1 Chronicles 2:1-55

God chose to preserve in Scripture the family tree of David and in great detail the entire family of David’s brothers.  As we read through the long lists of names there are only a few that we recognize.  We may consider these details as unimportant, but each name represents a life lived or for the glory of God or in rebellion against God.  These were the brothers, uncles, nephews and extended family of David and had an influence in some way on his life and the circumstances during their point in history.  The truth is that most of us are relatively unknown to the world community at large.  In all likelihood we will be even less known to the generations that follow.  However, each of us is fully known by and important to the Lord.  Here are a couple of thoughts that came to my mind as I reflected on this list of names.

OUR FAMILIES ARE IMPORTANT: Each of us was born into a family that has an impact on who we are and what we do.  We are not determined by our family structure, but we are definitely influenced by it.  We can see that God records the names of each person, who their parents were and who their children were.  All of this information is known by God and will be taken into account by Him when we come before Him.  We must constantly ask ourselves what kind of legacy we are leaving for our family.  Are we leaving a faithful example for our children and grandchildren to follow?  How will the current and future generations of our families be impacted by our lives?  God is very much aware of this and He cares about it.  We have a positive or a negative impact on our society both present and future.  That impact is most prevalently seen in our family.


OUR FAITHFULNESS IS IMPORTANT: God’s requirement for every generation is that we be faithful.  We see recorded in Scripture the names of many men who were not faithful to their wives.  They had multiple wives and concubines and disobeyed the commandments of God as to how they were to conduct their lives.  These unfaithful men and women were instrumental in bringing to life future generations that, by God’s grace, were faithful, but their example was not a positive one.  We cannot control how future generations will respond to our example and our teaching but we can control our own faithfulness during our lives.  That is God’s requirement for each of us today: that we be found faithful.

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