Fri.’s Devo - God’s Plan Trumps Man’s Plan

Read: 1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17; Acts 23:11-35; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 18:14-15
First and Second Chronicles were probably written by Ezra, and the Kings were probably written by Samuel. Ezra sets David and Solomon up as a type of Moses and Joshua and looks forward to the kingdom of the Messiah. He follows the family line of David starting with Adam. Although the first 10 names in the genealogy had many sons and daughters, the first born are the only ones mentioned until it came to Noah’s children: Shem, Ham and Japheth. It is probably because through them all the nations would originate since everyone else died in the flood. Somehow they found wives and had children just like somehow Seth and Cain found a wife and had children. Japheth’s sons brought us Magog where the last battle will be fought and Ham’s sons brought us Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites and the Philistines which were all enemies of Shem’s line. Both Ham and Japheth had sons named Canaan which became the name of the land God would sent Shem’s descendent, Moses to take over many years later. Shem was Noah’s first born and from him would come Abraham and eventually the tribes of Israel and many years later, the Messiah. In verse 34, it calls the sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel instead of Esau and Jacob. Esau’s sons became the Edomites and the Amelekites which would also be enemies of Israel’s people.
Another interesting fact was that Judah’s first two sons were so wicked that God killed them. The third was not very mentionable, but Tamar’s sons Perez and Zerah were. They were birthed through trickery and lies. Judah’s line was the one that God would choose to redeem by sending his son through.
In Acts, God told Paul that he was sending him to Rome to give his testimony. Forty men made a vow not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul and told the chief priests and the elders of their vow. They involved them in a plot, but God had another plan for Paul. The Romans saved Paul and sent him that night to Rome protected by 470 armed soldiers. When they arrived at Caesarea, Paul was kept safe in Herod’s palace. I wonder if those men kept their vow and starved to death…I doubt it.
Lord, you are our deliverer and you have a plan that surpasses anything man can imagine.