1 Chronicles 24

Similar to the chapter which covered the period of David’s infidelity with Bathsheba, this chapter mention’s Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, and that they died before their father, but omits the details.

Remember from Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire on the altar of the tabernacle and were struck dead. Remember that their offense was in usurping the place of God, creating their own fire, rather than using the fire that God had lit, the fire representing the atoning sacrifice which God had accepted.

1 Chronicles reminds me of a guilty child relating the facts of their defense or someone relating their family history—and omitting certain salient details. We don’t like to rehash our mistakes, do we?

Christian and Jewish tradition tell us the books of Chronicles were written by Ezra to the Jews returning to Israel from Babylon after the exile. He had a distinct and clear purpose in writing it: to document the history of their people, to inspire the bond of kinship with one another, and to promote an understanding God’s calling on them as a nation.

With this goal, he left out details that would lead to conflict within the nation. He wasn’t hiding these stories, they were already widespread from Moses’ writings, but he was pointing the people toward a central focus. He was trying to keep their eyes on the main thing, which at that moment was returning to the land and reclaiming the promises of God.
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We have the same challenge today: How do we keep the main thing the main thing? How do we as believers focus on the gospel instead of bickering over less essential differences of opinion?

1 Chronicles 23

One of the ways King David prepared for the future was to declare Solomon to be his successor. He also established the work plan for the Levites who would serve in the Temple, including assigning duties by the various clans and changing the age for Levitical service from thirty to twenty in order to have sufficient personnel for the jobs required.

That really strikes a chord in me. My day job is managing human resources. I oversee the recruitment of personnel for the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Having sufficient numbers and highly qualified personnel for the important tasks of our organization is essential, and I’ve seen firsthand the challenges of trying to operate without the resources needed. It’s a little like operating your home budget paycheck-to-paycheck. You keep your head barely above water, but the first time you have an unexpected expense, you’re sunk.

Jesus also knew the importance of having the right people for the job. He called each of the disciples specifically. They all had a role to play—even Judas.

As believers, we each have a role as well. Whether it is a formal calling to evangelize, to preach, to counsel, or to teach, or a supportive role using gifts of administration or encouragement, God has called each one and assigned them a task (or perhaps, multiple tasks). Knowing what God has assigned us to is incredibly liberating!

Just as I don’t have to stress over managing the purchasing function at work, I can trust God has called someone specifically to whatever need within the body seems to be unmet.

I don’t need to worry that the need won’t be met—I only need to ask the Lord whether He’s called me to meet it.

Our pastor often puts it this way: “Not everything from heaven has your name on it.”

In this age of social media and 24/7 news, we can be aware of far more needs in this world than any of us could meet. Just contemplating them and experiencing empathy for those in war-torn countries, living in poverty, suffering from disease, or aching from the pain of loss is overwhelming and exhausting. A tender-hearted person can either grow cold or wear themselves out trying to “fix” all that is broken in this fallen world.

Praise the Lord! He hasn’t called any of us to fix it! That’s His role!

But He has called each of us to do something. There’s a popular contemporary Christian song out that speaks to the idea of seeing all the pain and suffering in the world and crying out to God, “Why don’t You do something?” In the song, God replies, “I did. I created you.” Yes, God created us, and we are supposed to do SOMETHING.
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But ultimately, God is the One who will remedy all that is broken and corrupt. Until that day comes, we can rest in focusing on the job He has given each of us.

1 Chronicles 22

We’ve already read about how David desired to build a temple for the Lord, but God said it would not be him, but rather his son, Solomon, who would build the temple. This chapter provides a little more insight into David’s response.

Instead of feeling angry and rejected, or bitter than he could not fulfill the desire of his heart, David made plans to ensure his son’s success. He lined up the skilled craftsmen, he set aside the needed gold, silver, and bronze, and he purchased the wood for the construction. He explained to his son what God had said and instructed Solomon about all the preparations he had made. He charged the leaders of the people to come alongside his young son and help him with this monumental building project.

