Week Three: Day Five - "Many Smaller Stories, One Grand Story"

Our life is made up of many small stories that may seem disconnected, but they all fit together to make up the big story of our life. The story of the Bible is no different.

•  Think of a very significant event in your life.

•  When did it take place?

•  What led to the event?

•  What effect has the event had on your life?

Every event in our life fits together in a God ordained way to make up the overall story that is our life. The Old Testament stories may seem random and distant, yet they are all important in telling the story of God!

•  How familiar are you with the stories of the Old Testament

•  How familiar are you with the grand themes of the Bible?

•  How are you at connecting the individual stories with the overall themes?

Every story in the Bible has a specific purpose. They show how God worked in the lives of people to make himself known and build his kingdom. God’s covenant with his people is a primary theme throughout the entire Bible. The stories in the Old Testament lay out the details of how God and his people acted in this covenant. Understanding that the Bible is mainly about how to have a relationship with God is crucial to making sense of the individual stories.

•  Read Judges 1:1-17

•  What is the purpose of this story?

Many lessons could be drawn out of the story, for example, you could interpret it to mean that you will reap what you sow. (“God has repaid me for what I have done” v.7) While this is a good application, it is not the main point of the story.

•  Read Deuteronomy 7:2

•  How does God tell his people to deal with the Canaanite people?

The story in Judges 1 is about how God’s people failed to obey God’s specific instructions on how to deal with their enemies in Canaan. It sets the tone for the rest of the book of Judges which outlines how miserably the Israelites failed to live up to their covenant with God.

Be sure to look for “big-picture” themes as you read the stories of the Old Testament. These themes include; God’s covenant, his redemptive plan, and God’s relationship with his people.

We cheat ourselves and do an injustice to God’s word if we do not determine where we fit into the picture. God calls us into HIS STORY as we read scripture through the overall story of covenant and redemption and he expects us to fulfill our roll in his story.