I love this question from a podcast listener named Lauren Pastor John, how can I make the

most of my Bible reading in the Old Testament books that seem to have no obvious connection

to Christ and don't seem to have any application to my life?

I'm struggling to read through numbers right now, I often wonder what God's purpose in

giving so much detail about the certain offerings and festivals and laws.

As I'm reading through books like this, how and what can I learn in order to grow from

these books?

Well, Lauren, I am reading numbers right now also.

And I have felt some of your frustrations and my guess is that most of us have, if we're

honest, right?

And the answer to the problem has so many layers and so many parts and whole books could

be written about the glories of Leviticus and Exodus and Deuteronomy and the parts of

the Bible that we find confusing, but instead of even going into any of those layers of

the usefulness of numbers, I want to sow a seed in Lauren's mind that just might bear

more fruit in this regard than the specifics of how one might profit from a particular

Old Testament book.

We can come back to that later at another time if you want to, but this is what I have in

my mind.

The main thought I want to suggest is that the Bible, with all of its many wonderful and

strange parts, is designed by God, inspired by God, designed by God, put together by God,

not just for 21st century Western middle class culture, but for thousands of cultures

around the world, spread over thousands of years with all of those centuries and all

...