His goal wasn’t that he should be honored and exalted as the one to build the temple, but that God should be honored and exalted. He kept in mind the things of God rather than the things of men.
When Jesus rebuked Peter for having in mind the things of men rather than the things of God (Matthew 16:23), He did so because Peter was set on Christ as victorious king, not as a suffering servant. Not as the lamb, but as the lion.

Am I willing to set aside any gain for myself in order that God be exalted? Am I willing to devote myself to serving in ways that go unnoticed and unappreciated except by God? Am I willing to provide the resources for the next generation to finish the job?

I’m at the age where preoccupation with raising the next generation gives way to thoughts of retirement. Not the “move to Florida, buy a house at the beach, travel the world” kind of retirement, but the realization that the day will come when we are no longer physically able to work. We’ve spent our life depending on the Lord, but also trusting in our physical ability to hold a job, our intellectual ability to understand and learn new things, our mental ability to remember, and our financial ability to budget.

Faith must rise to a new level when you recognize that all of those abilities can vanish in an instant with a single accident, an illness, or a fall.

When we consider such a loss, do we continue to invest in the next generation, or store up resources as if they will be our security? Do we trust the Lord or do we trust in our 401K, our pension, or our inheritance? Are we willing to pour out all that we have for whatever the Lord calls us to, trusting Him alone to meet our needs? Do we hope that the last check we write bounces so that we will have used up every single resource God has given for the purpose of His kingdom?
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Do we have in mind the things of God or the things of men?

1 Chronicles 21

God sees beyond our behavior to our heart. God wasn’t opposed to a census—He had even ordered one when the Israelites were in the wilderness. The sin was not in counting the Israelites, but in David’s motivation. He ordered a count of his soldiers.

There are a couple of motivations that might have been behind this census. First, it may have been to take pride in the size of his army. But the size of his army had nothing to do with their victories—God had given them victory. So boasting in the size of his army would be stealing God’s praise and glory. A second motivation may have been to plan for future battles, knowing the strength of his standing army. Again, this places his faith in his army, rather than in the God who had given them victory.

God is always more concerned with the state of our heart, than with our behavior. But our behavior often reveals the state of our heart. We can be outwardly obedient, fooling everyone around us with a great “church lady” image, but God knows the pride, judgmental spirit, and disdain for others that darkens our hearts. On the other hand, if our outward behavior is sinful and rebellious, God also knows that behavior flows from a heart that is not fully devoted to Him.

Our campus pastor related this same concept to Jesus’ restoration of Peter after His resurrection, when He asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Jesus was trying to get beyond the behavior of Peter in denying Christ, to the heart of that denial, which was a lack of total devotion to the Lord. He was gently helping Peter see that in order to lead the early church and to face the future martyrdom that lie in his future, he would have to have a heart that was completely devoted to God.

We’re faced with the same question, though we may not have been tasked with leading the worldwide church and may not risk our lives to follow Christ (although we might), every believer must be wholeheartedly devoted to Christ. There is no such thing as a half-hearted follower of Christ—there are followers and there are those who have placed something in their lives above following Christ.
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If Christ asked me, “Do you love Me?” What would my answer be?

1 Chronicles 20

It’s interesting that this chapter is so brief. This is a re-telling of the battle that was given more detailed coverage in 2 Samuel 11. In this account, there is no mention of Uriah, Bathsheba, or David’s behavior, other than the fact that he remained in Jerusalem for this battle, which was “in the spring, when kings go off to war.”

It does give a little more detail in one aspect. After Joab’s victory in the war that cost Uriah his life, “David took the crown from the head of their king—its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head.”

Does that hit you the way it does me?

He had just committed adultery—not with a stranger’s wife, but with the wife of a man who had stayed by his side and had his back while Saul was trying to kill him. A man who had been part of his elite squad of thirty men who protected and served him. His platoon, his posse, his peeps. When his betrayal threatened to go public with her pregnancy, he tried to lure his friend to sleep with his wife so David’s sin could remain hidden. But his friend’s honor wouldn’t allow him to enjoy even one night with his wife while his fellow soldiers slept in a field of battle. So David orchestrated an even more heinous betrayal—he sent his friend back to the battle field carrying the instructions for his own demise.
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And when the battle was won, David allowed the crown of the defeated king to be placed on his head. I imagine that its actual weight was far more than a talent of gold.

