He Tangata. 1 Chronicles

The first chapters of 1 Chronicles are some of those genealogies that make my eyes glaze over. In fact, this whole book contains the highest proportion of names that I've seen in any text outside a phone book. Every so often you'll get to one that you recognize: Look, there's Boaz who married Ruth, or there's Caleb who spied out the land. But mainly they seem to be unknowns, who lived out their lives without much hue or cry. Yet this was enough to be included in "all Israel", God's people. Because people matter. An old Maori proverb goes: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!" What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people!

Now I don't know if this is exactly how it went down, but maybe David got to a point where he decided 'I don't care about the individuals any more; I just want to find out how many people there are'. Maybe that's why God' response was 'When you reduce the people you are leading to just a number, you're missing the point', and he sent pestilence as punishment.

Many bible stories focus on the big personalities, the movers and shakers, like the judges or the kings. Chronicles shows the worth and even the necessity of the 'ordinary' folk. Those who work the pastures and raise their families during the span of the genealogies. Those who sing and play instruments. The workmen: 'stonecutters, masons, carpenters and all kinds of craftsmen'. Those 'having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy'. Those whose role was to 'assist with the showbread, the flour, the wafer, the baked offering'. Those who kept the gates, and those who kept the money, and those who kept the divisions of soldiers in order (and those soldiers themselves). All these people and more served God. In fact, 'every willing man with skill in any kind of service' was of service the Solomon, God's king.

So then, how can we hold back the skills that we have? David prays 'For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you'. This 'all things' refers to both the talents of money, and the talents of skill. We can offer what we have no matter how small or large we think it is, for the service of God and people.

One more application: We can pray for, thank and encourage those who are serving faithfully behind the scenes in church and in the community, living 'ordinary' lives for an extraordinary God.