Thurs.’s Devo - The Sons of Israel

Read: 1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40; Acts 27:1-20; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 18:22 I love genealogies and could spend all day looking up the meanings of the names but since I don’t have all day, I’ll share a few. Issachar means “he will bring a reward”. His four son’s names mean: “scarlet,” “travail,” “he will return,” and “a guardian”. Issachar was all about knowing the times he was in and seeing with spiritual eyes. Our reward is found in the blood of Jesus, his intercession for us and the fact that he will return for us. Right now he is our guardian. Benjamin means “son of the right hand”. The names of his three sons mean “swallowing,” “a runner in a race,” and “he will be made known of God.” Benjamin stands for the Church who will swallow the truth, run the race and be made known of God. Ephraim means “double fruitful” which represents the overcomes. He had two sons whose names mean “freshly appointed” and “hail”. They were murdered by the men of Gath over some cattle. Ephraim had another son whose name means “in trouble” to describe the ways things were. Ephraim’s descendants include Joshua who lead Israel into Canaan. Asher means “happy”. He had four sons whose names mean “prosperity,” “he will level,” “he will justify me,” “in trouble,” and “flowing with out friction”. I would be happy too. God has promised us all these things: prosperity, his sovereignty, his justice when we are in trouble and his ability to flow freely in the spirit in the midst of great friction. What I found really interesting was that Saul’s line came from the Gibeonites who he, in his zeal killed. The demanded his sons as payback. The Gibeonites were the enemies that tricked Joshua into making a covenant with him. When he found out they were ones God had told him to destroy, Joshua made them the slaves. God called Saul out of this family to be the people’s choice for their king. In Acts, Paul, along with many of his friends were put on a ship for Rome. They faced bad weather along the way. God showed Paul that if they continued they would face shipwreck and the loss of the ship and their cargo. The captain of the ship thought it would be better to keep going than to stop at a harbor that wasn’t safe. He should have listened to Paul because everything happened as Paul predicted. Lord, thank you that we don’t walk aimlessly, but we have your Spirit that helps us flow in the midst of great friction.