Join us on Facebook: Connect PCA Women's Ministry
enCourage - Gospel-Centered Hope for Fulfilling your God-Given Purpose
SUBSCRIBE

Menu
Skip to content
  • Posts
  • Podcast
  • Remember Resources
  • Authors
  • About
  • CDM Home

Tag Archives: Old Testament

Dec102020Nov 29 2020

Why Study the Old Testament?

by Christina Fox, in category Bible Study

My seminary professor posed a question in his lecture the other day: Should we decorate our nurseries with Noah’s Ark themes? Um, well…I did. My oldest, who’s now off at college, had a yellow and green Noah’s Ark themed nursery when she was a baby. What’s the problem, Prof.?

But then I studied the story. It’s not that I hadn’t learned about Noah before, but most of my understanding of the passage, along with many other Old Testament stories, comes from childhood books filled with primary colors and cartoon-like figures. But the story of Noah is actually incredibly heavy and exceedingly violent.  

Many Old Testament stories carry this kind of weight. While studying 1 Samuel with our women’s Bible study, we came across this verse: “The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors…” (5:16). This probably isn’t a Scripture passage hung up on the fridge for that good ole’ morning encouragement. As we digested what was going on in the context, one friend lamented that passages like this are why she stays away from the Old Testament. I get it. I had similar feelings when digging into the story of Noah. It’s hard sometimes to understand how these Old Testament stories apply to us today; it’s equally difficult to grasp the importance of reading them when many are harsh and even some, grotesque.

But the Old Testament is significantly beautiful. It is vital to our understanding of the great and glorious God we serve and digging into these books sheds light on the incredible beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many other reasons to give time and attention to Old Testament books, but here are three to consider:  

The Old Testament is Significant because it Reveals the Purposes of God  

As a literature teacher, I delight in seeing a student’s face light up when they begin to understand how the plot details of a piece of literature fit together to create one unifying and often very meaningful story. Our understanding of Scripture must be seen in a similar light. The Bible is one beautiful and grand story – the grandest story! It cannot merely be understood as individual, disconnected books made up of individual, disconnected stories. When we study the Bible, we often do so by jumping around to different books and chapters, which is certainly fine and can be beneficial. But the challenge is that we not losing sight of the big picture – the grand story – that connects all the details from Genesis to Revelation…

CONNECT:

FB-1

TW-1

EM-1

cdmtile3

Recent Posts

  • Remember to Pray
  • How to Navigate Church Conflicts
  • E-133 Remember Why You Do What You Do with Carrie Mills
  • Jesus Mercifully Listens to Us
  • The Joy of Not Being Needed
  • E-132 Remember to be a Word-based Woman with Pam Benton

Archives

  • April 2021 (8)
  • March 2021 (14)
  • February 2021 (12)
  • January 2021 (11)
  • December 2020 (12)
  • November 2020 (13)
  • October 2020 (13)
  • September 2020 (13)
  • August 2020 (9)
  • July 2020 (9)
  • June 2020 (9)
  • May 2020 (11)
  • April 2020 (13)
  • March 2020 (14)
  • February 2020 (12)
  • January 2020 (12)
  • December 2019 (12)
  • November 2019 (12)
  • October 2019 (14)
  • September 2019 (13)
  • August 2019 (11)
  • July 2019 (9)
  • June 2019 (8)
  • May 2019 (13)
  • April 2019 (14)
  • March 2019 (12)
  • February 2019 (12)
  • January 2019 (12)
  • December 2018 (12)
  • November 2018 (13)
  • October 2018 (16)
  • September 2018 (16)
  • August 2018 (15)
  • July 2018 (17)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (19)
  • April 2018 (17)
  • March 2018 (16)
  • February 2018 (16)
  • January 2018 (14)
  • December 2017 (8)
  • November 2017 (9)
  • October 2017 (9)
  • September 2017 (6)
  • August 2017 (8)
  • July 2017 (9)
  • June 2017 (8)
  • May 2017 (9)
  • April 2017 (8)
  • March 2017 (9)
  • February 2017 (8)
  • January 2017 (8)
  • December 2016 (8)
  • November 2016 (7)
  • October 2016 (9)
  • September 2016 (8)
  • August 2016 (8)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (8)
  • May 2016 (9)
  • April 2016 (6)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (2)
flower tile
flowertile3

Recent Posts

  • Remember to Pray
  • How to Navigate Church Conflicts
  • E-133 Remember Why You Do What You Do with Carrie Mills
  • Jesus Mercifully Listens to Us
  • The Joy of Not Being Needed
  • E-132 Remember to be a Word-based Woman with Pam Benton

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Site made with ♥ by Angie Makes
Angie Makes Feminine WordPress Themes