I’ve heard people question the relevance of the Old Testament in the life of a Christian today. I strongly disagree. I have found Jesus throughout the Bible from the Creation story found in Genesis and the first chapter of John to the new heaven and new earth of John’s Revelation. I have also found many parallels to the Christian life in the Old Testament. The first one that comes to mind is the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt found in Exodus.
Just as the Israelites were slaves to their Egyptian masters, I was a slave to my sins and to the enemy. Then I witnessed the miracles of God’s mercy and grace as they released me from the grip of sin. My sins chased after me, but once I reached the safety of God’s love, they were washed away under the sea of forgetfulness. I was ready to begin my new life of freedom and God provided guidance both day and night, as He did for the Israelites, on my journey through a strange and sometimes hostile land. Because I have learned from their mistakes, my wilderness experiences have been very brief (not forty years like theirs). With gratitude and faith, instead of complaint and fear, I have taken a more direct route to the life He promised without wandering around in this world’s wilderness. Like the pillars of cloud and fire, God’s Holy Spirit has been with me to guide me every step of my journey, pausing at His command to rest before moving on.
As you can see, the examples of the Old Testament can be positive or negative. I followed their footsteps through the Red Sea, but then avoided their mistakes in the wilderness. Don’t get me wrong. There are wilderness moments throughout the Christian life and although they are brief we must still deal with them. We will never be completely “out of the woods” until we reach the true Promised Land of His heavenly kingdom where trials, separation, tears and suffering will be no more.
This blog post was inspired by a wilderness moment I had this weekend. My weekly Christian men’s breakfast was cancelled Saturday due to a vacation and family obligations. I used the time to finish my blog for Sunday and get some other things done, but I felt lost without the fellowship. Then I had no ride to the noon service at church Sunday and when I fired up my laptop I found that the services were not streamed live this week due to the sensitive nature of our guest speaker’s message. I understood the reason behind that decision, but was sad to also miss worship and his message this weekend. It was then, in that wilderness moment, that my wonderful sisters in Christ showed up one by one with help, support and encouragement. It was as if I had found myself in the rough on a golf course and my lovely caddies pulled just the right club out of my bag and helped me line up the shot needed to get me back on the fairway. I have never been a golfer, but I have a strong feeling that analogy will resonate with someone reading this.