tracing the promise (of Kings and Chronicles)

Have you ever noticed that Kings and Chronicles are similar?

Same story, same characters, different writer voice.

In fact, Chronicles repeats many of the previous books, starting in Genesis. As a young girl, I would read and wonder. Why did God repeat himself?

I was around ten years old when I overheard the answer. I was sitting in the library (my favorite place in the whole world) at the Bible School we lived at, and listened to several students discussing their recent class in Old Testament Survey. I grabbed my pink Bible and scribbled a note at the top of 1 Chronicles.

1 & 2 Kings were written to show the Israelites why they were taken into captivity. 1 & 2 Chronicles were written to trace the promise and show why God brought them out.

At ten years old, my stomach jumped at the words. Tracing the promise. I would read through the thin pages and realize it was true. Chronicles tells the redemptive story. And now, a lifetime later, I still get excited. Only today it’s even more glorious because I can trace the promise through Scripture and I’m tracing it in my life too. 

Through my sorrows, through my failures, through my sin, through my shame, and through the heart-stopping glory of my redemption. 

The promise can be traced and I tremble in humbleness.

We all may bear the history of the Kings in our past, but have you searched out the Chronicles? Have you stopped and traced His promise? It’s there.

This year, I want to make sure that I’m doing more than rehearsing my captivity. I want to take time to focus on the redemptive hand of God and the promises that have set me free.