We are supposed to learn from other people’s mistakes. Actually, we’re supposed to learn from our own mistakes. But do we? When I think about the stories in the Bible, I realize that they are supposed to teach us something. There are moral lessons, and there are spiritual truths and apart from Jesus Himself, it’s all the experiences of sinful people, trying to make it in a very confusing world.
So they made their fair share of mistakes. And we make them too, but are we just plain ol’ ridiculous for making the same mistakes the Davids, the Samsons and the Gideons have made? (Some ladies messed up too by the way!) I’m not going to be too hard on myself or you for that matter, but are we learning the lessons that Joseph had to learn? They’re in the Bible for more reasons than to just get the kiddies to sleep with the story of Jonah inside the big fish. We need to know WHY Jonah was in the water in the first place and why God needed him in that fish for starters. God’s character, his overwhelming Love and Grace and then our hopelessness amongst all of that, is too excellently illustrated page after cringe-worthy page.
So if we see so much of ourselves in the characters of the Bible and want to hide our heads in shame, it must be because we can relate and also because we must admit we’re most likely not learning the lessons we are supposed to be learning. “Thank you again God for your Grace!” But all cannot be lost, surely not! If the Bible is the truth of God’s ins and outs and also too a mirror of our own sinfulness, then is it doing all it’s supposed to do? To this question I pour out a resounding yes, because in between all of the condemnation, rings a message so true and necessary that the whole Book starts to make sense and fits into all of our lives, whether we think the Word of God is outdated or not. It’s real life stuff that’s true for us all: The need to see ourselves as less than perfect, but also a Way for that all to be fixed. God wants us to see ourselves for what we really are and also to see Him for what He really is. We have a problem called sin and he has the solution: JESUS.
So, quit beating yourself up. Stop wallowing in the cesspool of your own pity. Lift up your head, look into the eyes of the One that despite your inability to have learnt the Biblical lessons you feel you ought to have learned, loves you and wants to lift you up. Allow yourself to be rescued and embrace what is by far my most favourite verse:
