elisha, and he told her this:

She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

Well, there you go. They did and probably lived happily after. But wait. Oh there is so much here. This story is just a paragraph or two in 2 Kings, but OH MY GOSH, this story has just rocked my world here lately.

Here's where I sink and swim in this story. As soon as Elisha told her what to do, she had two choices. Do what he said or not. The rational choice would have been to shake her head, think that Elisha was crazy and go home. I mean come ON. What he told her to do had nothing to do with what she came to him with help on. Huge choice. Obey or not. I can camp there for a long time.

But there's more. Elisha really had miraculous powers. He could have just poofed out $20 out of the air and handed it to her. Taxes taken care of, all is well. But here's the thing. He made the whole situation dependent on her faith and her obedience. Had she walked away, she wouldn't have gotten what she needed. So it was totally up to her.

And what if Elisha would have popped that money out of the air. Or found it behind a bush. (Man, those Old Testament people loved their bushes.) Or whatever. What would she have missed out on?

A miracle.

Because of her obedience and faith, she got to see and partake in a miracle. MAN, if I weren't connected to this computer I'd get up and jump up and down. She got to touch and feel a MIRACLE. OH MAN!!!!!!

That just blows me away. What miracles in my life am I missing because I don't step out on faith? I hear people say that God doesn't do daily miracles anymore. I mean we all know He saves lives of sick people and I don't want to diminish those types of miracles. But am I missing out on crazy, mind blowing miracles that God wants to do in my own life because I don't do crazy, mind blowing things God asks me to do ?

Yep.

And this is why I love the Old Testament. There is so much for me. I can't get enough. I want to meet this sweet lady when I get to heaven. I want to thank her for her faith and how it's inspiring me to do crazy stuff in my own life.