Jen is an outwardly and inwardly beautiful Senate staffer who appears to have everything together. She comes from a family of wealth and let’s just say that her outward appearance hasn’t left her without a share of suitors.
In December Jen experienced a time of great suffering. From what I’ve seen over the past years of working in counseling and ministry, suffering can yield 2 results. It can either push you to or away from the Lord. Jen responded by pushing herself toward the Lord and decided to “get a little bit of Word” in her heart. She went from a busy staffer who read her Bible about 10 minutes at night, on occasion without any consistency, to reading the entire New Testament in 2 days—and then the entire Bible in 3 weeks. If you are in need some encouragement and/or motivation to “get some Word in you” then take a few minutes and read on…
Jen’s own words: “Quite frankly, I began reading (the Bible) because of a fight my boyfriend and I got in. We had gone through a difficult time and needed a break. From words that were passed around in the heat of the moment, it seemed like it was going to be a long break. Even though I agreed I was still sad. Anyone who has been in an important relationship that goes south understands that nauseated, gut wrenching, out of control feeling that ensues. I knew that I had to make the most of the coming weeks; that God was trying to teach me something. Romans 8:28 has always been my go to verse; I'm blessed with strong faith, so it was easy for me to know that God was going to work this for my good. But what did that mean? It didn't mean that I wasn't going to hurt, that's for sure.
A friend suggested that she and I read the New Testament together. She said (verbatim), "If you don't learn from this then you've wasted your time." Whoa.
And she was right.
In my pain, I began our quest to read the New Testament together, to not 'waste my time.' As soon as I read the first chapter of Matthew, I was addicted and my pain was gone. Quickly the Bible became a drug. I'm not sure if that's an appropriate analogy or not, but that's what it was like. It was my pain killer, my peace, my contentment, my joy. Literally, I was overjoyed - and I just couldn't stop. Can you imagine feeling absolute bliss after the person you want to be with tells you they're fine with not seeing or talking to you for several weeks? Personally, I couldn't have ever imagined that. If it hadn't happened to me and someone else told me of their experience of God's compassion, love and mercy, there is no way I could comprehend it. It's unfathomable, but it's there for everyone, and it's easy to attain.”
Jen went on to read the entire Old Testament (although she said it wasn’t always easy) and finished the Bible in less than 3 weeks. I’m sharing her story because I have seen such a beautiful peace and change in Jen. She’s a beautiful testimony and has encouraged me and many others who know her to “get a little bit of Word in us.”
Wouldn’t the Senate look very different if we all responded to our suffering like Jen did? Just imagine…
***Jen shared a bit more with me and I will post a link to it later this week.
And here is part 2 from Jen:
Last night I was playing the "conversation card game" with a friend. One card we drew asked the question "if you could pick which era you were born in, which would you choose?" Before my Bible reading I might have answered when Jesus was alive and roaming the earth, during the 1970s, or possibly the 1960s. My only hesitation with those answers would have been modern medicine. I cannot imagine labor without an epidural, surgery without anaesthesia, or cancer without any hope.
After reading the Bible, I can say without hesitation that I would not have wanted to be born before Jesus came. The Old Testament describes (in much detail) all of the sacrifices and rituals the Israelites had to perform to praise God or to be considered clean when one had done something to deem themself unclean. While we might think "ok, adultery, murder, theft will make you unclean" God considered the particulars of male pattern baldness to make one clean or unclean, also.
Leviticus 13:
40 “A man who has lost his hair and is bald is clean. 41 If he has lost his hair from the front of his scalp and has a bald forehead, he is clean. 42 But if he has a reddish-white sore on his bald head or forehead, it is a defiling disease breaking out on his head or forehead. 43 The priest is to examine him, and if the swollen sore on his head or forehead is reddish-white like a defiling skin disease, 44 the man is diseased and is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean because of the sore on his head.
45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt,[c] cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. Much like today, it was impossible to be perfect. Only, they didn't have Jesus to atone for their sins. The Israelites had to actively work for forgiveness, which God readily gave them when they asked for it. He delivered them from Pharaoh, from wandering in the desert, and at times, from themselves. Despite all of God's mercy and compassion for them, they turned their backs on him over and over again.
His anger turned into wrath and he had prophets convey messages of the destruction and pain that he would give the Israelites in return for their sinfulness.
Ezekial 2:
3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.
At times, despite God's warnings, it took the Israelites a long time to turn back to him in forgiveness. When reading books like Ezekial, Isaiah, and Exodus God's wrath is undeniable, for example, the story of the golden calf:
Exodus 32
The Golden Calf
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
18 Moses replied:
“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
27 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
33 The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
Pretty frightening.
What did they have to do to earn God's mercy and forgiveness? Check out verses 11-14. All Moses had to do was ask once, and the Lord "relented." Sure there are examples of certain sacrifices those who sinned against God had to perform, while others just asked once, but the point is that God easily forgave when His people were after His heart.
So, if God forgave in the Old Testament, just like he does now, why would I never choose to have been born BC? Because the Israelites were overwhelmed with sin, much like we are today. There is no way any of us can ever be perfect. I cannot imagine have trying to perform just the right sacrifice, just the right ritual, or be clean in just the perfect way. Maybe the internet and fast food have made me spiritually lazy.
I always thought that the gospels would make me more grateful for Jesus' sacrfice. He took all of our sins upon himself, afterall. But it was actually the Old Testament. And I always thought that God's righteous anger and wrath would make me more frightened to "mess up." But it was quite the opposite. It revealed even more his quick forgiveness and his forgiveness is for EVERYTHING. The Bible tells us that God's love is unconditional.
Unconditional? Can you imagine never holding even the tinies, in a way most forgettable grudge against someone? Or not saying "um, I'll only break up with my bf/gf if he/she does xyz"? That's the Lord. Because of his forgiveness, his unconditional love has no deal breaker. How on earth - literally on earth - do we get there?
Proverbs 21
1 In the LORD’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of waterthat he channels toward all who please him.
2 A person may think their own ways are right,
but the LORD weighs the heart.
3 To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Praise be to the God of forgiveness.
