The Bible as a Treasure Chest

As many of you know, I'm an Old Testament buff, in fact, I buff it out so much that the more I buff it out, the more brighter the shine that comes out  to near blind me and confuse me.  The brightness of that shine of the Old Testament is so illuminating that my eyes can't comprehend it, and my mind cannot filter it.  There is so much there that the human mind is incapable of comprehending all of it in this lifetime.  Yet, it is so highly ignored by most Christians. 

Most Christians these days are New Testament Christians only.  Yeah, they see the Old Testament as a good story book, a good poetry, a good  intro to the Gospels, but they don't understand, the Old Testament is the cake under the frosting.  If you don't have the cake, there is no frosting. Most of the Old Testament Scriptures that are quoted over and over again don't even show the tiniest fraction of the whole picture.  Everyone has their favorites, but their palates are so accustomed to the taste of the favorites, that the people don't want to try and find new flavors.

While praying about this and asking GOD what can I write about the Old Testament gifts, I saw a treasure box.  Go with me here for a second.  Open the treasure box, and there is a tray on the top of the box that holds all the greenbacks of the US Treasury.  Sure, those green backs are good. They spend like real money, and they can buy you anything you need or want, however, the gold and jewels that those greenbacks are based upon are underneath that tray.  You know they are there, and if you lift the tray you can see the beauty underneath.  The real problem is that unless you take out the tray, and pick up each piece and carefully examine each jewel and the glow of each piece of gold, you are only getting 1/4th of the treasure box.  A quarter of the treasure is good, it's enough to make you rich in Christ, but how rich do you want to be? 

Too many Christians are settling for that top tray, because it's good enough.  Good enough was never good enough for me. That is why I got in trouble with my children and my husband.  They think that I was never satisfied with them, because they were not good enough.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Yes, I set the bar high, but so didn't GOD when he came here as a baby in a manager and when Jesus stretched out his arms and died on that cross for you and me.

 Psalm 119 is the perfect example of the gold standard of the Old Testament.  The jewels in this Psalm is in the poetry.  Yeah, I know it doesn't rhyme, and that's because we don't speak Hebrew.  The Psalm is divided into 22 sections, each stanza begins with a Hebrew letter.   Recently, I started studying some of the Hebrew alphabet.  I'm telling you, GOD loves letters, but even more so, He loves numbers.  Each Hebrew letter has a specific meaning in Hebrew, it doesn't just represent a sound.  Each letter has a number assigned to it, and each number has a meaning behind it.  For example, 1 Represents GOD, as GOD is one, the only One.  My favorite letter in Dalet, the 4th letter, it means door.  My favorite number is 8, which means new beginning, and if anyone needs that, it's me.  There is such beauty in GOD's creation and the story of His people.  Knowing some nice OT Scriptures as comfort verses is like eating beans in a can when GOD offers us an entire banquet table in which we can feast.  Not knowing the Hebrew alphabet is again, like only tasting the frosting and not the cake underneath.  The English Alphabet is good enough to create the words that teach you the Gospel, but the Hebrew Alphabet is the gold and jewels that will make you far richer in Christ than you could ever imagine.

Might I encourage you to take your Bible, learn it in Chronological order in historical context. Learn the culture behind the stories and the people, and you will find such treasure in the truth and knowledge of GOD that you've been missing all this time.  Not knowing the Hebrew alphabet is again, like only tasting the frosting and not the cake underneath.  The English Alphabet is good enough to create the words that teach you the Gospel, but the Hebrew Alphabet is the gold and jewels that will make you far richer in Christ than you could ever imagine.

I'm working on my final book, Living as a Jeremiah in a Job's World, and I hope to have it done by the end of the year.  It has three sections, The BODY ~ A Reason to Believe, The SOUL ~ A Reason to Hope, and The SPIRIT ~ A Reason to Change.  The Old Testament is not the book of a wrathful GOD, it's the book of the Merciful GOD pleading with His people to turn back to Him.  He is doing that very same thing today.  When reading the Prophets, I do not picture GOD speaking to an ancient people, threatening them within an inch of their life, I picture GOD speaking to His people today, in His church.  I see GOD calling out His remnant saying;

"Here I am, I'm over here. You've been looking over there, and that is just a reflection of me in a mirror.  Turn around and see the real thing, the full figure of Who I am."

