Just before my husband deployed, my Bible and (expensive) camera got doused with a bottle of water and both were ruined. I was bummed about my camera since it would be expensive to replace. However, I was heart-broken over my Bible. I had been using it for 7 years! It was compact and so I could bring it with me everywhere. I had underlined and written notes and learned and loved and changed and had grown spiritually with this Bible. The Bible itself could easily be replaced (and, let’s face it, I have about 5 others), but all the knowledge could not be replaced (pages are stuck together and ink has run in places, so you can’t get it all back). I was heartbroken to say the least. Well, it took me about 4 weeks to replace it (that’s how long it took me to find one that I liked just as much – I’m very picky about my Bibles) and I opened it up to see all the pages were neat and clean. It reminded me that I had an opportunity to do all of that reading and learning and loving and growing again.
Therefore, I’ve started by re-reading my favorite books and really studying the scriptures and underlining my favorite parts again. I’ve read Galatians several times before and have loved it each time that I’ve read it. However, this verse simply hit me today. It has never really stood out to me before, but today it hit me like a TON of bricks. I love when that happens.
”And it was because scripture foresaw that God would give saving justice to the gentiles through faith, that it announced the future gospel to Abraham in the words: All nations will be blessed in you.”
Galatians 3:8
The Bible is written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I truly believe that they didn’t even know all of the profound things that they were writing. How could they? They couldn’t see into the future, but they were simply writing what God wanted them to write. It says ”it was because scripture foresaw” meaning that the Old Testament points to the New Testament. It’s like a book with no end – it needs a sequel for everything to be fulfilled. That sequel is the New Testament, God the Father is the director, and Jesus is it’s star. Wow. To think that these men basically had a crystal ball in front of them without knowing it.
It goes on to say ”God would give saving justice to the gentiles through faith”. And boy am I glad since I am a Gentile (a person who is not Jewish)!! That means that even if I can’t physically trace my roots back to Abraham and the promise given to him, I can trace them back spiritually. And God knew all of that before time began. This verse reminds me of his all-knowing power, which leaves me in awe of Him.