Saturday, February 5: 1Chronicles 12- How we came to be and whose shoulders we stand upon

Commentators believe that 1-2Chronicles were written late, as Israel sits in Babylon during their years of exile and punishment for unfaithfulness or shortly thereafter. These people, awaiting God’s restoration, were inspired by the Holy Spirit to chronicle their beginnings. They were to write down the men and women who were critical and used of the Lord to the building of their nation as well as to remember important events in their history.

Remembering… remembering how faith came to us. Remembering key people in the faith lineage who connect us to the Lord and remembering some of what they did and how they lived.  This kept the faith alive during a time of trial, discipline and exile.

Remembering how we came to have faith and those whose faith-shoulders we stand upon remains healthy for maintaining a vital faith…

Who shared faith in Jesus with you? Who passed the faith on to them? Think back over your ‘faith-ancestry.’ Consider the faith communities that have surrounded and nurtured you over the years. Remember the good and the bad –we are imperfect human beings after all. Think about how and where you see the hand of God in those years…

Recall names, teachers, mentors, friends, coworkers… men and women used by God to instill and strengthen faith in Jesus within you. Think about those people you may not have know well but whose life was (and maybe still is) an example to you.

All of us walk with Jesus, in part, due to the faith-filled lives and witness of others. Thank God this morning for these faithful bearers of Jesus’ name.

O, God, thank You for  (put in your own set of names…), thank You for the way they lived, they way they helped me during (name some important moments and who helped you in your faith then…)…

Spend time remembering and thanking God for these heroes and heroines of the faith in your life…

Now before you close your time with the Lord today, switch from remembering to blessing those who look to you… those who would have you are their list… pray for them, too…

Amen.