Friday, July 5, 2013

How Well Do You Know God?


1 Chronicles 1:1-7….and 27   -   Adam, Seth, Enosh,  Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared,  Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,  Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.  The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah.  The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshishah, Kittim, and Rodanim…..

… and Abram, who is Abraham.

 

From Adam …the first man…..to Methuselah….the oldest….to Noah…the faithful boat builder…to Abraham…. the chosen of God to seed a special nation…each name is listed …each name important to God. Most of the names that God knew…the ones that are connected with important stories and lessons for us to learn…right beside the names we have never heard before.

 

Our human brain…bored from the similarity and seemingly unimportant list of names… wants to skim over this chapter…the first of 9 chapters beginning 1 Chronicles that record the genealogies of all the people God loved. But God has hidden some great truths in these chapters…so I will try to take more time…and search each list for the tidbit of wisdom that will help me understand God’s love even more.

 

He starts with Adam…who was created in God’s own image...who messed up bad in that wonderful garden God made for him to live….who was banished for his sin…the sin that introduced death to the world. He picked one righteous man who had somehow managed to escape satan’s tricks…and ask him to build an ark…to save a select few people and pairs of animals to replenish the Earth after he had purged the world of evil. God realized then that the only way he would ever truly save the world from satan’s evil…was to raise up a nation of people through Abram….and supernaturally send the seed for his own son into the womb of a young obedient girl…so she could raise God’s own son… with God’s laws and stand aside while he died on a cross…shedding his blood to save us all once and for all from our own sins.

 

God knew each of them by name…each one important to the final big picture he took centuries to weld together to save man.  God was interested in every name listed in 1 Chronicles…and he is interested in each name that is given a new social security number today. He is interested in me…and wants the best for me…just like John recorded for us in John 10:3… “ The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

 

Gods knows me…every hair on my head…he has even collected every tear I have cried….but do I really know him?  Have I really trusted this man that knew me even before I was born with every part of my life?   If I am honest…I have to admit that I have not….I have to admit that this list of names…and the centuries of faith they represent…show me how very lacking my own faith in God really is.  I have a ton of praying and studying… and listening to what God wants me to do with the blessings he had given me…before I can even begin to comprehend what his gift of salvation really means in my life. 

 

Father…I thank you for this list of names in your great Bible.  Thank you for reminding me that you know me better than I know myself…and that you think I am important.  Thank you for being so patient with me while I continue to search my heart for how to love you the most that I am able.  Help me to learn more about you…so that I can begin to understand your great love for me. Show me how to find the purpose for which you created me ….then anoint my life to do what you need me to do for you.  Speak your great purpose to me …just like you spoke to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."   Amen.

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