Read a book from the Old Testament

This week has been a very busy week, with Christmas preparations, present buying, work and Church commitments I have not had a great deal of time. But nevertheless the challenge for this week had to be done, and so a small amount of time to read the book of Obadiah was found.

This book is officially the shortest book in the Bible, not a fact I knew when I began to read it. I knew it was one of the shorter ones but did not know it was the shortest. It is an interesting book as the prophesy in it is not for the Israelites, it is written for and given to those who lived in the land of Edom. If you know your Old Testament history you will know that Edom was the country that was born of Esau and as such were kin to the Israelites.

Obadiah warned the Edomites that God was displeased with them for not helping the Israelites when they needed it and as such were marked for destruction. They were warned that although they believed they lived in impenetrable fortresses they would not be safe from God's judgement. They should have helped and protected the people who were their family through God's bounty.

When I was reading this I thought about the Church. God's family through His son Jesus and of all the internal struggle and fractures in this family. There are many different branches of this family such as the Catholics, the Orthodox and the Protestants, and many denominations more. Yet how often do we all stand united, how often do we help each other when we are struggling or under threat. Have we stood back and been guilty of benefiting from the fall or failing of another Church when we could have helped them to survive. We often forget that other Churches are still part of God's family, they are still His children and our brothers and sisters through Christ. We are not in competition with each other, we should be allies against the forces of the enemy. The book of Obadiah may not be written to us, but we can learn from the lessons of the past and make sure we do not make the same mistake.

The next task which has been drawn from the hat is the task to write a memory verse on my fridge. This is a nice easy one to see me through the holiday period and the inevitable lull in activity after such a busy period. Check back next week to see which verse I choose and the reasons behind it. Until then, take care and God bless.