A History of Sin and Revival // Moriah Nelson

This weekend’s readings in the Old Testament of the Bible and from Burrow’s book, A History of Histories, were a great reminder of the metanarrative of Scripture and how well the Bible shows the history of the Israelites.

The verse that stood out to me the most was Isaiah 10:15,

“Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,

Or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?”

God is speaking of Assyria and their pride, but here he is reminding the Israelites that He is in control of the Assyrians even as they are persecuting Israel. Throughout the Bible and even in Burrow’s book we see how God is in control of history. Even the great countries who ruled over the Israelites during times of exile didn’t act without God allowing it. This should bring us comfort in knowing that even evil cannot go “unchecked” and be a reminder of how God’s perspective is so much greater than we could ever fathom.

Even though the Israelites continually sin and reject God, which usually results in Him punishing them through exile, God also always offers redemption and revival to them. This is the recurring pattern throughout their history which is often criticized by modern-day Christians. However, I’m sure almost all believers have a testimony of sinning, begging for forgiveness, being redeemed, then forgetting about God’s faithfulness and sinning again. Here is our lesson to be learned: we don’t need to be caught in this ruinous pattern but instead be constant in our pursuit of God.

Also, I noted this quote from Burrow’s book, 

“Despite the incidence of prominent priests and patriarchs, kings and prophets, the scriptures are concerned essentially with a people, the children of Israel, in their relationship with their God and its vicissitudes through time; religion and history are inextricably intertwined, because God is not primarily the god of a perennial nature, but the mover of history.” 

I originally was going to include it as a main point of my blog post, but after reading the definition of perennial, “lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.”, 

I wonder if this statement is claiming that God is not everlasting or if he just means beside being everlasting, God also controls time. What do you think Burrows means with that statement?

I commented on Brenna and Joshua's posts.