Have you ever thought about the types of characters that make up the many books of the Bible? I mean REALLY thought about them? How very crazy most of them were! Not some fairtyale kings and princes, perfectly beautiful and boring, oh no. These people were murderes, alduterers, liars, drunkards, and the like. And they were fantastic musicians, inspiring poets, brave warriors, invisionaries, explorers, and so much more!
In other words, they were just like me. We all have a little good and a little bad in us. No, we may not all kill our next-door-neighbor just because we can, we might not build Solomon's Temple, defeat armies, or get drunk and sleep with our own child. Yeah, I think I remember reading something about that.
But we do occasionally tell a "little white lie" (telling our children to stop acting like that our we'll never bring them to Chuck E. Cheese again, knowing full well we'll be right back there again for the next friend's birthday party), sometimes our looks can kill, and our thoughts, even our words (and the Bible does say "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he"), we can build a pretty awesome fort out of bedsheets, and we fight our own battles every day, sometimes winning, sometimes losing (I fight the urge to pull over at every Chick-fil-A or McDonald's I see).
So what makes these guys so special that we're still talking about them thousands of years later? I mean, besides the fact that they had the Almighty God on their side, which is pretty awesome. But there are wonderful men and women today who have that same God. So why are these Bible Characters so intriguing that we study them over and over and over again? I think it's just the fact that they did something, and it changed someone else's life, just enough that that person decided to retell the story. I think it's the fact that these crazy people were CRAZY PEOPLE, and we can all relate to them in some way. I find Old Testament Bible stories incredibly interesting. I mean, look at Jonah. GOD told him to go preach, but Jonah didn't like the town God sent him to, so he pouted and ran. GOD prepared a fish to swallow him up just before he could drown, kept him safe until the storm passed, and then spit him out in just exactly the right place. Jonah finally does what God told him to do, God saves the people, and Jonah throws a hissy fit. Plops his behind down on the ground, refusing to move, and says just leave me alone and let me die.
Who can't relate to that? Don't we all expect things to work out just exactly the way we want it to? And then, when it doesn't, don't we whine or cry to someone? My way or the highway, Buster. Not gonna do it my way? Fine, then, I'm not gonna do it YOUR way, either, so we just won't do anything. Hmph!
What about Moses? He takes the people out of Egypt (remember all of the miracles and signs it took to get them that far? Plagues? Crossing the Red Sea?), and God tells him to strike a rock for water. Awesome! It worked! Next time, God says speak to the rock. But, wait, Moses hits the stupid rock again. You faithless idiot! Don't you know by now that God is one powerful dude! Why do you have to go and do your own thing, just because you've always done it like that? It wasn't you striking the rock that brought the water, it was your obedience. Think about it!
Okay, maybe it's not nice of me to call Moses an idiot. He did some pretty amazing things, after all. But that just goes to show you. These people were people, and we love them. Good qualities, Bad traits, Ugly attitudes. Awesome how God could use PEOPLE like me. Cause everyone knows I'm crazy. Procrastinating, French-Fry-Loving, Stick-Your-Foot-In-Your-Mouth Nila. So how can I change someone else's life?
Not sure, myself, but I'll start by retelling some stories that changed mine.
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