Finding Our Past

I love that when kids are adopted they receive a new or expanded family history. It takes time for them to learn about their new family, but it’s so worth it. As children adopted into God’s family, the same is true for us. The history of the Old Testament of the Bible is now our history. The story of the Israelites is now ours. This is a huge truth to grasp because it impacts our present. As we read the Old Testament, we see God’s acts of faithfulness to our now-family again and again and again. Because of our history, we always have reason to worship. Remembering what God has done in our history reminds us who He is. The writers of the Old Testament always go back to the steadfast, faithful love of God. But as we read, we see that the people of Israel often forgot the faithfulness of God. They forgot their history. When we don’t remember what God has done, we forget who God is. The good news is, we find hundreds of years’ worth of God’s faithfulness in the Old Testament. But, when we ignore God’s faithfulness in this vital part of our history, it’s easy to doubt God’s faithfulness in our present. Psalm 66 shows the writer worshiping God for what He has done. As Christians, God’s faithfulness in the past points to Jesus’ covenant to be faithful to us today and always, giving us hope to live from that promise right now. Sarah Rexford Realizing our history is found in the Old Testament brings a weight to the stories there. How does realizing the Old Testament is your family history impact your interest in it? We all have favorite family stories. What Old Testament story do you most resonate with? Why do you think that is? How does seeing that God’s faithfulness goes back thousands of years build your trust in Him today? If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 66:5; 136:12-16