Thursday, March 31, 2011

I have skipped over certain passages in the Old Testament that have been dry and boring to me.  These passages involve the genealogies of the various tribes of Israel.  There aren’t many of them, but when I come to them in my reading, I have just skipped over them because it was dry and boring to me.  The bible is filled with wonderful stories and principles to guide my life by, but the names of people and their children without knowing a thing about them is of little to no interest to me, until this year.  I began to slow down and read more closely for bits of information that I had glossed over in years past.  I still cant pronounce their names, but some tidbits of information began to emerge in my readings.

In I Chronicles 1-10, I began to see some interesting things that I could relate to.  Jether died without children (2:32).  Sheshan had no sons–only daughters (2:34).  Jabez was more honorable thn his brothers (4:9-10, well known for the “Prayer of Jabez”).  Reuben, firstborn of Israel, lost his birthright because he slept with his father’s wife (5:1).  Sheerah, a daughter of Beriah, builtLower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sherrah (7:24, a woman with skills to build).  There were people who were deported from the land (8:6).  Shaharaim of Moab divorces his two wives and married another (8:8).  Ulam had 150 sons and grandsons who were brave warriors (8:40).  The musicians, were exempt from working in the temple but stayed there and played day and night (9:33).

What I began to do is relate with these people because I have either personally experienced what they had to experience, or I know friends who have gone thru these experiences.  What I began to realize is that when I slow down and seek to understand where people are and what they are experiencing in life, I build bridges of connection to those people.  I started to relate to people in the old testament that I had never connected with.

On this journey, it is important to slow down and find out what’s happening in the lives that God has brought us in contact with.  It’s in that connection that life takes on new meaning and destroys dry and boring.