Old Testament Examples
Do you have a favorite story from the Old Testament? It would be hard for me to choose just one. There are so many that I have loved for years. Now as a parent I have been able to share these with our son and see them from a new angle. Do you ever wonder why all of these stories are recorded? Do you ever wonder what other things happened that weren’t recorded for us? I recently came across a passage in I Corinthians that got me thinking about the various Old Testament stories.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. I Corinthians 10:6–13
We need to pay attention to what we are reading and consider what we can learn from the text. God left us this for a purpose. He left us this as an example. It is not just random words filling a page. There is a reason!
The above passage warns against several things…idolatry, sexual immorality, testing Christ, and grumbling. Quite an interesting list I think. Are these not all things that we need to be on guard against in our Christian lives? We may not have the idols that these people of the Old Testament had, but we cannot deny that we still have idols. And those idols still are an abomination to God. We may not be trapped by the same sexual immorality as these people, but you do not have to look far to see that sexual sin is rampant in our society. In the Old Testament book of Exodus we see the people tested the Lord (see Exodus 17:1, 2). Moses told them not to do this. Don’t we test the Lord too? The final example was against grumbling. As I read in the Old Testament it often seems like the people sure did a lot of grumbling. But don’t I do the same thing? Isn’t it easy to grumble and groan when things don’t go my way?
I would like to encourage you today to remember the lessons from the Old Testament and let what you read be an example for your life.
Have a day of blessings!
Bless you for sharing.
I love God’s Word! And the old testament has so much to feed upon. Thanks for the great reminder Bethany. 🙂