I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

These next 2 books, 1 and 2 Chronicles, were written around 430 B.C. by Ezra according to Jewish tradition. Remember, Israel ended as a nation in 722 B.C.; Judah ended as a nation in 586 B.C. Ezra wrote these books while in exile in Babylon as a reminder to God’s people who they were and the history that bound them still. In chapter 1, he begins with Adam and the sons that follow and includes the kings of Edom who descended from Esau, Isaac’s oldest son. Exiles will be allowed to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and the Temple in 538 B.C. Ezra doesn’t return to Jerusalem until 458 B.C. A lot of dates to try to grapple with!

I confess I almost drag my feet before reading Chronicles because we are plunged back into the same history we read about in 1 and 2 Kings. It’s so easy to forget that people forget God. They need the reminder. But I sit here in 2023 A.D. and yet, I, too, am a child of God every bit as much as the people we read about in ancient history. I remembered thinking as a brand new mother holding our first daughter that I would do it right with every decision! Little did I know how exhausting motherhood would prove to be with decisions coming fast and furious! My own history is replete with decisions that were good and bad. No one is perfect! As a parent and daughter I know how easy it is to mess up. How many trillions of us have existed and will exist? This history of us goes all the way back to Adam and there at the beginning is God.

How I love the very beginning of us! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1. Full stop. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. v. 2.

I love the beginning of us because out of the darkness God brings light and the light is His love for His creation and that includes all of us. Do you ever stop to consider that God who created all things actually loves all He created? We may get bogged down in hate for others, intolerance for what is different from us and therefore to be feared…but not our Creator God! He loves us!

As we continue to read the history of a people God called to be His own, let us never forget they were called to be a light showing God’s love for all people. As we read about their faults and blazing failures never forget we fail too. Do we forget God? Do we turn away in our too busy lives to remember how much He has done for us? We are one family and in that sense we are all alike. We are loved by the Creator. Full stop. I don’t know how He will reconcile the mess we all are but I know He has already. We have the incredible blessing of living now. We have not only His death on the cross showing how deep is the love of God that He asks the Father to forgive them killing God – we know the Father loves us so much He was right there with Jesus on that cross because the Father and Son and Spirit are One. And we have the life of Jesus showing us how to love the Father and each other in real time and it is good! We have the Spirit hovering over the darkness bringing Light in us. We can’t read the Old Testament without including the New Testament. One story…one family of God. Never forget…God loves us for our good in Him. How great is our God! Thank You, Lord, for You. You make all of us possible. We are the story of Your Love.