Who is running things?

 

READ 1 Chronicles 6–10

Yesterday I wrote about running errands on a chilly day and experiencing green lights and amazing freedom in traffic and finding parking. That and today’s reading reminds me that even though “the devil is in the details” is a more common saying, the truth is that “God is in the details” and the devil only tries to make us think he is in control.

These chapters are again filled with hundreds of names, genealogies showing that God takes note of all those who serve Him. For instance, some of them were musicians:

These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there. They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order. (1 Chronicles 6:31–32)

Others had different responsibilities: “Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.” (6:49)

Even where they lived was set by God, not only the priestly tribes but each clan. The sons of Aaron were given Hebron. Caleb was given the fields of the city and its villages. The sons of Aaron received the cities of refuge, and so on. Each had a purpose and a place designated by the Lord.

Some were given leadership roles. Most of them belonged to “units of the army for war” and “they had many wives and sons.” This organization of God’s people was both before the exile and after.

So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith. Now the first to dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants. And some of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem: (1 Chronicles 9:1–3)

He appointed “mighty men for the work of the service of the house of God” and chief officers as well as gatekeepers and guards for the tabernacle, and those who took charge of the work of the service, those who were entrusted to be over the chambers and the treasures of the house of God, and those in charge of the utensils of service, counting them when they were brought in and taken out. Others of them were appointed over the furniture, all the holy utensils, the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the incense, and the spices. Others prepared the mixing of the spices, and still others entrusted with making the flat cakes, and with preparing the showbread every Sabbath. The singers were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. (9:17-33) Is this not like NT church order with descriptions of spiritual gifts and our duties to the Lord and each other?

The last part of these chapters tells of the death of Saul and his sons. He fell on his own sword rather than die at the hands of the Philistines. “When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them.”

The story ends saying that “Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.” (10:1–14)

Yet this news also shows God in the details. The account is long compared to what is said about the many names listed in the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. For me, this stresses the importance of doing what a servant of God should be doing according to the gifts and resources God gives, in the place where God puts that servant, and always seeking the guidance that God gives rather than doing our own thing.

God is in the details. Yesterday I called a friend I’ve not talked to for several weeks. She told me that when the phone rang, she was talking to her caregiver about me. This is one of dozens of stories of unusual things happening that make sense only to those who know that the Lord is sovereign and that He cares about even our smallest needs and deeds, sometimes with humor, or odd ‘coincidences’ but always with grace and loving kindness.