Watching LOST has helped me appreciate the Old Testament.

No it is not because I have found some obscure references that I just need to share with everyone. It is not even because I just wanted to capitalize on everyone who is searching for LOST stuff on the internet, not so patiently waiting for Tuesday to come.

Right now LOST is a work in progress that could go several different ways. In a sense, I am lost right now—lost in all the possibilities and eager to find out what is going to happen.

Can you imagine being a God-fearing man in the Old Testament times? What would you think about all the promises that the prophets were saying? How would you have pieced together the clues you were getting? Would you ever in your wildest dreams envisioned Jesus?

See, we read the Old knowing what is stated in the New. We know how things will go because they have already happened. We know that Jesus is the promised Messiah that will save His people by dying on a cross. We know that He is resurrected. We know that He has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. They didn’t understand any of that. They had clues, like we do in LOST right now, but there are so many details and “clues” that they ignored because they had a vision for how they wanted it to happen.

Stories in process are fun, but we need the ending to know how to appreciate them to their fullest. Not knowing where you are going is enjoyable for a time because it is an adventure, but eventually you need the conclusion that ties everything together. We must read the Old Testament knowing what has happened in the New in order to appreciate it fully. God wrote both of them and had it all planned out from the beginning.

As LOST wraps up this last season, I have no hopes that the writers, directors and producers will give me such a satisfying story as that found in the Bible. Competing with God on story is a bit foolish. But I do eagerly wait for the key to unlock all that I have already seen. After the season is over, I will probably watch the whole series over again, appreciating all that has been put into this story to point to the end. Right now it is like I am living in the Old Testament and that gives me a new appreciation of the Old.

Tags: Lost, Old Testament, stories