Do you like to read history? Do you like to watch movies or documentaries on history? Or, would you prefer to avoid history? Do you realize that history, whether event driven or experiential driven, is a major key to our hope for the future?
There are many people I know who will say they don’t like history. They are referring to the narrow subject of history in school. Unfortunately, history has become a label for studying events that took place decades or centuries ago. History is far more than those events.
History includes the discoveries made by inquisitive people. They range from the discovery of how to create fire to cook with to building rocket engines that send people into space—one day to Mars. There have been more discoveries and inventions than we can count.
History is also the key component of our growth. Much of our growth comes through our experiences. We learn to ride bicycles by experience. We learn to cook through experiences We learn by making mistakes. Our experiential history contributes greatly to who we are.
We also grow in knowledge by reading. Even if we don’t think we are reading history, we often are reading the result of history. When we read a recipe, we are reading the result of someone having experimented with ingredients and discovered a tasty combination—history.
We also grow in wisdom through thought. Our thinking is reviewing history and putting together pieces in logical fashion. As we make connections of different pieces of history, we make new conclusions, improving our knowledge and growing in wisdom.
Perhaps we dislike history less than we think when we realize it is history that teaches us new capabilities. It is through the history written for us in the Bible that we learn how to endure the difficulties of life and we receive encouragement. Our hope is built on our understanding of what is written. As we grow in knowledge, our hope increases.
I pray we all open ourselves to learning from history. I pray we see that it is through history that we grow as followers of Christ. I pray each of us will continue to grow in our hope by reading the Scriptures. History is more than events. Understand your experiential history. Open your eyes to your own history. Realize everything we read, see, and do is a result of history. Grow in wisdom as you study history—in all its forms.
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Marty Pressey 