Why the Old Testament is a Good Read

Today was my first day in a while that I was able to attend all my church meetings, including the after-church meeting for the Relief Society Presidency. Plus visits to various women in our ward. Some people complain about one hour at church. I spent six there today.

And, oh, what a feast it was.

I was thinking during the last lesson, which was on repentance, how so many people have read the Old Testament and completely misunderstood the nature of God. When a person reads the Old Testament (which, yes, can be a bit of a slog at times during the "begats" and listings of various specific layout dimensions for the Temple of Solomon and the sometimes obscure laws of the Law of Moses) and comes out thinking that God is vengeful, spiteful, and violent, he or she has not read deeply enough. In fact, just the opposite is true.

A person who thinks God is unnecessarily harsh has never read with wonder the words of Isaiah as he talked about the coming Savior (who was the Jehovah of the Old Testament). Isaiah loved Jehovah to the point of poetry, and even if what he says takes some deciphering, once it is deciphered, you cannot come out at the other end of the Book of Isaiah without -- at the very least -- a profound respect for the personage who would come to save the world because of his unimaginably great love for us.

A person who rails against God's punishments has missed the fact that Heavenly Father promised Amos (Amos 3:7) the He, God, would do nothing "but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Therefore, we as people are always warned or enlightened through a prophet on the earth who receives guidance and direction for the whole world from Jesus Christ. Nothing happened to the ancient Israelites and other peoples without years and years of warning. And if, as it states in the Bible, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He still warns us through a prophet. Are we any less loved and important to the Father of us all than the people of ancient scripture?

Most importantly, a person who despises God has never had a personal relationship with Him. Through prayer and quiet ponderings, I have learned that Heavenly Father carries a love for me so deep and unutterably exquisite that I absolutely know my life, though a tiny little speck in relation to the vastness of the cosmos, is important to Him. My needs, my desires, my struggles and triumphs -- He asks me to tell Him every day and then guides me through his Holy Spirit. I feel joy underlying all my ups and downs through mortal life. I love my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, and when I read the Old Testament, I understand how much they love all of us.