Agape Devotions

READ : I Chronicles 13-14. Verses chosen for meditation: I Chron 13:3, 10. 3  Then let us  bring again the ark of our God to us,   for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.”   10  And the anger of the  Lord  was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down  because he put out his hand to the ark, and  he died there before God.   REFLECT Almost the entire chapter 13 is on David's attitude in handling the Ark of God. We are told how David went down to the Philistine city where the ark was being held captive, took it upon a cart and tried to bring it back to Jerusalem. As a man after God's own heart, David sought to restore the Ark to its place of honour, 13:3. David's intentions for doing this were clearly commendable. He clearly wanted to seek Yahweh by using the Ark to enquire of Him. He knew the law commanded that the Ark be carried only by the Levites, but in the exuberance of his joy and his zeal, he thought God woul...

Read 1 Chronicles 11, 12 Verse chosen for meditation: 1 Chronicles 11: 9 ESV  9 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him. Reflect How did David become great in this warrior phase of his life?  Why did the good men, the best of the best, join his army? To what drummer's beat were they marching? Relate This is a feel-good passage, with good vibes here and there. At the same time, it serves as a roll of honour where men and commanders of valour were cited for their expertise in the art of war and contributions in the war itself. It exudes an optimistic feeling that good things can only get better. And still better. This is seen from the unusual attraction of people of right calibre from all quarters. Even the number of men deciding to join the army is staggering as they enlist in droves, running into tens of thousands. All this is certainly a boon, adding to and shaping up David's army to be the military epicentre of its time, a formidable super po...

  READ  1 CHRONICLES 10 PASSAGE FOR REFLECTION So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. 1 CHRONICLES 10:13, 14 REFLECTION We are told in this passage that Saul died for his breach of faith by not keeping God's command and also for consulting a medium. Was this too draconian a measure? Afterall he was God's anointed king. Could God not have cut him some slack? A more troubling question confronts us: will the same fate fall on us if we were to do the same? Let us look again at what Saul had done. In 1 Samuel 15, we are told that King Saul had been instructed by God through Samuel to destroy everything belonging to the Amalekites after the Israelites had defeated them. King Saul did not carry this out. Instead, he kept everything t...

Read 1 Chronicles 9. No devotional today (Sunday)

Read 1 Chronicles 7-8 Verses chosen for meditation 1 Chronicles 7:20 The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to raid their livestock. 22 And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 And Ephraim went in to his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Beriah, because disaster had befallen his house.[c] 24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah.  Reflect Some vocations are more hazardous than others. While shepherding their flock, some men from Gath came and raided Ephraim. In the course of it, many sons of Ephraim was killed. These men of Gath were likely to be Philistines; known for their cruel ways when raiding a village. Of course, Ephraim mourned deeply for the lost of so many son...

READ : 1 Chronicles 5-6 REFLECT :  The chronicler continues to intersperse into his genealogy moral and spiritual lessons that he wants his readers to learn from his chronological survey of Israelite history via the names of the individuals and their family trees. Unlike modern family trees, these ancient genealogies were written to tell a story, to be a kind of CV or   résumé  of   the story that is being told—in this case that there is an ancient lineage to the people of God returning from exile. In particular, though, the chronicler shows in a couple of places his special concern that his readers not miss the lesson of this history of Israel: flee idolatry, worship God alone, be faithful to his covenant.   RELATE : The beginning of chapter 5 tells of Reuben and his birthright loss to Joseph because of Reuben’s sin (5:1-2). We may have special privileges by birth, unusual access to education or the higher echelons of society, but all is in God’s hands and can be re...

  READ : 1 Chronicles 3-4 Verses chosen for meditation: 1 Chronicles 3:5 5 These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel; REFLECT Flipping through the opening pages of first Chronicles, we are greeted with lists of names. “This again? Let’s turn the pages quickly! In fact, turn the next 10 pages to find something more readable and interesting.” For most readers, the temptation to skip past these genealogies is great (That’s our whole week’s worth of devotions!), but why does the Chronicler see the need to dedicate 9 whole chapters to genealogies?   Genealogies, as shown also in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, are important starting points for serious histories. To us, it may be just another list of names (some very obscure), but if they were not important, they would not be included in this historical narrative. To the first readers, it holds a lot of meaning as they see the messages and hop...