| I Chronicles 1:1-4 “Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” How far back can you go in your family’s genealogy? Maybe you know many of your ancestors, or maybe you can only go back to your mother! Whatever the case, you probably can’t beat the first nine chapters of I Chronicles. The first verse begins with Adam, and the last verses of chapter 9 end with the descendants of King Saul. There are a lot of names in this chronology!
“Brother Wil,” you might be thinking, “is there really anything spiritual in I Chronicles? Isn’t a list of names, names, and more names kind of . . . boring?” Well, I know at first glance, the first nine chapters of I Chronicles are just a bunch of names, but genealogies are important.
It may sound strange, but I actually enjoy going to old cemeteries and looking at the names and dates on the tombstones. I’ve been to Boothill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona (appropriately named!), where you’ll find a bunch of markers with a “died” date but no “born” date. Many of the people buried in Boothill left everything back East and came out West to build a new life and new identity. In New England, you can find tombstones of people who lived and died before the Revolutionary War even started! An entire life is noted with very few words on a small piece of stone.
The truth is, God knows everyone who has ever been born. Whether you can trace your lineage back many generations like I Chronicles or not, God knows you and He knows your whole family. With God, you are not just a number! He doesn’t track you by Social Security number or some randomly assigned identification number; Heknows you by name!
You may not be well-known like Adam, Methuselah, or Noah, but God knows you as assuredly as any name written in I Chronicles. People have a limited capacity to remember, and that is certainly true about you as a person. At the end of your life, people will probably only remember one or two things about you. Your whole life will be summed up in a handful of words on your tombstone. But more important than what people will remember is what God knows right now! What about your day today will be significant to God? |
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Camp Quotes… “God wants for you what you would want for yourself, if you were smart enough to want it.” -Pastor Jason Gaddis
Prayer Requests: 1. Salvation of unsaved teen, junior, and deaf campers 2. Safety for staff and campers 3. A special word from Brother Rice about summer staff needs |