Struggling with the old testament

[Pilgrimshope]

My friend, you are not dealing with anything everyone hasn't faced. Trust me, Numbers is a book every falls asleep reading at first.
There is great news though. The more one studies His Word, the more it becomes a part of them. You see when we make time for HaShem, the more time He gives us for that purpose. Also, as you learn more, you will find every conversation brings something to mind from His Word.

Also it’s hard to grasp but they aren’t usually dealing with God himself in those books but with this guy so it skews our view of God

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭23:20-21‬ ‭KJV‬‬

You can really see it in numbers this actually isn’t how God is it’s how that angel is who won’t forgive them

“And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭15:32, 35-36‬ ‭KJV‬‬

it’s hard to love a God that kills us on the spot for a transgression like picking up a stick bit when we see Jesus he’s not an angel who won’t forgive so it changes all the word over to his word the lords word who does pardon sin and does call the sinner to repentance and life rather then immediate death sentance

So the ot is this dispostion mediating Gods word

“I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.”

In the nt is this

“And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭33:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, ( believe the gospel ) from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:33-34‬ ‭KJV‬‬

 

[Evmur]

Not even Max McLean? Many enjoy his sonorous dictions. Or Andrew Scourby? .

never heard ... they sound like pan cleaning products

 

[Evmur]

Haha tbat would be a motivational hearing

“ this is not the end , not even the beginning of the end , it is perhaps the end of the beginning “

... after the first 100 verses of psalm 119

 

[Evmur]

Haha tbat would be a motivational hearing

“ this is not the end , not even the beginning of the end , it is perhaps the end of the beginning “

When he had finished his "we'll fight on the beaches" speech he sat down and said to Anthony Eden and said "we'll beat the b*******s over the head with broomsticks because that's all we've got"

 

[Pilgrimshope]

... after the first 100 verses of psalm 119

I meant he’d probably say that before reading v 1 of genesis haha

a then at the end Roosevelt could chime in “ we shall win through to absolute victory “!!

 

[Magenta]

never heard ... they sound like pan cleaning products

Nothing quite like the Word of God to cleanse a person! .

 

[PaulThomson]

So, I'm not really sure what I'm expecting from posting this. I recently finished reading the new testament. I decided to keep reading the bible daily and started with the old testament, but I find it so difficult to keep my desire for reading. Numbers was especially hard to force myself to read because everything felt to repetitive that I caught myself skipping more and more then backtracking to give it a proper reading. I'm on Joshua now. But my desire for reading has already been diminished. I am going to keep reading, I refuse to go a day without it now. But I'm unsure if I can bring myself to read the old testament again once I finish the whole bible.

I'm wondering if this is just something everyone goes through when they really start desiring God's word. When everyone feels that pull to read His word daily, does the desire for the old testament grow more and more as time goes on? Or am I just a horrible person that hasn't fully let God take charge of my life yet? Id this also just a pointless worry/thought that will over time fix itself? I definitely realize there are areas in my life that I'm not fully letting God take charge of. I'm so used to trying to make changes and failing, that I fall back into the trap of trying to do things myself without involving God. Then after the fact, I realize my mistake and pray. But unfortunately while expecting and trying to make changes in my mindset or the way I speak, I keep trying to force it without involving God. Tbh, I'm still kind of struggling on making God my entire focus throughout the day. Just starting a conversation causes me to completely lose track of God and I start talking like I used to and my speech is far from clean lol.

Anybody have some advice or just some words to help clarify things? I'm not sure if anything I wrote made sense to anybody, I just feel like I'm going about things wrong but I don't know how to change my approach.

The scriptures are designed to convey wisdom through pictures. The physical world is designed to describe spiritual realities through the design and functions of created things, and does this also in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is given to interpret the scriptures to us. and translate the pictures into understanding of the spiritual truth and wisdom hidden in them. Scripture is God speaking to us. When someone is speaking to you and your do not understand their meaning, it is not a good strategy to simply keep on listening without asking questions of them to help you understand what they are saying. If you are reading scripture and you don't understand it's spiritual significance, you can ask God to help you start understanding at least something from the passages you are reading.

If you are reading scripture and some phrase of sentence piques your interest, where that piquing stops, you should stop. Then go back to the place where that piquing began, and read again to the place where ir stopped, asking God what it means and specific questions about the content., with some silence after each of your questions or statements foe God to respond back. Just keep talking to God about what it seems to be saying, and what your responses are to what you are seeing. Use the passage as a conversation starter for a conversation with God, and trust that God will speak back to you, if you are willing to listen and be instructed by Him.

See if that makes your experience more meaningful and fruitful.

 

[PaulThomson]

I was actually just thinking that. I read the bible online so I just realized I can have two tabs open with different parts of the bible lol. I don't know why my mind even thought of trying to backtrack through pages in an attempt to remember my previous place. Your advice is 100% a viable option that I will try out and see how it goes.

Research shows that you remember something like 10 times more of what you read if you red it from a physical book with pages. The brain likes to locate information according to its position on physical pages. It will recall the place and distance throiugh the book and help to imprint it more solidly in the memory. So using the same bible for a period of time is better for downloading the info than jumping around multiple versions, On line bibles do not allow you to locate the same text always at the same position and so make it harder to remember what you read.

 

[PaulThomson]

I was thinking of finding a study bible or some kind of online bible study program that focuses on different events when I finish my current readthrough. I would like to be able to recall scripture and certain events in the bible without mixing them up with my previous assumptions of how the events played out As far as writing in a journal, my handwriting is so bad that I can barely read it lol. I was not very fond of school as a child and did my best to make excuses for getting out of work. While learning to write, I broke my left arm and claimed I couldn't write because of the cast even though I was right handed. Now I regret acting like that. I also can barely read cursive for a similar reason lol.

Study bibles predispose you to see in scripture the theology that the study bible authors hold to. That can be a draw-back, and hinder you coming to the Bible with an open mind to see what a text is saying and not saying. I would advise using a Bible with no study notes.

 

[selahsays]

I’m taking the challenge.

 

[selahsays]

I’m taking the challenge. View attachment 263951

I actually did this a few years back, and with the Lord’s help, I read the good Book from cover to cover in 5 months. I‘ve started reading it again May 15th of this year, 2024. Anybody want to do it with me?