“For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”  – I Chronicles 17:19

The Book of Chronicles recites the story of the people of God and their pilgrimage through the wilderness. Once again, it runs through the saga of their settlement in the new land; this time highlighting faithfulness and omitting some failures. It has the feel of “been there, done that.” It is, after all, the chronicle of the whole sacred journey.

But it serves a greater purpose than simply a story of spiritual heritage. It is the response to two heartfelt questions:

Is God still with us?
How can we be faithful in this new situation?

You see, this was the time of reformation. The exile is over. A handful return to a land now in ruins and the temple destroyed. There is no picking up where they left off. Those left behind moved on and adapted as needed. Nothing is the same. It is the time of beginning again. And these were the questions on the heart of the people

Is God still with us?
How can we be faithful in this new situation?

The chronicler (perhaps it was Ezra) says Yes. God has always done great things. God is always faithful to the promise. We’ve seen it of old. We’ll see it again.

The answer may be a confident Yes. God is still with us. How we are faithful in new situation is less clear, as it should be. Every generation has to test the practices and question the shape of former days while listening deeply to the heart of the Divine for a glimpses of the new thing that is required for such a time as this.

                                                           “Blogging one verse from every book of the bible.”

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