Life is GOD's Play 

and we are His actors.

    First let me start off with, GOD is GOOD all the time, and life is hard. Second, GOD is good, life is hard, and sometimes, it just doesn't feel like GOD is good all the time. As a mother of eight, I learned this very early in life, and this is what I teach my children. With all that I've have been through in my life in the fiery furnace of affliction, and with all that I have studied about the GOD of the Bible, I see life looking down at it from above. I know that makes no sense, so let me try to explain with a metaphor. I think in metaphor, it’s my primary language.

     I see life as a grand play, and GOD is the Master Playwright, the Producer, the Director, the Choreographer, and the Composer. GOD's Production is a love story, a tragedy, a musical and a comedy all in one long-enduring Script. We are His players, reading from a script pre-written by GOD. No, we are not puppets, but because GOD is all knowing, and because GOD knows the next thing out of our mouths. (Psalm 139), He has allowed for that in what He has planned. I call this Play, “Life, Creation to Redemption: A Love Story” GOD calls some of us to have starring roles in His Play, such as King David, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Esther, Ruth, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul, and the like. In every era there are starring roles, and not just from Biblical times, such as Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and of course our contemporary, Billy Graham. Every player isn't just good ones, either.  There are antagonists in GOD's Play.

     Then there are supporting cast, Katherine Martin, Ruth Graham, Abraham Lincoln, and all the world leaders. There are some larger supporting roles than others, but obviously, there are more supporting roles than starring roles. In the same respects, there are extra’s in every play, and there are more of those than supporting roles. Everyone on stage is a part of the Kingdom of GOD, or saved. The group that is the largest is the audience. They are the non-believers, the skeptics. They are only viewers of the play, they are watching us players. Some will be convinced to leave the audience and join the play, but that is pre-written by GOD, also. Some will become extras, some will become supporting cast, and some will become the stars.

     As the Playwright, Director, Producer and Choreographer, GOD writes into His Play when we enter the scene and when we exit it. All of it is pre-written. We die when we are written to die, and we cannot be taken out of GOD’s Script until that day. To some extent, we get to decide what part we want to play in GOD’s Play called Life. We can choose based on our faith in who GOD is and His ability to carry out His plan. Again, all our roles are based on the degree of our faith in GOD. God has pre-written our roles, based on His Foreknowledge.

     Just as a casting director chooses his cast based on what he knows about a particular actor and their abilities, strengths, weaknesses and faith in his craft, God chooses us based on His foreknowledge of what we will accomplish by His Power and Provision. Now, this is my favorite part, because the Playwright lives outside of time, the Play is already written and etched in stone. Nothing will change what He has written. Think about watching a movie multiple times. You know what’s coming, you know the ending, and nothing is going to change that movie script, no matter how many times you watch it, because it is already written, produced, played, and filmed. It’s that way in the Heavens. We can’t change GOD’s play and there is no scene He hasn’t already seen.

     GOD is in the Spiritual and His Story was written in the Secret Place in the Spiritual, while His Play is lived out in natural time.  Some people are given a sneak preview of future scenes, or a vision/glance at what their role in GOD's play will end up being or accomplishing.  Natural time has to catch up with the pre-written script that is past tense in the Spiritual Realms, which has no time, because it's eternal. 

     Let me explain: It is a known fact that the closer one is to a gravitational pull, the slower time moves and the further away it is from gravity, the faster time moves.  For example, in 1976 to measure this theory of Einstien’s, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory sent a rocket carrying a clock 6,000 miles away from the ground where gravity is weaker. When it had returned, the time was different in the rocket than time here on earth, by about one second for every 70 years. So, if GOD is outside of the universe, because He created it, then it stands to reason this play we are in, called Life, is already done and over with in the Spiritual.

     I find this extremely comforting, because what this means is that whatever it is that GOD has already called me to, I can’t fail, because it’s pre-written and in the Spiritual, already accomplished by His Power and design. I hope that you find as much comfort in your planned success as I have in this little truth and metaphor. GOD is the beginning and the end, and your role in His Play is written and accomplished, now walk in that faith and trust that the Playwright will get it done.