Lessons from the OT

A lot of people look at the Old Testament as a place for some interesting stories and maybe a few good ideas to follow. As I study the Bible I am learning more and more that the OT all points to Jesus Christ, and there are a lot of amazing things to learn.
At least the first quarter of the OT is about Israel and them falling in and out of favor with God. It starts in the garden, and with the fall of man comes the curse of the earth. (Does anyone else see all the recent disasters as the earth's curse as it "has been groaning together with labor pains" ? Rms 8:22) Then we see Israel enslaved and set free, and then because of their lack of faith, the wander the desert for 40 years. I am not anywhere near 40 years old, and I feel like I have been on this earth forever. Yet they wandered for that time. Something that hit me as I was doing my Nehemiah study was this in 9:21 "You provided for them in the wilderness for 40 years and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell."
Going back to my time on this earth, I have been through a countless number of clothes. Probably more in my first 8 years than my last, but can you imagine, clothes lasting 40 years? Talk about hand-me-downs. Yet they never wore out. So we see that even when we are lost and wandering the desert of our spiritual life, God is still providing for us in miraculous ways. Probably in ways that we do not see. I am not sure the Israelites noticed their clothes were not wearing out, but we know they did not have a Kohl's to rummage through the clearance rack behind every outcropping of boulders.
The last point I will talk about was one that was brought up my my pastor this weekend. He too was talking about the Old Testament, even though our current study is through Romans. We are going through the end of Chapter 3 and we were looking at the fact that we all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. Pastor guy reminded us that in the Ark of the Covenant are reminders of our imperfection. The 10 Commandments remind us all that we cannot live up to a few simple laws. Aaron's staff was with the Ark as a reminder that the Israelites did not trust God to rule them and they demanded an earthly king. There was also a jar of Manna that God had preserved to remind them, again, that they did not trust God, yet he provided.
This blog could go on a long time, because the OT is filled with good stuff, but I will end with that and encourage you not to shy away from the Old Testament. There is a lot to learn, and you will see that it is an important prequel to the Good News that we can all put our eternal hope in