let His Words fall like RAIN on the tender green grass

I'm working my way through the Old Testament this year. Sadly I haven't read the entire Bible. At work the other day, a guy I worked with asked me if I had read the entire Bible.. I told him no, and that I've only been a Christian for... 3 years. How time flies. As the words came out of my mouth I felt so dumb. Not only am I a Christian.. I'm a theology major. Even better, he goes well I'm not religious.. but I've read the entire Bible, and the book of Mormon and the Koran in English. I asked which version of the Bible he read... you guessed it KJV (King James). I think that was God saying, hey Chels... if an engineering major can do it.. you can too :P

don't you love when God humbles you...

However. God is wonderful. In my slowness he has stretched me out a lot. As I DO read, what I encounter speaks to me for each place I've been in life. When I became a Christian,  I blew through the New Testament and thought I was super impressive (humble Christian.... :/)


That was until one day I realized how SMALL the NT is in comparison to the OT

 

<--- OT NT------>

The thing was, I didn't even read the NT in order. Depending on how ambitious I was feeling, I would decide on either a smaller or larger letter or epistle, gospel or even just part of Acts or something to read. So, again.. God in his grace revealed to me his nature, and taught me even though I was reading the Bible like People magazine. He's so patient (:


Honestly, when I first became a Christian I was terrified to read the Bible. You see, I only read books once. I was worried that the same thing would happen with the Bible, that once I read it I would never pick it up again. Now that I've been semi exposed to a theology tool belt full of wonderful quirky terms that help me understand the weird things people do in life, I now understand how the Bible works a lot better. I will never understand everything, no one will. I'm just excited about what I do learn (:


So the Bible is a living text. Sounds cool right. But part of this relates to the thing we know as the "Word". Well you see that Word isn't referring to our canonized Bible. It's referring to Jesus and his life which gives us salvation. He IS the Word of God, and we read about it in the word of God.. The Bible. From here, we see that the Holy Spirit counsels us now that Jesus is in heaven with the Father. This makes the Bible a living text. It's fluid. It speaks to us in different ways during different times because it's Jesus speaking to us, not the Scripture. Freaky.


ANYHOW. Back to my main point.  (This is the problem with theology, once you get started... you can't stop )


I'm reading through the OT this year... and I've reached Deuteronomy 32. I know it's May.. I need to hurry up, but I'm sure God won't smite me if I don't finish by Jan 1. I'm going to try.. but like I said earlier I've learned the importance isn't "getting through the Bible" but letting it speak into my life and refine the way i live.


So. Deut. 32 is a song that Moses is told to teach to the Israelites. Moses is about to die, and God basically says.. Hey the people are going to mess up. They're going to go into the promise land, get lazy and over indulge in their resources, and start worshiping other gods, so teach them this song to let them knew it was coming and I knew it. How would you like to die as a leader of God's people to him saying this. Nonetheless,  the first 8 verses really spoke to me. They are so beautiful, yet painful to hear.

¹ Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
   hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
² Let my teaching fall like rain
   and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
   like abundant rain on tender plants.
 ³ I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
   Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
   and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
   upright and just is he.
 ⁵ They are corrupt and not his children;
   to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.
⁶ Is this the way you repay the LORD,
   you foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, your Creator,
   who made you and formed you?
 ⁷ Remember the days of old;
   consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
   your elders, and they will explain to you.
⁸ When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
   when he divided all mankind,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
   according to the number of the sons of Israel.