Charles R. Swindoll - Abraham. One Nomads Amazing Journey of Faith

O LIVER C ROMWELL, a seventeenth-century English soldier and statesman, became renowned for his authenticity and transparency. Once, when exasperated with the rigors of politics and annoyed by his peers, he stood before them in Parliament and said, I would have been glad to have lived under my wood side, to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than undertook such a government as this is.

Scripture doesnt presume to tell fairy tales. Its a book about real life.

I admire people who are authentic and transparent, and I enjoy biographies that paint historical figures as they really were. Put those two qualities together in a single binding, and I wont be able to put it down. Dont give me the whitewashed version of a persons life. I want people painted as they were, pimples, warts, and everything.

Thats the way the Bible portrays all of its characters. Scripture doesnt presume to tell fairy tales. Its a book about real life, showing real people going through real experiences in a real world. It tells us the unvarnished truth about its heroes, even when that truth proves to be uncomfortable or unappealing. When you see lives portrayed, you get the whole storyno phony-baloney stuff, no airbrushed models. Each of the men and women in the Bible is like Elijah, whom the apostle James described as a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17, NASB ).

The Bible tells us the stories of these people because we are like them, and their experiences help us understand ourselves, our needs, and our relationships with God. The same can be said of biographies in general, but its especially true of biographies about historical figures in Scripture, which may explain why I have written so many of them. I believe a close examination of a persons lifeparticularly an individual who helped shape our world todaycan be one of the best investments of our time when reading. Consequently, theres rarely a time when Im not reading a biography.

Having read so many biographies, I have discovered that many things in life are cyclical; history repeats itself. I gain wisdom by learning how another person got through a difficult time. How a great man or woman responded to criticism. How an individual, while honored and celebrated, avoided the ego trap of arrogance or conceit.

I have come to realize there are at least four benefits I receive from studying biographies.

A good biography translates truth into life.

Theological discussions can be boring or too theoretical. The truths discussed might be valid, but they can become awfully sterile and abstract. Like plants, theological truths belong in the dirt. Biblical truth thrives in the soil of real life, where it bursts to life, blooms, and bears fruit. One of my mentors, Dr. Howard Hendricks, used to challenge his students with the command Incarnate the truth. To incarnate is to make something become flesh. Dont merely discuss the truth; make the truth become living flesh so that others might be drawn to the Author of truth.

For example, I could preach or write a series on suffering. People would likely listen or read and do their best to stay interested, yet nothing much would change. However, when I wrote a biography on Job, the truth about suffering came to life. Readers connected with this authentic account of suffering, and it resonated with their own experiences. Thats because a biography incarnates biblical, theological truth.

A good biography creates a closer kinship with people we have admired from a distance.

When we study the life of a person in the Bible, we feel like weve met a friend. And that friendship can become remarkably intimate. If you read a biography with some imagination, placing yourself into the subjects world, you begin to feel a oneness with him or hereven someone as extraordinary as a prophet like Elijah or a leader like Moses or a courageous lady like Esther. All of a sudden you feel a kinship with that individual, a friendship filled with respect and gratitude.

A good biography offers stability when we go through similar experiences.

If youre a student of the life of David, you realize youre not alone when you lose your baby. His infant son, still in diapers, died after a short but intense illness. Or maybe you work for an impossible bosssomeone emotionally unbalanced who somehow maintains a position of power. In his young-adult years, David served King Saul, who became insanely paranoid and obsessively haunted Davids life for more than twelve years. Study Davids experiences during the transitional period between the ages of seventeen and thirty, before he took the throne of Israel, and youll appreciate how to deal with an oppressive superior.