Destinies combine

Not a recommended approach to reading Scriptures, I have occasionally found golden nuggets of encouragement by merely letting the Bible fall open and reading randomly what presents itself. By that method I have sometimes found great encouragement at critical times. It’s like a treasure hunt for wisdom. For example, that is how I discovered encouraging hope, at a very lonely time of my life, in Isaiah 55:9-13. With joyful hope for the future, I discovered that even nature could finally rejoice with me at God’s loving kindness.

At another time it was Lamentations 3:19-26. In the middle of this unlikely place to find encouragement, Jeremiah reveals (or, more correctly, God reveals through Jeremiah) that hope can exist in the midst of suffering because of who God is.

In Psalm 146:8 I discovered that “…the LORD raises up those who are bowed down,” and that while my help is in the strong God of Jacob, my hope is founded in the Lord Himself. Another treasure unearthed.

It is interesting that the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) ends with the book of 2 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles ends with the decree from Cyrus, king of Persia, allowing the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. On the other hand, the Christian “Old Testament”, (Tanakh “equivalent”) ends with the prophetic writings of Malachi, which themselves end with three things: a description of the “Day of the LORD” as a purging fire, the appearing of Elijah (the empty seat at the Passover meal) the forerunner of Messiah, and the healing of families.

So the Tanakh ends focused on the Temple in the Land, and the Christian Old Testament ends focused on the coming of the Messiah. Two different emphases, two coexistent destinies – both necessary, and both inescapable.

David requested, in Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things from Your law.” May we too discover His treasures.