Yep, the ornery-looking girl in the too-tight jeans with a mischievous grin—that’s me, back in my BC days. At that stage of life, I wanted nothing to do with Jesus and I hated history. Couldn’t stand to be in the same room with my parents and refused to crack open a Bible. Typical rebellious teen.
I remember spouting off to my U.S. History teacher—face-to-face, “Why should I learn all these dates? When will I ever need to know this stuff?” I was such a brat.
With more restraint than I would have had, he wisely said, “You need to know because it’s your story. It’s why you get to live your life now.”
You might be happy to know the Lord humbled me a few years later when my husband returned to our high school alma mater to teach alongside that history teacher. I ate a healthy portion of crow with several faculty members. 
Why Biblical History Matters
Have you ever started to wade through a dry Bible commentary or listened to a rather boring preacher recounting Israel’s Old Testament history? A few of their kings were good but most were bad, and trying to keep them all straight after Israel splits into two nations becomes rather confusing (The ten northern tribes comprised Israel, and the new southern nation was called Judah).
Perhaps you’ve found yourself thinking the same thing I said to my high school history teacher, “When will I ever need to know this stuff?”
The answer is the same my history teacher gave me:
You need to know because it’s your story!
Wait . . . you’re not Jewish? Not a blood-relative of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob? Neither am I. But if you’ve been saved by faith, believing Jesus’ blood paid for your sins, then you’ve been grafted into the family of Abraham and have become heirs to all his promises.
“Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Galatians 3:7-9
But there’s something VERY IMPORTANT we must learn from Israel’s history. We’re not only heirs to His promises. We’re children of a New Covenant with faith at its core. What does that mean? And what does biblical history teach us about it?
How Bible History Relates
I’ve summed up the Old and New Testaments (OT & NT) in a separate document (attached so you can download for later). In it, you can see a little more detail about the flow of Bible history, but in this post, we’ll concentrate on one theme that runs through the whole of Scripture. Relying on God.
Garden Beginnings
God created all things for His pleasure, including human beings to enjoy relationship with Himself and one another. We were created to rely on God and each other. Unfortunately, the first sin broke that essence of relationship. When the serpent challenged Eve with, “Did God really say,” and “You won’t surely die,” he essentially asked her to rely on his judgment—and her own—instead of God’s.
And she did.
That’s what sin is. Believing we know better than God and disobeying his commands. Then Adam, who had actually heard God’s command directly, listened to his wife.
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3:6
The original sin—relying on something other than God—built walls around every human heart. The rest of the Bible—Old Testament and New—is comprised of histories, poems, and prophecies telling how God chips away at those walls, moving ever closer to restoring that perfect Garden-relationship He once enjoyed with His Creation.
Do-Overs, A Promise, & His Presence
After the flood, God chose Abram (later renamed Abraham) to bless with abundance (land, children, wealth) on earth, to maintain a record of God’s work, and to become a blessing to all nations. From Abraham’s line came Isaac and then Jacob (later renamed Israel), whose twelve sons became the Twelve Tribes of Israel while they were slaves in Egypt.
Yahweh gave them a physical manifestation of His presence in the Wilderness—a cloud for shade by day and a pillar of fire to keep them warm at night. They came to rely on his provision. After the Tabernacle was built, He physically dwelt with humankind on earth for the first time since the Garden atop the Ark of the Covenant, placed in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. And when King Solomon built the spectacular Temple, Yahweh’s presence so filled it the priests couldn’t even enter!
Unfortunately, most of the OT provides story after story of Israel’s repeated failures to obey God’s law. Which means His chosen people repeatedly relied on idols, kings, and their own intellect rather than turning to Yahweh for help and protection.
NT Lesson
Since God’s people tended to rely on things they could see, touch, hear, taste, and/or smell for help and protection, He sent His Son as the living, breathing, exact representation of His glory in Human form.
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Hebrews 1:3
Still, humanity chose to rely on their misconceptions of the coming Messiah, the power of the sword, and a hundred other things that made them blind to the Living Truth who stood before them.
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:11-13
Why It Matters Today
Do we believe in letting nature take its course or the power of human decision or the strength of our will—to get us through tough times? Is that what we rely on? Or are you and I willing to receive HIM IN to every situation and believe He wants to be involved in our day-to-day living?
After living with this concept for a few months, I’ve adjusted my personal definition of an idol:
An idol is anything I rely on more than God.
Money, friends, power, intellect—other things we turn to for help and protection—BEFORE turning to God in prayer is an idol. The definition seems simple, doesn’t it? But it’s not so easy to live with. When finances are tight, what’s my FIRST reaction? When my pain worsens, where do I turn FIRST for help? I’m not advocating a God-only solution, but I do believe God-first living is the simple obedience our Heavenly Father commands.
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 (emphasis added)
Tweet-A-Licious!
- Check out today’s post for a downloadable pdf of Bible History at a Glance.
- An idol is anything I rely on more than God. What’s your modern-day idol?
- I’m not advocating for a God-only solution, but I believe God-first living is what our Heavenly Father commands.
Today’s Question:
- How would you define a modern-day idol?
Click Here for a downloadable pdf of Bible History at a Glance.
Comments 1
Hi Mesu. i loved reading the above! but to answer the question you asked. for me the world is full of idols, more so now than ever before, it can be our work, our computers, our home, our children, even our husbands, and dare i say it even our own selves we can worship! we can make idols of our pastors. whatever becomes between God and ourselves is an idol. The sad thing is we don’t always realize that we are making idols of them. only by drawing close and listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit can we know if there is an idol in our lives. I do speak from experience!
May the Lord bless you greatly Mesu you encourage so much!