1 Chronicles 19

There’s probably a lesson in this chapter about how insulting foreign dignitaries is a prelude to war, but we’ll focus on Joab’s response to being surrounded by the enemy, culminating with his statement in verse 13, “The Lord will do what is good in His sight.”

Joab’s army was boxed in with the Ammonites drawing battle lines at the entrance to their city and the kings who had joined them drawing up battle lines behind them. I don’t know much about military strategy, but that doesn’t seem like the position one wants to be in!

Joab’s response to finding themselves in this dangerous situation was to develop a plan of attack, speak words of encouragement, and commit the result to the Lord.

Hopefully, we won’t find ourselves on an actual battlefield, but we do face situations every day where we may feel outnumbered, outgunned, or surrounded.

When the situation seems dire, develop a strategy and enlist help from other followers of God. Trust your brother to have your back.

Remind one another of the reason you fight this battle, and encourage each other to fight valiantly and persistently.

Finally, remember that the battle, ultimately, belongs to the Lord. Commit it to Him and trust that, “He will do whatever is good in His sight.”

And we might not agree.

We might not understand how the outcome could be considered “good.”

Trust that there may be more to the outcome than we can comprehend, but that God’s sight is perfect and infinite.

As followers of Christ, we are not to despair regardless of how difficult the circumstances seem or how overwhelming a problem we face.

We are not to give up!
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Hebrews 10:39 reminds us “we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”

1 Chronicles 18

These chapters are the abridged version of David’s conquests which we read about in 2 Samuel. It briefly summarizes the kingdoms which David either conquered or subdued by treaty which then paid tribute to him. Twice we are told “the LORD gave David victory wherever he went.”

What if that could be said of me?

What if the LORD were to give me victory in everything I attempt in His name and for His glory?

The first question is: What am I attempting in His name and for His glory?

Or maybe more pointedly: Am I attempting ANYTHING in His name and for His glory?

Yes, I am writing these posts according to His leading and for His glory.

I have no doubt that the fictional series He called me to write is for His glory. He called me to it after Megan and I returned from our first mission trip to Prague. When I tried to give up and set it aside, He brought me back to it over and over again for six years before I finished the first novel and attended my first writing conference!

It was another six years of hard work editing and re-writing and submitting for critique and editing some more before the first in the series was published. He provided mission trips to Bolivia and Kenya for my daughter Kelsey to inspire the second and third books in the series. Now I’m preparing to release the third novel, researching the fourth, and time and again I’ve seen God remove barriers along the way.

He’s provided scholarships so that I could learn more about the craft and business of writing, He’s provided friends and mentors to encourage, prod, nag, and celebrate along the way. He’s provided resources abundantly to gather the information on places I may never see in order to describe them as if I had lived there with my characters. He’s provided chance encounters and connections time and time again, introducing me by mere providence to my agent, my publisher, my endorsers, and several of my in-country sources for cultural authenticity. He’s provided a manager in my day-job who not only encourages and supports this dream, but graciously grants leave for editing or attending conferences. He has given me victory wherever I have gone on this journey!

And in case there is any doubt, each day when I sit down and read a chapter and wonder, “Lord, what bit of wisdom do You want me to take from this passage? What can I learn from a list of unpronounceable names or a recap of David’s victories?”

He answers. Every day, every chapter, for over a year now, He has given me some treasure in each and every chapter!

But what about the way that I deal with daily stresses and challenges of life?

What if I brought those before the Lord and thought of those as battles for God’s name and His glory? What if I internalized the idea that every struggle I face, from the battle to get out of bed when I want to sleep in, to the daily skirmishes with crazy drivers on the way to work, to the most challenging folks I deal with in my job, to serving dinner for my family in the evening, and even to how I spend my time relaxing before bed—each moment of every day is an opportunity to allow the Lord to give me victory wherever I go?
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Where the Lord calls us, He goes before us. When He commands us to something, He enables us for it. I’ve heard it often said, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” It is so true!
Today, if you hear His voice, take that first step!

