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Today’s Scripture reading comes from 1 Chronicles chapters 7 through 10, completing the section I once considered daunting, tedious and honestly boring. But I’ve come to realize that the problem wasn’t the text—it was me. I was spiritually impatient, suffering from a kind of spiritual ADHD.

But when I took the time to pause, pray, and ponder (there’s the pastor in me—three P’s!), the Lord met me in the pages. He rewarded the investment of slowing down, and I was both grateful and humbled. How often do we grow restless simply because we haven’t taken the time to learn what He wants to teach us or to see things from His perspective? I suspect we’ve missed quite a bit that way.

Today’s chapters cover the second half of the genealogies—six of the twelve tribes. As I read, I found myself asking God, “Why?” Why did He include this? Why such detail? But then I remembered the context. These words were given to a people returning from exile in Babylon—we’ll read more about that time in Ezra and Nehemiah—I remembered that after centuries of disobedience, God’s people were driven from the promised land. For 70 years they lived as exiles in Babylon. So, imagine the questions they must have carried home: “Have we lost God’s favor?” “Are we still His chosen people?” “Will the promise of the Messiah still stand?” “Do we still have a future?”

Through these genealogies, God answers—Yes. Yes. Yes. And again He says, “Yes!” He reminds His people: I still know your names. These records are not just historical—they are relational. They reaffirm Israel’s identity as God’s people and restore their hope in His promises. The genealogies were God’s way of saying, You still belong to Me.

For us today, these lists reveal something just as powerful: even when we are faithless, our God remains faithful. He doesn’t give up on His promises. He doesn’t give up on His people.

Judah is given special prominence in this list to remind both them and us that God’s plan hasn’t changed. The line of David, in the middle of Judah’s, still matters, because through David comes the promised Messiah. God is picking up where His people left off—and He’s showing them, in personal focused detail, that every tribe still belongs to Him.

My son asked me last week, “Why is Saul’s genealogy listed twice? I saw it in chapter 8, did I really need to read it again in chapter 9?” Fair question. Chapter 8 records Saul’s lineage to affirm the inclusion of Benjamin in the family of God. Chapter 9 transitions us into the story of David’s monarchy. Both are important. Both have a place in God’s unfolding narrative.

I understand my son’s question, though. It’s the same impatience I had reading these passages in the past. But when we pause and ask God what He is communicating, we start to see the beauty in the details.

Takeaway: Enjoy God’s unfolding story. Ask Him what He’s saying through it. Could there be a better encouragement from a Father to His children than this? “Yes, you made mistakes. But My love for you doesn’t depend on your success or failure. You are My child. I am here—always ready to receive you when you come home.” If we had rushed through it we just might have missed it.