(1-14) A frequently quoted scripture is Isaiah 55:8–9. Many times, however, we stop at those two verses and do not read them in their full context. Read now verses 10 and 11 . What does the Lord mean when He says His way of doing things is not like man’s? (Note especially v. 11 .) What does He mean when He says that His word “shall accomplish that which I please,” and how does that relate to the Old Testament? How would you now answer someone who says, “The Old Testament is too difficult; it needs to be simplified and made more plain”?
When I read Isaiah 55:8-9 in context this time, I was really struck by how loving the whole concept is. I'd always kind of read those verses as almost a warning. I guess because for me it's always come down to things like, we would pray for my brother to "get better," and then he wouldn't, and I would turn to those verses and never bother to read past them, or if I did, I never pondered them. They're way more comforting when you read them and realize that the Lord's ways are higher than our ways in that they always accomplish His purposes: and His purposes, at least in that verse, are compared to (and literally also involve) making the world beautiful. I love that idea. That God's ways are to make our world better.
In the context of the Old Testament, though, it says to me that perhaps the Old Testament isn't the thing that needs to be adjusted for us to understand it--we need to adjust our minds and hearts to understand it. Because God's ways are higher than our ways, and the Old Testament is how it is for a reason. So we can learn from it.
(1-15) Read again the second paragraph of Reading 1-3 and all of Reading 1-13 . Ponder for a moment how we put ourselves in the place of the ancients and let the scriptures “reach deep into our souls” (Larsen, in Jacob, The Message of the Old Testament, p. xxxvi). List some practical things you can do to apply this concept in your own life as you study the Old Testament. Is this application what Nephi meant by “liken[ing] all scriptures unto us” ( 1 Nephi 19:23 )?
The reading in 1-3 says, "The student who truly seeks to appreciate the Bible will study it always for the contribution of its message to our religious life today. It is not enough to be entertained by its stories unless these stories can reach deep into our souls to make better persons. The accounts in the Bible were preserved for the help which they can give to man in developing his faith in God and in following His teachings. The reader who misses the significance of Bible stories in present life is not a true student of the Bible."
1-13 states that one cannot truly understand the Old Testament without "putting ourselves in the place of the ancients as we read the scriptures."
To be honest, this is why for Sunday School I stopped going to Gospel Doctrine and started going to Gospel Principles instead. I've always felt that knowing the scriptures shouldn't be about stories or dates, it should be about the application of those things to our own lives. For me, Gospel Principles works better for that than Gospel Doctrine (or at least it has lately).
So... a list of practical things we can do to "liken the scriptures" to us. Here goes (and please add more! This is a hard list to come up with!):
- Go through each story with questions: why did these people act this way? Would I have done the same in their situation?
- Write down how the stories apply to us today. There is something profitable in every book of scripture that actively relates to life here and now, if we just look for it.
- Study the promises and covenants God makes with His people. How do they relate to the promises and covenants we make and benefit from today?
- Try to think metaphorically. One of the most eye-opening experiences I've had with scripture was when I was studying the Book of Jarom in the context of the war on terror. It was incredible and changed my whole perspective on the war. Don't worry, the whole book is only one chapter and it picks up in verse 6. But anyway, I think that most, if not all, the stories in the Old Testament have similar applications. And just as Jarom doesn't ONLY apply to the war on terror (it applies to every trial, I think), the stories in the Old Testament can apply to all sorts of situations if we choose to see them in those contexts.
Okay, this list was hard. Please comment with ideas.
(1-16) Moroni requested those who want to know for themselves the truthfulness of the gospel to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam” ( Moroni 10:3 ). Why did he make this request? What is there in the Old Testament message that is important for a person striving for a personal testimony? List four or five major practical concepts you could take from the Old Testament to learn to be a better Christian.
Okay, lots of questions here to answer. Hmm.
For a person striving for a personal testimony--well, it would help if there were clarification on what the person were trying to get a testimony OF, I think. But let's just assume the person wants a testimony of Jesus Christ: that He is our Savior and Redeemer of the world, that He loves us, that through Him all things are possible.
For a person striving to develop that kind of personal testimony... here are some major practical concepts you could take from the OT to be a better Christian:
- As the Introduction of the manual points out, a lot of people have a hard time with the God of the Old Testament--they think things like the flood show a vindictiveness that is wholly unlike the love and kindness shown by the God of the New Testament. But maybe one concept we can gain from the Old Testament is an understanding of that God is unchanging--like the Introduction mentioned, if God is unchanging, then He is just as loving and kind in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament, and He is just as upset by sin in the New Testament as He is in the Old. This idea would help anyone become a better Christian because truly understanding it would entail understanding how upset God is when we knowingly break His commandments. If God is unchanging, while He is still as merciful as He is in the New Testament, He is also just as upset at our sins as He was in the Old Testament.
I think that idea furthers my understanding of Heavenly Father as a father. He is merciful and loving and kind--but that doesn't stop Him from being angry with us when we mess up sometimes, and it doesn't lower His expectations for us. It is possible for Him to love us, and want to forgive us, and also expect us to go through the same kind of trials as our Old Testament counterparts did during their repentance processes.
- I think at the same time, that idea of God being constant could help us as Christians to see past the meanness in the Old Testament to the kindness behind it. Example: people turn to the flood as an example of the Old Testament God's meanie vindictiveness. But in the New Testament, Christ explains the importance of repentance. If the world at the time of the flood was wholly populated by a bunch of wicked people who weren't going to repent, maybe the flood wasn't the mean thing to do--maybe it was the nice thing to do. When God flooded the earth, maybe it was an act of kindness, because ending the lives of bad guys prematurely meant they had less time to do bad things they weren't going to repent of (if that makes sense). I wonder how often in the Old Testament, things that seem mean externally are actually not. Maybe reading the Old Testament in the light of God's love for us can show us that even some of the worst trials and afflictions are really just signs of God's love, because they make us better, more worthy people and sometimes prevent us from making our lives worse.
Ah! Two more concepts! Help!
- There's the obvious concept that the stories and the events in the Old Testament can and do directly relate to our lives today. Fully understanding and internalizing that would make me a better Christian.
- Going back to Moroni 10:3 and the idea that we should ponder on the mercy of the Lord since Adam. Well, the Old Testament chronicles that mercy. Maybe this is a repeat of my second idea, but maybe as we look at the Old Testament events with an eye to how they evidence God's mercy, it can help us understand the merciful nature of God's whole Plan of Salvation more clearly. Interesting: at the link provided, it points out that some scriptures call the Plan of Salvation the Plan of Mercy.
(1-17) President Spencer W. Kimball admonished:
“I urge all of the people of this church to give serious attention to their family histories, to encourage their parents and grandparents to write their journals, and let no family go into eternity without having left their memoirs for their children, their grandchildren, and their posterity. This is a duty and a responsibility, and I urge every person to start the children out writing a personal history and journal.” ( “The True Way of Life and Salvation,” Ensign, May 1978, p. 4 .)
If you have not already begun to keep your personal journal, now is an excellent time to do so. Make your study of the Old Testament a part of your journal. Record special insights, things that impress you, or just the feelings you may have as you study. You will find your study of the Old Testament greatly enhanced by your journal keeping and your journal keeping greatly enhanced by your study of the Old Testament.
Done and done!
Tomorrow's reading: Genesis 1-2, The Creation
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