10 days ago, I wrote about some struggles I was facing in trying to do my daily readings through 1 & 2 Chronicles. I think the standard quiet time method (pray-read a chapter-think-pray) doesn’t really work that well, especially for books like these!

A week before starting 1 & 2 Chronicles, I’d also decided to read about 10 Psalms a day. Not as a super-spiritual thing, I just wanted to go on a whirlwind tour through the Psalms. I hadn’t read them for a while and didn’t really feel like spending 150 days reading them.

Something really interesting happened: I noticed some really similar things going on. It turns out that the major focus of Chronicles is the temple and Israel’s worship of God. The Psalms fill out that picture: it’s the prayers and songs that were a big part of that worship. A phrase keeps occurring in both Chronicles and Psalms:

He is good; his love endures forever. 2 Chronicles 7:3

His love endures forever. Psalm 136, every verse.

Wow. Such a strong, consistent reminder of God’s love! Especially considering that Chronicles was written after the exodus and return to Israel, perhaps with the intent of telling the newly returned Israelites how good things were in days gone by. To inspire a bit of Jewish Nationalism, and get them motivated to rebuild the temple and restore the right worship of God. After all of their sin, all of the punishment of exile, the journey back home … His love endures forever.

The thing is, I think we expect too much from our quiet times. We expect that for every chapter I read, a fresh, new insight into something of God will become clear to us. But I just don’t see the Old Testament working that way. It seems to me that as I get the drift of a whole book, the main ‘lesson’ becomes clear. But only as we read in big chunks. For me, that’s meant about 12-13 chapters (10 Psalms, 2-3 chapters of Chronicles) a day. I’ve probably over-done it with the amount of Psalms, so perhaps this is how quiet times in Chronicles could work:

  1. Pray for insight, understanding.
  2. Read 2-3 chapters of Chronicles. Look for when one ‘episode’ ends and another begins. 1 Chronicles has a lot of names and lists. Skim read the names, but pay attention to their roles.
  3. Read about 5 Psalms, especially around ‘Books II and III’ – Psalms 42-89. Think of them as the things being prayed and sung as the events of Chronicles are unfolding. Pay attention to the opening remarks of each Psalm, such as ‘A psalm of Asaph.’ He’s in the Chronicles.
  4. Think about how the Psalms fill out the picture of Chronicles. Try to put yourself in the shoes of one of God’s people in that time at that place, and then as one of God’s people after the exile. Be inspired by what God did at the heights of your history with David and Solomon.
  5. Listen to the big theme: even though things are not like that now, God is good; his love endures forever.
  6. Pray. Thank him for his love expressed completely in Jesus. Thank him for his love through all the time that’s passed since then. Thank him for the hope of an even better future.
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