In the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles we find a sea of names. One after another, the genealogical records of Israel are listed. The records were vitally important to the nation because land distribution, priestly service, the throne, and the coming Messiah were determined by lineage.
Reading through all these names can be somewhat tedious. We know very little about many of the characters, and some of the names are quite difficult to pronounce. That being said, I am encouraged by many of those whose names are listed. The records include the likes of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Caleb, David and many others. These names should flood our minds with memories of great, even heroic acts of faith and faithfulness. These men were used by God to turn the world upside down. Their simple lives, lived out in faith and obedience, have forever changed to history of humanity.
When it comes to your life, what will the record show? Will you have lived in a way that sets a pattern for generations to follow? Or are you living only to satisfy your own selfish desires? Life is short and one day your name will be listed among those who once walked the face of the earth. What testimony will you leave behind?
Pastor Jim
If these questions were posed to us on a theology test, we would all answer “No, no, six times no.” We know that He promises:
In middle school, I could always be found hanging around with my friend Sean. We spent so much time together, we soon walked and talked the same. Truly, we had a walk; it was more like a strut. If you can imagine two 12 year old kids, 4’10″ tall, weighing in at 80lbs, strutting their way from class to class on the middle school campus, then you have a good idea of what that looked like. My point is, hanging together, we soon became like one another. This principle was true of those who hung around David, and is true of us today.
When Moses pleaded to see the Glory of God, the Lord responded by passing before him and revealing His nature. He declared Himself to be merciful and gracious. The word gracious speaks of the giving nature of God. It is His desire to give what is best to man. James, addressing a group of trial-ridden Christians, reminded them, since God is gracious, every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). The message of the Bible has a whole lot more to do with what God gives us, than what we are to give to Him. Hosea reminded Israel of what God had done for them,
As David and his men pursued the Amalekites, some of them grew weary. It is not difficult to understand why. Not only were they pursuing at a rapid pace, but they were doing so with broken hearts. Amelek had plundered their goods and kidnapped their families. For days, these men had been grieving, many, perhaps, unable to eat, due to the deep sorrow they were feeling. As a result, two hundred men were unable to press on, and the company split into two groups. Two hundred men stayed behind, and four hundred went to battle.
As I child, I remember watching a movie where a group of people were trying to escape a town. Whatever direction they took, or road they chose, they always arrived at the same destination. They continued trying until they found the one way out. According to Jesus, life is like that. He stated that life really only consists of two roads. One is wide and crowded, but leads away from God. The other is narrow and difficult, and sadly, often ignored, but results in eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14).
The conditions in Israel at the time of Deborah and Barak were very difficult. Moral failure, on the part of the people and their leaders, had led to national decline, and in turn, to losing much of the freedoms they once enjoyed. After eighteen years of oppression, the people finally began to see that the root cause of their condition was not economic, political or even social, but that they had departed from the ways of God. Understanding this led them to return to the Lord, and cry out for deliverance. In response to these cries, God raised up what may seem like two very unlikely heroes. The first was a woman who would rule in a definitively male culture, and the second was a man who was somewhat resistant to the whole idea. 
This is one of the most important events in history. It marks the beginning of the missionary campaign to the church in Antioch. The results of this event brought the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, and changed the face of Western Civilization. History would forever be changed as a result of these two men responding to the call of God. A few things strike me about God’s call.
The book of Numbers receives its name from the numbering of the people that occurred in Chapter 1 and again in Chapter 26. In Chapter 1, those who came out of Egypt were numbered. In Chapter 26, 40 years later, at the end of their wilderness journey, they are numbered again. A careful look will reveal, some of the tribes grew, and some of the tribes shrank. I think there is an important application we can glean which pertains to our lives. Just as they were in the wilderness, we often find ourselves in a spiritually dry time. We may even feel like we’re just wandering around aimlessly. I think it is valuable to remember, based upon what we do in the wilderness, we can either come out having shrunk or having grown.I 
Jim Gallagher 