1 Chronicles 17

11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

David was well connected with God, understatement.  But I'm curious how much he could truly grasp the revelations Nathan shared with him.  I presume this section to be speaking of Jesus.  Does David truly get it?  How overwhelming would that feeling be?

I don't have a specific takeaway just this observation.

knut

1 Chronicles 15-16

16:8        Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;

    make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.

12 Remember the wonders he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

Tucked neatly into this verse is a model for how we should worship God.  I think in our church and probably most we have a service on Sunday's that really does align with this model which I'm sure is no accident.  But I'm thinking this should be just how I live each day, just during my few hours at church on Sunday.  Afterall it doesn't say Give praise to the Lord, from 9:30 to 10:30 each Sunday at Westview.

Going back to Chapter, there was on verse at the very end that didn't seem to fit.  What do you make of this?

29 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.

knut

1 Chronicles 13-14

13:8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.

I read through these two chapters and didn't get any significant points.  But I did take note of how they celebrate with all their might before God.  I don't know that there have been many if anytimes I could say I have been involved with celebrating God with all my might might.  Maybe clear back to some high school caravan trips, I don't know.  At my church we are so much more reserved--maybe we shouldn't be.

side note when I said caravan it made me think of the Bartletts.  I believe last week was the 1 year anniversary of the accident.  I still can't imagine the pain and emptiness they must be feeling.  They have sure lived out their faith in this time of crisis.  Dave has been very transparent in sharing the range of emotions they feel of sadness, anger, emptiness, hope in God and a desire to celebrate life in spite of being on a path they would never chosen in a million years. 

I pray for peace and His healing hand to continue to be with their family.

knut

1 Chronicles 11-12

I didn't pick out a verse today, but more of an overall sense of the mood of the time.  The Israelites must have been awaiting something great to happen, while Saul was king.  He is moving farther and farther away from God, and the people could undoubetly feel it.  They are becoming more and more splintered.  And then comes David.  He seems to have a certain magnetism about him.   People are longing to join a cause that is just.  David brings them that chance.  They all start joining him.  These are exceptional people.  In my experience it takes someone of EXTREME character to lead those that are beyond ordinary.  God keeps gathering these type people to David.  His army grows.  God's army grows.  Those last two lines are interchangable.  That's the key.  Is my life interchangable with God's plan.....

tp

1 Chronicles 9-10

10:13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,

Saul's life was also documented in Samuel.  I can't honestly say I recall many details until I started reading some other sites I dug into on the internet.  The documentation in the bible of Saul is apparently a source debate because of inconsistencies...I'll leave that to the scholars to dive into and debate.

In this verse I simply note the very direct and flat statement made about the consequences of being unfaithful to the Lord.  Go.  d is the same today, so we should take care to be faithful to him.  I'm not seeking any mediums for guidance so I'm clear there, but how often do I break his word or not seek him for guidance.  The honest answer is often and not often respectively.

I want to rededicate myself to seeking his guidance.  Earlier this year I was doing better, the reason why was I was feeling the heat at work and I couldn't solve it myself so I went to Him.  Now things are better and what is my reaction...I'm back to doing my own thing.  I want to follow him always not just when I'm in crisis mode.

knut

1 Chronicles 6-8

7 24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horonas well as Uzzen Sheerah.

This was hidden in there, but it caught my eye.  All these sons and fathers, and then this one line.  I googled her, and this is what I found.

SHEERAH – 1 Chronicles 7:24

Tucked away in a genealogy in 1 Chronicles chapter 7 is a woman named Sheerah. It is not entirely clear if this woman was the daughter of a man called Beriah (the son of Ephraim, one of the sons of Joseph) or whether she was the daughter of Ephraim himself.

Very few women are named in genealogies because, at that time, the family line was traced through the men. So it is significant when a woman is mentioned, and even named, in one.

Sheerah was obviously an influential and wealthy woman. She built and established the towns of Upper and Lower Horon. These towns were built in a strategic location and went on to have a long history. Sheerah even built a town that bears her name: Uzzen Sheerah. She was probably a leader of the towns she established.

Sheerah is just one example of an Old Testament woman who had a prominent position of authority and influence, and, as with other Bible women with authority, there is no hint that this was inappropriate or improper, or that anyone had a problem with it.

There are several women in the Bible who showed initiative, influence, and resourcefulness. Some of these women seem obscure to us, but they were far from obscure to the people of their time. These Bible women – which include Serah, Aksah and Sheerah – were prominent women with clout.

1 Chronicles Ch 1-5

5:17 All these were entered in the genealogical records during the reigns of Jotham king of Judah and Jeroboam king of Israel

I'm not sure why God gave us the list of history.  I bet the bible scholars and researchers have poured through this over the years to connect the dots of history and lineage.  I'm glad we are reading it now versus earlier in our journey because as I read through the list of names there are a lot of names that we have read a little about their lives and it is cool to read the name and have even a spark of a memory of a chapter come through my head--this would not have happened had we not gone chapter by chapter through the bible.

I'm so glad we have been on this journey together.  These chapters are dry but still its cool to see the list of names and how things hook together.  Seeing names of people who are the origin of cities named after them.  He has it all put together perfectly.

knut

ps -- had to add this part, I went to Tom's site to see he could possibly write about Chronicles.  Note the timing of his post 6 years ago in 2010--too funny.

Tom's post

Adam, Seth, Enosh…. 1 Chronicles 1:1 (MSG)

Reading through the trunk of our family tree today, I could not help thinking about Father's Day this past week. We are all a product, genetically, of our forefathers. We are all influenced, systemically, by our famillies. For me, a huge part of understanding my own journey has been spent answering the questions:

"Who am I?"
"Who is Jesus?"
"Who am I in Jesus?"

Certainly part of the answers have come from learning about my family. In the past I find clues to who I am in the present. And yet, the future is largely determined by me. I choose the next step I take.

What shall I do today?