Summary #17

Weekly Summary
1 Chronicles 1-6(Other Psalms Between)

How things stand so far: God creates the world, creates societies that reject him in various ways, but he never abandons them completely. Instead, he calls Abram to be the father of a nation, and he makes a covenant with that nation: he would be their God, and they would be faithful to him. God keeps his part of the promise.

On the eve of their anhiliation as slaves in Egypt, God calls them out with miracles galore, and leads them to the promised land, but the people grumble and complain, and find many ways to disobey. Therefor, they stay in the wilderness for a long time before they are allowed in. God renews his convenant with them. Finally, the doors to Canaan are opened to them, and they begin to take the land that has been promised to them.

Putting down roots takes a while, though, because again, the people seem to be incapable of following God's plan, and there is much cause for repentance and still God keeps his convenant. The nation of Israel continues to take the land God has promised, each tribe in its own territory. They settle down a bit, and God sets judges over them. The people and the judges take turns behaving poorly, the people flirting with other gods, the judges ignoring God's laws and direction, until the place descends into baseness: everyone does what is right in their own eyes. And let's just say the vision isn't 20/20 in that respect.

Everyone has been begging for a king, like the neighbors have. So God sends them one: Saul. Although he is chosen by God, he rejects the ways of God and so God rejects him as king, instead anointing the little shepherd boy, David, to become king. Saul on several occasions sets out to kill David, who (finally) follows God's heart, and is faithful to his calling. Eventually, though, Saul is killed in battle, and David takes the reigns as king of all Israel.

While this action takes place, the writer of Chronicles takes a moment to remind the people of how each of them came to be there: who their fathers and forefathers were, how the land that they had came to be theirs, and again the reminder that they are all part of God's story. God had kept his covenant with them time and time again, guiding the people of Israel from one place to another, but always under his care.

Our man David, meanwhile, is getting used to his role as King without Saul chasing him down. Before he was a king, though, he was a songwriter (which captured Sauls attention in the first place), and he doesn't stop writing songs, which compose much of the book of Psalms. Often, we look at literature or songs to understand something about the author, but with David's songs, you understand much about the object of the songs: God. His wisdom, power and care, but especially his faithfulness shine through in the Psalms. He is a God that knows each heart, that keeps the covenant, and loves justice.

Now that Israel has a king that loves and follows God, what will happen? Will there finally be peace and productivity? Is this the happy ending that we all want? I'm guessing not... there's still a lot of story to tell. Check it out all this week as we move forward in the true story of the whole world.