Names

 November 13, 2021

I’m canning grape juice again, this time for my daughter and daughters-in-law. No doubt a few of the grandkids will queue up for a few jars, too. Thanks to Brandee, who allowed me to glean in her vineyard today. 

Canning grape juice is not labor intensive. I load the cooker, fill the water reservoir, turn up the heat, and for the next hour, there’s not much to do. Filling the jars only takes a couple minutes, so there’s a lot of down time in the process. 

Linda and the girls are Christmas shopping at the outlet mall in Grove City, so I’m home alone, except for Emma sprawled out by the fire, and the cat who prefers being outside even in the rain. It is tempting to turn on some mindless TV show, or better yet, watch an educational Youtube video on beekeeping, but I thought the time might be better spent reflecting on this morning’s Scripture reading. It does take some reflection; I’m reading in 1 Chronicles. It’s a bit of a challenge to hear the voice of God in a list of names that goes on chapter after chapter.

People have often wondered why these lists made it into the canon of Scripture. Surely there were writings much more instructive than this! While I would not venture to know the mind of the Almighty in this matter, I do recall hearing of a tribal group in one of the developing countries that was convinced of the diving authorship of the Bible because of the chronicles. Ancestry was very important to them, and it was these lists that convinced them to become followers of the God who also thought ancestry was important.

It is less so to me, but as I think about it, I wonder about all those people who are merely mentioned by name. Once in awhile, something is said about this or that person, but for the most part, it’s just names. I can resonate with that. I haven’t accomplished any earth-shaking things; I’m not a Moses, leading God’s people out of slavery. I’m not a David, ruling over the nation. I’m not an Isaiah or Jeremiah or Daniel, sounding forth the word of the Lord to those in high places. 

When shown a family portrait, most of us will search the crowd for our own face. (You can admit it here!) Even if we can barely be seen peeking through a row of heads from the back row, we look for our own face. That’s how I feel about these lists. I don’t have to be front and center; I would be happy just to know my name is mentioned. The Good News is, God remembers our name, and has written it down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We tend to remember our sins—all the times we screwed up. God “remembers our sins no more, forever,” but calls us by name. 

In God’s economy, accomplishments don’t matter. We’re saved by grace, not by works. Sure, it’s nice to be able to accomplish great things for God, but face it—most of us won’t do that. But God loves us, has chosen us, forgiven us, cleansed us, and written down our names, not so he won’t forget, but so we can know. That is good news from 1 Chronicles tonight.