Weeks 32 – 37: 1 and 2 Chronicles and Psalms 32 – 73

My goodness, does it ever feel good to sit down and write again!  I have come to the end of season that did not allow for me to write on a weekly basis for a number of reasons.  At first, I was filled with anxiety, afraid I would fall off the band wagon of writing if I did not keep at least some level of consistency.  However, the LORD encouraged me to trust Him.  He asked me to trust that He would move me to write again when the time was right and to not rely on my own will power to perform.  Ever true to His word, God has once again provided me with the space in my home and time in my day to write down what my heart longs to say.  For that, I am deeply thankful!

I am tuning back in just as we have finished 1st and 2nd Chronicles.  While the repetition of accounts in Kings and Chronicles may have been tiresome to many, I was personally thankful for the review of the chronology.  Retention through reading is not my strong suite, so it was helpful to look at the line-up of kings once again, from a different angle and perspective.  While Kings and Chronicles cover the same period of time and history, Chronicles was written approximately 100 years after Kings and was from a post-exile vantage point.  It was written as a reflection on the history of Judah and Israel rather than the more “current events” style of Kings.  The intended hearers/readers of Chronicles were a people coming out of captivity who needed to be reminded of their national identity as God’s elect.  Chronicles was written to bring encouragement and shed hope-filled light on the past.  It highlighted God’s faithfulness, His compassion and the blessings of obedience to God in order to guide the people as they rebuilt and reoriented their lives after exile.

It is the difference in perspective and the shift in emphasis from Kings to Chronicles that has me pondering today.  The time passed, the experiences lived and the lessons learned all impacted the themes the chronicler chose to highlight, differentiating Chronicles from Kings at many points along the way.  Here are just a few examples of the differences of the two accounts:

 – David’s affair with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah:  Given the significance and consequences of this part of David’s story, I was surprised to find it left out of the account of David’s reign in Chronicles.  However, considering the context of Chronicles and audience to which it was written, David was being remembered as a good King; one who pointed towards God’s True and Better King to come.  Reflectively speaking, David was one of the best.  His reign and kingdom were God-centric and saturated with reverence for the King over all.  While David’s life and family bore the scars of sin, the chronicler purposefully left out the details of David’s failures and remembered how God was beautifully magnified through him.

 – Manasseh’s repentance:  Both Kings and Chronicles record the hideous practices of Manasseh and how he led Judah astray to do more evil than any pagan worshippers before.  It was horrendous!  Manasseh was among the worst of the worst.  But, the chronicler sheds light on the story that we missed out on in Kings.  2 Chronicles 33 says this of Manasseh after he had been captured with hooks by the Assyrian army, bound with chains and dragged off to Babylon:

“And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.  He prayed to Him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.  Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.”  2 Chronicles 33:12-13

The chronicler goes on to say that Manasseh went back and tore down the idols and alters that he had built with his own hands in order to restore the alter of                the LORD his God.  What a beautifully redemptive story!                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 – The closing of the books: The captivity of Judah and the Babylonian exile close out both Kings and Chronicles.  However, the chronicler also includes the fulfillment of the word of the LORD given by Jeremiah.  Cyrus, king of Persia, decreed that God’s house be rebuilt in Jerusalem and that all of God’s people be free to go up and worship Him.  The book of Kings ends with hope for the Davidic line with the release of Judah’s king, Jehoiachin, from prison in Babylon.  Furthermore, the book of Chronicles ends with hope for God’s kingdom and His people with Cyrus’s decree.

Time, experience, dealing with the consequences of sin and witnessing God’s breathtaking faithfulness all play a part in changing the way we view the past.  These things all influenced the change in perspective we see from Kings to Chronicles.  I wonder if they also influence the lens through which we see our own lives and pasts.  There may be things in our lives that we have viewed one way for years and years.  But then, through a miraculous work that only God Himself could do, we are suddenly able to see those very same things in a whole new light.  Things that were once heavy with shame and sorrow are now held in compassion and tenderness.  Aspects of our story that were once attached to painful consequences for our mistakes suddenly become deep wells of hope.  Burdens and weights that we have carried for years become the very cords that bind our lives to our life-giving Savior.  I am not quite sure how this happens, but I am convinced of one thing…It is the way of our God.  He truly restores the years the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25).  He truly brings beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3).  He does not change the past, but He changes our perspective in order that we might learn to see our past as He does.  He sees all of it in through the lens of His goodness and perfect love.

I am deeply grateful for His ability to change the way I view the past.  His vantage point is infinitely better!  It is full of redemption and wonder, hope and grace.  Be blessed fellow sojourner and never give up on the worthwhile journey of walking with Jesus.  He will change our perspective if we ask Him to, so we can see each of our stories in light of His own, day by day.