Learning from History

History was never my favorite subject in school, but I now find it immensely interesting.  History of the Ancient World, World History, and Bible History greatly fascinate me.  We should learn from history and our past mistakes, but history teaches us that we never learn anything from history!  After experiencing the horrors of the two World Wars, I never thought humans would ever start another war, but here we are in the midst of another great conflict!  Human beings never seem to learn anything from history!  The Bible is a book of history, the history of the people chosen by God and ordinary people like you and me.  The Bible is also 'His story' -God's story- because He is sovereignly working out His purposes in and through people's lives.  Understanding history, especially biblical history, is essential because it helps us know what God is doing and how our lives can fit into His purpose.  When we carefully read the Bible, we can understand many things; we can be warned of many things, and thus, we can avoid many pitfalls in our life!  That is the best way to progress in our process of sanctification.  

The Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been destroyed by Assyria because they had turned away from the God of Israel, who had delivered her from Egypt.  Even after seeing what happened to Israel, Judah did not mend her ways resulting in her captivity in Babylon!  The Bible is filled with good examples to emulate and bad examples to avoid.  If David had only known how his sin with Bathsheba would affect his family and children badly, he might have tried to be an overcomer.  If Ananias and Sapphira had only known how their lies to the Holy Spirit would have grave repercussions, they would have abstained from such folly.  Many incidences are recorded in the Bible for us to learn, imitate and base our Christian life upon!  The Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path directing us always (Psalm 119:105).  It is a sure foundation that we can build our lives upon (2 Timothy 3:16).  When we neglect to obey the Bible, we ignore the very thing that has the power to change our lives for the better.

My friend, let us not be hard-hearted, stubborn, and stiff-necked.  Let us learn from the Bible so that we would be a blessing not only to our children and grandchildren but also a channel of blessing to all around.  

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