For those who have heard my salvation story, you may remember that my husband led me to Jesus. We’d been high school buddies, neither of us caring much about God, the Bible, or anything “religious.” After graduation, I attended the University of Dayton (for one year), and he went on a basketball scholarship to LeTourneau University, a Texas Christian college.
As part of Roy’s scholarship, he was assigned a campus job. Because God had a plan for this fiery red-headed young man, He decided Roy would become the grading assistant for LeTourneau’s Old Testament professor. (Isn’t God amazing?!) 😀
After his freshman year, a portion of the athletic scholarship funds was “re-appropriated” to the Engineering department to buy (in 1983) these strange things called…personal computers. Yes, we’re that old! So Roy went back to Indiana to finish his degree with a heart on fire for Jesus. He came home to show his friends who Jesus was. Did you catch that? Showing, not just talking about his new Best Friend.
I was one of those friends who noticed he was “living differently.” At first, I was certain those TX Christians had brainwashed him!
What Changed My Mind (and Heart)?
Since I’d been raised in a Christian home, I challenged Roy to tell me something I didn’t already know. My parents and grandparents had been using Scriptures as weapons in their ongoing theology debates. I’d seen firsthand how the Bible–quoting verses here and there–could cause real damage.
But Roy, this newbie believer, actually blew my mind with a new truth. After a year of grading Old Testament (OT) papers and studying his OT professor’s book–Scanning the Plan–he explained the Bible to me as no one else had. He said (paraphrased):
The Bible is one story, cover to cover, a love letter from the Creator written to you personally. He’s wooing you with His 66 books (divided into the Old and New Testaments), written by approximately 40 human authors over a span of 1,500-2,000 years. The authors lived on three different continents and wrote in three languages, using a variety of literary genres (narrative, poetry, law, prophecy, epistles (letters), and apocalyptic literature).
For most of my life, I’d been told what Christians should do. No one had ever shown me why I’d want to follow Jesus, the One who pours His love into those who read and study His Love Letter.
Not So Different Than Princess Maakah
In Noble, Maakah’s story, she’s been deeply wounded in her search for love. She’s been disillusioned with her parents’ gods, who seem distant and unwilling to ease her pain. As a young girl, she’d chosen Asherah as her patron goddess, the one who claimed power over both love and war.
A few years after she lost her beloved/betrothed, her abba, King Talmai, arranges a treaty marriage between Geshur and Israel. Maakah, as the only heir to Geshur’s throne, agrees to the political marriage, but her pride abhors the idea of marrying Ish-bosheth, King Saul’s fourth-born prince. At twenty harvests old, she was a spinster and couldn’t be too choosy.
My Sad Story
I’d been dating a guy since my freshman year in high school. He decided we were finished right before my second year of college. I was devastated and had no idea what a future without him looked like. I’d been disillusioned with my parents’ God and turned to false gods–mostly Jack Daniels–for comfort. On the edge of being an alcoholic–drinking alone every day since age sixteen. After five formative years together, he’d become part of my identity. Who was I without a boyfriend?
Enter my Heavenly Father, who brought Roy Andrews home from TX to show me that Jesus, my eternal Bridegroom, was preparing me for a new identity. When love had let me down, I ached for belonging. Roy’s powerful description of the Bible as a divine Love Letter was exactly what I needed to hear. He modeled the security and love that awaited me–in Jesus’s arms.
How Is Maakah’s Story Similar?
This new understanding of the God who pursues His beloved changed the trajectory of my life–as it does for Princess Maakah. In Noble, a fictional representation of Geshur’s princess, David introduces her to the God who is neither distant nor unfaithful to His worshipers. David shows his love for Yahweh through his praise. Through conversation and modeling life in everyday decisions, David shows Princess Maakah that she, too, can experience the eternal love of Israel’s one true God.
My Happy Story
One month after Roy explained to me the love of our Creator, he knelt with me on my parents’ living room floor and escorted me “down the aisle” to meet my eternal Bridegroom. Seven months after giving my life to Jesus, Roy and I were married. Nine months and two weeks after that, we had our first baby.
Once I committed my life to the Lover of my soul, I knew the true meaning of belonging. Yes, I also belonged to my husband, who showed me many of the places Jesus shows up in the Old Testament. Roy didn’t use John 3:16 to lead me into a relationship with the Lord. Instead, he showed me the eternal love story’s beginnings from the Book of Beginnings, Genesis.
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:14-15
From the moment of that first sin in the Garden of Eden, God displayed His protective heart toward “the woman’s offspring” through every Bible story, poem, song, and prophet’s message. Finally, after 400 years of God’s silence to the rebellious Jewish nation, Yahweh sent His Son–personally–to ransom every heart that believes. The Gospels–Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John–declare that the serpent’s offspring (Satan) struck Eve’s offspring (Jesus in human form). And then gloriously proclaims, by Jesus Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and powerful resurrection–crushed Satan’s head (his power over God’s people).
What About Your Story?
Have you read the Bible time after time with limited understanding? Let me introduce you to my new favorite way to read and understand the Bible as one Story. The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble is a free plan on YouVersion, which presents solid teaching during its year-long journey through EVERY verse of God’s Love Letter. Don’t wait to begin it in January when everyone else is starting a “through the Bible” Bible plan. I started my journey in March, and I learn something new about God’s Love Letter every day!
If committing to a whole year sounds too daunting, try another new-to-me resource: Journibles: The 17:18 Series. It’s based on Deuteronomy 17:18, which Moses wrote a few hundred years before Israel had a king.
When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. Deuteronomy 17:18
Did you realize that God commanded every king of Israel (and Judah) to write out the entire five Books of the Bible (also called the Pentateuch or Torah)? I’ve contemplated how different Israel’s history might have been if the kings had obeyed.
As a record and discipline for myself, I plan to write down the entire book of Psalms (two volumes of Journibles). What about you? Thankfully, there are Journibles for many Books of the Bible. Which one would you choose?
What If? The Question Behind Every Novel
We see no evidence in Scripture that David did or didn’t write out a personal copy of the Law of Moses. That’s when “what if” began to percolate. For Book #3 of the King David’s Brides series, what if a young woman–the high priest’s daughter–was given an incredible memory of the content of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? What if she began making copies of the Law, and her high priestly abba (father) began distributing them to every walled city in Judah? And what if, along with her holy service to Judah, she also helped David to write his songs (psalms) and distribute them with the copies of the Law?
Stay tuned for more about Loyal: The Story of Haggith that I’ll share with my Newsies!
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