Faithful Friday Faves - 1 Chronicles

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The two books of Chronicles are always the true test of determination to any Biblical student who is steadfastly reading straight through the scripture; after having just covered the entire history of pre-exilic Israel/Judah, at 1 Chronicles 1:1 we go right back to Adam and Eve and begin the whole thing all over again, with extensive genealogies, focusing on the history of the southern kingdom of Judah. If you're actively studying it, there's great stuff there, but if you're just trying to wade through it...well, it can be a challenge.

But, for today, I'm going to focus on the key event of 1 Chronicles...David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. It's certainly the central event, occupying chapters 12 - 15 out of the 29 chapters of 1 Chronicles.

I'm not going to go over the whole story; it's right there if you want to read it (and, as an aside, if you want an interesting character study, take note of the name 'Obed-Edom' and see what part he plays in the book of 1 Chronicles).

But I'm looking at the verse that jumps out at me right now...1 Chron. 15:13:
It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him how to do it in the prescribed way.

I'm remembering something that happened about 12 years ago...The Artist, being about 9 or 10, had a friend over from school on a warm day. I'd made sun tea, and The Artist decided they needed to have some to drink and poured two glass fulls.

When he saw the glasses, his friend protested that he didn't like tea.

However, The Artist was so sure of the deliciousness of sun tea that he assured his friend that this tea was good. So, the friend was a good sport and tried it.

Nope. He didn't like tea.

But The Artist was still not persuaded that anyone could dislike something he liked so much. "I know what will make it good!" he said...and proceeded to put about 4 spoonfuls of sugar into his buddy's already-sweetened tea. "There! Try that!" he said expectantly.

Of course, the friend still didn't like tea, and ultimately the whole glass was dumped...because the Artist thought he knew what his friend would like and didn't ask him what he wanted to drink.

I thought at the time how similar that was to the way many of us treat God...we believe we know instinctively what He would desire, and go about it without even an inquiry as to whether or not that fits His plan.

Oh, we're in good company...the Bible is full of stories of people who charged ahead without inquiring what God wanted. Sometimes the results were fatal, sometimes they were humiliating, but there were always consequences.

The take home lesson for me is that my instincts are not trustworthy...but God is always available for inquiry.

And it is so much less painful to inquire of Him first, and see Him smile, than to pour a glass of unwanted tea down the drain and start over.