1 Chronicles 7-9: God is not “fair”. He doesn’t make everyone and everything the same. In His divine plans some are given more or chosen for a special assignment and given more of whatever they will need. As we read the list of names again today I am reminded that the purpose of this list was to delineate who was a part of Israel and who was not. The only way the people after the exile could serve in leadership in the temple was to prove their family line.
Later we will study Nehemiah and the struggles with Tobiah and Sandbalot. These two men were leaders but they were not from the pure family line. They were not God’s chosen and they did appreciate those coming back and messing up their plan. As the wall was built they caused confusion and they had no desire for their leadership to be questioned.
They may have been leaders in the community, but God is the one who said they would not be leaders in the church.
As I prayed about how this might be applied in my day and time I thought about the unrest in churches today. Praise God we are a part of a church that follows pastoral leadership and is seeing God’s blessing on that, but even yesterday I spoke to a woman who said, “I feel sorry for the pastor that goes to _______ church because the congregation is the one that will run that church.” My heart grieved even as the truth came out of her mouth. God has set pastors over churches to lead them, and when the congregation is telling the pastor what to do instead of the pastor leading that is just as upside down as the wife telling her husband and family what they will be doing. It may work for a while, but it is upside down to how God planned and organized the leadership roles. If we want to see God bless, we must do it His way! It was true for Israel and it is true for us. It doesn’t mean that the wife or the congregation are not great leaders or some may even be smarter and better, but it is not God’s way. Just as Sandbalot and Tobiah were not God’s plan.
May we all be blessed by being in a church and family where God is the head, the pastor and husband lead and the rest of us follow. May we see many blessings for our obedience.