A Ramble through the Cemetery

I've begun my study of 1 Chronicles.  That's a chore in itself for the first 9 chapters are the genealogies of Israel.....so many names!  so hard to pronounce!

Yet today I am challenged by this verse:  "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  2 Timothy 3:16.

The genealogies are part of Scripture and are, yes, useful.  On this trip through 1 Chronicles,  I am purposefully reading each name as if it were engraved on a tombstone...


  In my imagination I get up early and walk to the cemetery.  The grass is still dewy.  The dawn's light is glinting over the horizon and onto the old weathered white stones.  I stroll among the stones, pausing at a few.  Some stones have well-worn paths around them as many have stopped to pay their respects:  Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Saul, David, Solomon.  

Most though are rarely visited; the grass has grown up tall as to almost obscure them from sight.  I use my boot to tramp down the foliage to read the name that has been preserved for all generations.  

So and so, Jr.

the son of 

So and So, Sr.  

So many have similar names.  A very few have epitaphs:  "brave warrior"  "entrusted with baking the bread"  "fighting men ready for war"  "unfaithful to God"  "outstanding leader"  "found rich, good pasture"  "killed by natives"  "had only daughters"

I ask aloud, "Why are these marked with epitaphs while most aren't?"  

I listen for an answer.  None comes.  My mind searches for clarity and finds this:  For some reason God wants me to know something about these people that I consider trivial.   To God, the lives of these people is not the stuff of trivia; every life has significance.  That's it, isn't it, God?

Finding comfort and satisfaction in that sudden illumination, I walk lazily to the dusty path that leads out of the cemetery.  I wonder to myself, "Will my stone have an epitaph?  I'd like it to say 'God's servant'  .... no, maybe something more prestigious....but then, I can't think of anything more prestigious.  That's it, right, God?"

Amidst the crunch of stones under each boot step, my heart hears a whisper, "Yes to both....but keep looking; there's more."

The answer to the questions of my heart won't be answered here today;  I'll have to talk to God on my walk back home.  At the gate, I turn and gaze in each direction at the stones in the various family sections of the cemetery.  I'm sorry I don't have time to look at each grave today.   When I come back another time, I'll smile at each name and say, "your name and the life it represents is important to God."   

The soft morning breeze carries a whisper to me, "Each life matters to Me.  That's why I gave My Son."  



I'm compelled to keep looking for all the usefulness in these and other seemingly trivial chapters.
He is training me in righteousness.  That statement humbles me.  I'm important enough to Him that He is training me....right now...He hasn't given up on me!  I'm so thankful!!!