Novel Adventures
Maybe it's just my imagination, but there is a lot of amazing stories in the Bible.
1 Kings 11.14-25
Reference: v.17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. (NIV Bible)
Explore: As a teenager I hated reading books. I was quite a slow reader therefore I would find novels boring and quickly lose interest. The author who caught my interest and encouraged me to return to reading was David Eddings. He is a writer of fantasy novels and through the stories of Garion I spent many afternoons with my nose in one of his books. Garion was a child brought up in a village by his aunt only to discover that he had greater powers and was from a very important lineage (I guess you could say it was the 'Harry Potter' of my childhood). Garion's adventures were always filled with suspense and danger. As I read this passage in 1 Kings I saw a similarity in Hadad's story. An army had come to his place to birth to wipe out their whole tribe. In fear of his death he fled to Egypt, an orphan and a refugee. He was embraced into the house of Pharoah who offered him the Queen's sister's hand in marriage. When Hadad heard that King David had died he desired to return to avenge the death of his people and reclaim his country.
Application: Maybe it's just my imagination, but there is a lot of amazing stories in the Bible. We can so easily gloss over the drama and the intrigue when reading the millions of words in black and white, but if we look a little deeper we are able to see a tapestry of stories that move and weave and reveal to us some amazing insights into God. We must not underestimate the invaluable source of knowledge and wisdom that the Bible can bring. Most of us struggle to read it regularly but it is so important to continually dip into the complex pages and open our minds to a greater picture of God.
Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the Bible. Sometimes it is so complicated and hard to understand. May you open our minds to the wisdom that we can glean from it every single day. Amen.
What is your favourite Bible story?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.