1 Chronicles 17

What an amazing God we serve! When David was established as king of Israel and had built a home for himself, he wanted to then build a house for God. But God responds by saying that He will instead establish the House of David.

Isn’t it just like God to take our offerings and multiply them back to us? This is one lesson I find myself having to learn over and over again. Just when I think I’ve got it, I discover its truth all over again.

You cannot out-give God.

Whether it is your time, your money, or your talent, as you pour it out before the Lord, He multiplies and replenishes it. The Bible is filled with illustrations of this principle from the widow of Zarepath to a boy with a lunch of bread and fish. As Anne Frank said, “No one ever became poor by giving.”

In Malachi 3:10, which is the only time in the Bible that God challenges followers to test Him, “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

I know this concept has been abused by the prosperity gospel. It’s been twisted to suggest that faith is a means to wealth.

But the foundation for the principle of God blessing our giving is that we must give freely, not with greedy intentions. God knows the heart behind the gift!
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There is a vast difference between giving in faith and trusting God to provide for your needs, and giving with an intent to get even more in return. You and I may not be able to discern the heart of the giver, but God certainly can. Jesus made that clear when he sat in the courtyard of the temple and watched the people bring their gifts. Mark 12:41-43 tell us, “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.”

1 Chronicles 16

If we looked at this chapter out of context, it would give us such a different picture of David than we’ve seen in the full counsel of scripture. We could read this one chapter and view David as a super-believer. He’s written a beautiful song proclaiming God’s glory, appointed priests to minister constantly before the Lord, and then he returns home to bless his family.

Yeah, that family.

The one composed of many wives and concubines.

The one that lost an infant son who was conceived in adultery and murder.

The one where one son raped a daughter and another son killed the first and yet another sought to murder his father for the power of the throne.

David’s family makes pretty much any dysfunction in our family feel more manageable.

Whatever rebellion your children are experiencing, whatever poor choices they’ve made, whatever baggage your own sin has brought to your family, most of us can look at David and praise the Lord for our own burdens in comparison.

It would be easy, too, in light of David’s parental failures to look down on him in judgment. He made some pretty monumental mistakes.

But God called David to the throne because He had sought “a man after His own heart” (1Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Fortunately, God wasn’t seeking a perfect man. He wasn’t seeking a sinless man, because He already had a plan for that Man from the foundations of the earth. “He [Jesus, not David] was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 1:20)
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What encouragement to us in our failures! What a relief that we are not called to be sinless in our own power! But in Christ, God has wrapped us in His sinless perfection. In the Holy Spirit, God has given us the ability and the power to choose a better path than even David chose. “We are no longer slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6)

1 Chronicles 15

Have you ever noticed how tolerance often doesn’t reach all the way to believers who are passionate about worship? Like Michal, some find the demonstrative, ardent worship of God intolerable.

If you keep quiet and keep your faith to yourself, they’ll ignore you; but if you start making a lot of noise, creating a scene, or proclaiming God’s power, they’re liable to get hostile.

What makes someone get angry or even violent when they see another person filled with joy and praising God? Even if they don’t believe, or they think the person is foolish, or even if they are sure the believer has lost their mind—why is the response so vitriolic? Why is it that the same folks who want to preach tolerance in every other aspect of life find it so hard to tolerate the joyful celebration of believers?

It makes me wonder if it reveals the real source of their anger. Is it because the enemy of God is enraged by our worship and has blinded them? Is it because he doesn’t want them to consider for a moment why believers would be filled with joy, let alone why they themselves lack that joy?

The last verse in this chapter tells us about Michal’s response to David’s display of joy and celebration as he is finally able to bring the ark of the covenant in to Jerusalem: “As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.”

Likewise, as millions of Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus yesterday, there were people overcome with animosity and hatred. Rome was on high alert after police thwarted an attack planned for Easter Sunday. In Egypt last year on Palm Sunday, dozens were killed as they prepared to celebrate. The year before it was in Pakistan.
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Regardless of the world’s intolerance, we who have witnessed God’s amazing grace cannot help but celebrate and proclaim the goodness of God.