"Oatmeal" Bible passages

 I once heard someone say that reading the Bible can sometimes feel like eating plain oatmeal for breakfast everyday.  We know it's nutritious and that we should eat it but what we really want is cinnamon rolls and bacon every morning.  Sometimes this feeling can come from our own spiritual "dry" spell and sometimes we find the Bible like oatmeal because of the passage we're reading.  Many times we are tempted to skip past the genealogies, land allotments and temple details. Give us David's challenge to Goliath:"You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled." I Samuel 17:45.  Or Esther realizing that she was truly made queen "for such a time as this" and declaring "and if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:14, 16). Now THOSE are some cinnamon roll and bacon passages! However, we are told that ALL Scripture is "God-breathed" and "profitable" (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and that Scripture contains ALL we need for "life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3).  So, why are there these "oatmeal" passages?  We know that since they are God-breathed there must be an important reason for them to be included.  

The other day I found myself mulling this over while listening to that day's passage...if I'm honest it was more like an impatient grumbling of "ugh, I'll be glad to get through this list".  I was in the book of Joshua where Joshua is listing out the land allotments for each tribe with all the boundaries and cities.  While I can see this would be important for the Israelites at the time, I wondered why was it included for us; was it purely for the historical record?  From reading Chronicles and Kings we know that there are other books of record that aren't included in the Bible; so why this passage?  I laughed when my reading for that day ended with Joshua 21:45 "Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass."  A direct answer to my thought!  God is a God of details and of promise.  These seemingly bland passages come alive with the Truth of Who God is when look beneath the surface.  

The book of Leviticus has long been a book that receives dread (from those reading through it) and ridicule (from those that don't understand it).  I was fully in the dread category for many years.  All those laws, details and seemingly non-applicable passages.  We are not under the old law but under grace so why bother reading Leviticus...unless to learn about Jewish laws and practices.  But then I chose to study the book of Leviticus; to again look beneath the surface.  Do you know that in the book of Leviticus God says that we are to "be holy as I am holy" or that the one standing before God is to "be holy" four different times? (Lev. 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8).  This command is again given in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:16).  When we understand all these laws were given so that the Israelites would understand that EVERY part of their lives were to be holy; that the priests had special instructions so they could be seen holy and stand in the presence of God, then we can parallel that with the New Covenant we have in Jesus. We see and understand that we can only stand in the presence of God when we are holy - and we are only made holy by being washed by Jesus blood (Hebrews 10:19). As believers we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), a priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) and we are to offer our lives as a "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1) EVERY part of our lives is to be holy.  Again, God is a God of details; He cares about every aspect of our lives.  

God also includes these passages to remind us that He is a faithful God and will fulfill every detail of His promises.  Genesis 15 details the covenant that God made with Abraham.  God promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, that Abraham's very own son would be his heir, God also told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years but that God would deliver them with "great possessions" (vs. 14) then in verses 18-21 God lists the land that He would give to Abraham's descendants.  God kept every detail of His covenant with Abraham; so when we see those lands listed in Joshua we now understand the importance of those tribes and cities being listed; to show that ALL of God's "good promises" had come to pass.  

These are just a couple examples from Scripture but as we read and study more we see this Truth over and over; when God promises something, HE WILL accomplish every detail.  So when Jesus promises that:

- He is preparing a place for us and He will come again for us and that we have a Comforter with us until He returns (John 14) we KNOW it is true

-when He says that as we tell others about Him that He will be with us (Matthew 28) we KNOW it is true

-when He says that when we confess our sins we will have forgiveness (1 John 1) we KNOW it is true

So when we bump up against those "oatmeal" passages and are tempted to skip over them; may we instead lean into them and study a bit deeper asking God for a greater understanding of Him! 

I'll end once again with a new-to-me song.  The lyrics are based on the words of Jesus in the time between His resurrection and ascension. Praise God that Jesus' goodbye on the Mount of Olives was "not the end" Jesus IS coming back for us!