I read the subject of today’s email a few weeks ago in my daily Bible reading plan a few weeks ago. You might not think that one verse would stick with you after a few weeks. But this one did.
“And he departed with no one’s regret.”
The next sentence tells us where “he” was buried. He being Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat.
He reigned as king over Judah for 2 years. And he did such a poor job of it that we get that totally flat summary of his life. No one was sad that he was gone.
But stop and think about that.
Jehoram was a (many greats) son of David – the man after God’s own heart. The king whom God promised would have the throne forever in his lineage.
Yes, that even included King Unregrettable.
Flip it around and look forward, Jehoram was a fore-father of Jesus. An ancestor, if you will. Out of his line came One who would save the world.
The Bible is pretty amazing. You might think that in the desire to present the glory of God, it would gloss over such unsavory characters. As a piece of literature that laid the foundation for Christian faith, maybe it would kick some of those skeletons into the closet.
Nope. You can read those very words in 2 Chronicles 21:20. I even underlined them in my One Year Bible.
God has to be pretty confident in Himself and His plan to include a line like that in His book. He has to have no fear that we would somehow think less of Him because of a statement about one of His chosen line like that.
My small group just finished a 30+ week study of Genesis. Different part of the story – but the story is exactly the same. Broken people doing stupid things. But God’s plan moved through it without any issues.
You have to be pretty powerful to use human beings as part of your plan. We are flawed and frail. We say one thing and do another. We claim loyalty and in the next breath betray. We chase our own tails because we want to be the kings of our own lives.
But whether you are reading Genesis or 2 Chronicles, it doesn’t matter. The Bible is unrelenting in its honest portrayal of the human condition. But it shows a gracious and powerful God who moves through such flawed chess pieces to bring about His own will.
Today, offer up a prayer of thanks that God didn’t follow through with his plans in Genesis 6. He wanted to destroy humanity because the whole lot was so wicked. Instead He looked at Noah who found grace. And hundreds of years later He had a king of the divine royal line about whom He wrote such an unflattering summary.
Can He use you? Yes. Absolutely.
Are you worse than any of those people? Nope.
Have you done anything in your past that would disqualify you? No, God can overcome any and every failing.
So offer a prayer of thanks today. God can use you. What is more wonderful than knowing you are useful to Him?
I don’t know. But I find hope in it.
Dennis
