There is a mindset common in our day that says that anything old or past is bad, wrong or at least irrelevant. We have fomented disdain for all history; freely erasing it in our culture, and worse, in parts of the church as well. In the way of things, disdain grows to contempt which matures into hatred. Therefore, here is the condition we have come to know in the world around us: History is ignored as irrelevant, it is mocked by the ignorant and it is destroyed by revisionist agendas; all the while, those who most need the perspective that only history can give are constantly self-medicating with the opium of media, pretending that its siren song IS the perspective so desperately needed. The voice of the culture screams ever louder and the chaotic noise continues to drum into our collective consciousness, the song has only one core message: "Ignore the past, except to hate it… Re-write truth to satisfy your desires…" But Scripture speaks a different word. Scripture reminds us that the things of the past have been given for our good. Especially the scripture itself, and this definitely includes the Old Testament. Scripture has been written so that we might learn and grow; so that we might avoid the mistakes of the past by reflecting on them with honest clarity. And since the Word of God shows us the absolute truth, it also shows us people in total honesty. We find the men and women of the Bible displayed warts and all, their sin demonstrated so that we might find grace and hope. It is crucial that we take in the whole counsel of God, that we listen and seek to understand what God has been telling us throughout all of history, and it is also crucial that as a culture we put an end to this mad rush to erase everything that we do not like…