Years ago, a teenage boy told me he loved reading the Old Testament because of all the wars in it. As a new mom of a son, I found that both funny and sigh-worthy, but I was glad this young man was eager to read the Bible.

Which do you prefer to read: the Old Testament or the New Testament?

Many of us find the New Testament more favorable for its direct application of learning from Jesus and the apostles. The Old Testament gives us the background for the New Testament, seeing how God’s plan for salvation through Jesus unfolds. In the almost 8,000 verses in the NT there are about 2,600 references to the OT. It is surely beneficial to know the background of what we are reading.

The first five books of the Bible set the stage for the amazing God we serve! We learn about who God is, how he deals with his chosen people, and how he deals with sin. Reading through the Bible, I am in awe of God’s holiness, wrath, grace, and mercy, just to name a few traits. My spirit is humbled before holy God as I read what he demands because of who he is; my spirit is overwhelmed before gracious, merciful God as I read of how he loves his people. Jesus’ grace, through his sacrifice, is sufficient for us to come into God’s presence. We cannot, however, allow this grace to be an excuse for sin, because our sin puts ourselves, rather than Jesus, first. Is our savior and lord Jesus, or do we act like it is ourselves?

Reading the scriptures can affect us in so many ways as we encounter who God is, how Jesus lived and rescued us, and how the Holy Spirit works in us. In our humanness, we will never fully comprehend everything in the Bible, nor how God works. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, as we read in Isaiah 55. But, we can learn from the past to trust God with our future, while abiding in him in the present. He loves us more than anyone ever could.

When mindfully reading the Bible with a soft heart, the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and understanding, as we grow in the knowledge of God. Let’s allow him to search our hearts, drawing us to himself.