Lesson 5: Books of History – Discovery

As we study the books of history we need to remember it is real and it actually happened. There are many who would tell us all these things couldn’t really happen, that they are just motivational lessons for us to try to do better. The truth is, they really happened.

As we read these books, we seek the examples from these people. For instance, as we read about David and his fight with Goliath (1 Samuel 17), we see David’s simple faith in God – God had helped David kill a lion and a bear while he was caring for his sheep, and therefore God could also defeat this man. When King Saul wanted to place his armor on David, David turned it down because he didn’t want to do anything differently than he’d done in his previous battles where God had helped him. He wasn’t thinking about his own ability to kill the giant when he ran out to meet him, and as a young man thinking of the glory he would get for such a victory would have become more and more afraid as he approached this giant nearly twice as tall as himself. David did what he’d done before when God had helped him. The value of previous experiences with God is that they become our confidence in the future – not our own actions, but God’s.

Another great example is Daniel’s three friends (Daniel 3) who were given a choice between worshiping the image and living, or worshiping God and being thrown into the furnace to burn. They had no previous experience with God in such a threat yet they had already determined in their own minds to stay true to God no matter what it cost. Please also note that they didn’t presume to tell God He had to save them. They told the king God COULD save them, but even if He wouldn’t and they would die, they chose to die rather than to bow to the king’s idol.


If they were real, why then does God not use the same ways of working with us today? Why doesn’t He wipe out enemies before they hurt us? A great principle to remember for the books of History is that the people did not yet have God’s word so they could read it themselves. Through the last of these books, the only people who had copies of some of the Scriptures were kings and the highest of the religious leaders. Today we have the full Scriptures to guide us – we have the law, we have the examples of history, the songs of praise to God, examples of the prophecies God made and has already fulfilled, accounts of Jesus’ life here on earth, and the letters of instruction for our lives from Jesus’ Apostles.

Is the Bible really that important? Our answer is found from Jesus’ own words in Luke 16:19-31 where a man who had died asked God to raise Lazarus from the dead so he could witness to his brothers so they wouldn’t come to hell when they died. Jesus said if someone couldn’t believe the Scriptures, then they also wouldn’t believe someone who came to them in a miracle.

*Who are your favorite examples for your life from the Old Testament? How do they encourage you to follow Jesus?