The 40-Day Feast: Feast on God's WordSample

I slid the tater tots into the oven as our thirteen-­year-­old bounded down the stairs. When he saw his dad in the easy chair by the fireplace with a Bible open on his lap, he said, “I already did my Bible reading this morning.”

“What did you read?” I asked casually. Asher opened his mouth to answer only to realize that he didn’t actually remember. So he closed his mouth, turned on his heel, and darted back up the stairs to retrieve his Bible from his bedside table. A few minutes later, we were seated together at the kitchen counter, the pages of Exodus 22 splayed open between.

“Oh, that’s right,” he said. “Look, I wrote in the margin, ‘God is a God of justice.’”

I asked him to tell me what he meant by that, and my youngest read aloud from his Bible, skipping from one highlighted phrase to the next, “If a man steals an ox . . . he shall repay five oxen for an ox. . . . If a man . . . lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard” (Exod. 22:1, 5 ESV).

Asher summed it up, “Basically, it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. God is strict about consequences. He’s all about justice.”

“Yes,” I said slowly, “God is absolutely all about justice. But He’s also totally and completely, 100 percent about mercy and grace.” I silently asked God to use His Word to inspire my words as I turned to Romans and read aloud, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8).

Here’s the thing about Exodus 22—­it’s a layup for the gospel. Every law that was given, along with our inability to keep them all, is the stage upon which the redemptive work of Christ plays out. So, while there is justice to be had, consequences to be doled out, and payment due for each wrong done, Christ came and wiped the ledger clean. He paid all the debts we owed for all the sins we committed (and will ever commit) when He demonstrated His love for us by dying on the cross.

While the passage Asher read that morning lays out some good neighborly ground rules for how to treat one another’s belongings, it’s really about so much more. Every passage, every story, every genealogy, every chapter in every book of the Bible has the power to point our hearts and minds to the redemptive work of Christ.

What I said next to my son is what I want to share with you today. I looked Asher in the eyes and warned, “It is possible to read the Bible and miss the gospel.” I heard my husband moan softly in agreement from his chair. Asher turned to his dad, and the two made eye contact. Then our child turned back to Exodus 22 and wrote Romans 5:8 in the margin.

Every Bible story, every chapter, and every verse points us to Christ. Growing in intimacy with Him through the pages of His correspondence with us is our why; Christ is our who; and with His help, we will learn how.

Lord, reveal Yourself to me so that I know how to look for You in the pages of Your book. I ask this in the name of Jesus, the One I am feasting to find, Amen.