9 months later....

No, I don't have a baby, but approximately nine months after beginning this journey through the Bible, I am done with the Old Testament. It's true! When reading the Bible chronologically, you don' reach the New Testement until late September. That means the OT is long!!! But it is good...

Sticking with the 9 month theme, friends of mine just had a baby this month as well. Yes, her gestation period was my OT reading period. I was just looking through their slideshow of birth pictures and was so struck by God's love for us. Watching these two new parents glow with love for their new baby boy made me think of God, our Father, and his love for us, His children.

Of course, we know the love of God through His Son, Jesus, who does not show up in human form until the New Testament (I'm two days in and it's sooo good. Post about the Wise Men coming soon!). But we know the love of God long before Jesus' earthly arrival through the Old Testament (I say earthly arrival, because Jesus has existed for all eternity with His Father in heaven, and actually may have visited some of our OT friends briefly in supernatural form....). God created us. He created this world for us to enjoy. He set in motion a plan for our salvation before we even existed (Genesis). He has given us an example of His deliverance through the story of Israel's escape from Egypt (Exodus). He has painted us a picture of heaven in the peace and blessing of the Promised Land (Joshua). He has shown us that He would someday send a great and mighty king through David (I Samuel, Psalms, etc). He has proven that His patience and steadfast love will outlast our rebellion with the example of the hard-hearted Israelites during the time of the prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel). Through the exile, He has shown us His loving discipline in order to refine us and bring us back to Him (Daniel, Lamentations, etc.). And, finally, God has revealed that He is always true to His promises even when worldly circumstances are horrible and beyond our own control (Ezra and Nehemiah). God loves us.

He loves us so much that after all the sin of the OT - after God's people turned away from His goodness time and time again in order to lie, steal, kill, worship idols, hoard material items out of greed and complain to God constantly (sins that sadly describe my own life as well) -  He sent His only Son... more about that to come!