Yesterday, in my reading through the Bible in a year plan, I finished the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and today I began Joshua. In the version I’m reading, The Message Remix, there is an introduction before each individual book, as well as between some of the “chunks” of larger sections.
The next “chunk” of my reading is titled History Books, and I want to share what Eugene Peterson wrote about this section:
…for the Hebrews there simply was no secular history. None. Everything that happened, happened in a world penetrated by God. Since they do not talk a lot about God in their storytelling, it is easy to forget that God is always the invisible and mostly silent presence in everything that is taking place. But if we forget for every long, we will understand neither what is written nor the way it is written. God is never absent from these narratives and never peripheral to them. As far as these writers were concerned, the only reason for paying attention to people and events was to stay alert to God.
This is a difficult mindset for us to acquire, for we are used to getting our history from so-called historians, scholars, and journalists for whom God is not involved or present in what they study and write. We are thoroughly trained by our schools, daily newspapers, and telecasts to read history solely in terms of politics and economics, human interest and environmental conditions. If we have a mind for it, we can go ahead and fit God in somewhere or other. These historical books–Joshua through Esther–are radically and refreshingly different. They pull us into a way of reading history that involves us and everyone around us in all the operations of God.
~from The Message Remix, Intro to History Books, page 282, by Eugene Peterson
I’m a history nerd, definitely enjoy studying history and reading books set within historical contexts. I’m currently in book 3 of a series called The Flappers, set in the 1920s. It’s a little challenging to see God in among the mobsters, so I’m definitely guilty of not always looking at history in such a way that involves God, like seeing events as having Him directly involved.
But God is never not involved with our world!!
It’s so easy to forget that… And yes, there are books in the Bible where God actually isn’t directly mentioned as being the One setting things in motion. Take the book of Esther, for example. She is portrayed as the one taking action and saving the people of Israel from being exterminated. Of course we know that God gave her the courage and the favor with the king to turn the tide, but Esther isn’t written in a way that expressly spells that out.
How might our view of today’s world change if we include God’s hand in everything that’s happening around us? Even the little things?
If we believe that God is living in us through the Holy Spirit, then we should be able to easily see that His hand is involved with everything in our lives–simply because He is living in us and therefore interacting with the world through us.
To me, that gives more meaning to my life and the things that happen around me. If something hard happens, it’s because God has allowed it into my life for a reason. It’s not a random event doomed to curse me. It serves a purpose, even if I don’t fully understand it at the time. I may not even understand it in my lifetime! But I have comfort in knowing that I will understand it one day in Heaven, when God reviews my life.
I’m definitely looking forward to the next section of my Bible reading, way more than I was excited about wading through Numbers. The Pentateuch did remind me that God never ever gives up on His people… time and time again they fell off the “wagon” and grumbled against the One who literally freed them from slavery and brought them out of Egypt and defeated those who pursued them, all without them doing anything themselves. God did all the work. And yet they still forgot and grumbled. But God still extended mercy and didn’t abandon them. Which is still true today–He still extends mercy and doesn’t abandon us.
God was at work in the world then and is still at work in the world today. Our job is to shift our gaze and look for Him–because He’s definitely there working for our good!
Blessings,
~Lynne
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