Psalms is a great way to start each day as Jesus quoted Scripture from Psalms more than any other Old Testament book. My grandfather passed away in his sleep with Psalms open on his nightstand. My father passed away in his sleep with Psalms open on table. I sat up from a dead sleep and quoted Psalm 30:5 at the very moment in the wee hours of the morning that my mom passed away from pancreatic cancer. A few hours later dad called me, and I felt the urgency and prodding to ask him what time the doctors made the announce. It was the exact same moment I sprung up from my sleep and said, “Joy cometh in the morning!” I pray that I go exactly the same way peacefully reading Psalms, unless Jesus comes to rapture us up to glory—I think that would be amazing! Until just now, I never put these personal stories together and I find it so incredible! And that is how I see the Old Testament acting in concert with the New Testament and now in my own life.
Again, I must aver that I believe every jot and tittle from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 21:21 has been breathed out by God. It is my favorite book and I hold dearly too all of its content from leather to leather. I am blessed to pastor a church filled with kindred spirits who love and learn from the deep dives we do into the Word every time we gather. My associate pastor and I will spend hours on one verse in our men’s Bible study, parsing out the meaning of each word and its context in an exhaustive exegetical lesson that adds volumes to each of us in our walk with God. Granted, for new Christians (and old) I focus them on the Gospels and our theology immersed in the blood of Jesus. Then I have them read the Old Testament with “New Testament eyes.” I know it may seem odd reading the story from the back to the front, but it truly makes the entirety of Scripture come to life in such a meaningful way.
The Old Testament provides so many lessons to our current lives. As a Christian it is also my inextricable tie to Israel as they were the founding fathers of my faith. I don’t wish to over-simplify the Old Testament, but it is a collection of “lessons learned” for application in today’s world. Simply put, turn away from God, bad things happen. I really appreciate how Richter writes in his forward that it is a “story of redemption”—it really is! I got so excited about it that I did a series of sermons this last summer just on the Old Testament as I believe it is too marginalized or not even mentioned in many churches, both Catholic and Protestant, today. The Old Testament is an amazing series of God’s chosen people going through the process of redemption into the family of God. Redemption and family are foundational elements of the Old Testament and have application in my life today. We are blessed to experience this course at OCU, and the Richter book I have read no less than three times, and it serves as a source document for many of my discussions and sermons. I have purchased it for all of my teachers in the church and expect them to have a working knowledge of his contentions within each chapter. I thank God that I am blessed to be in the course since my last two modules were on my MBA where I had many near-death experiences with numbers and accounting. I can breathe now for the next six weeks! Thank you Jesus!
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