READING:
One-year plan: 1 Chronicles 9-11
Two-year plan: Psalms 96-99, 1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11
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Disobedience to God is costly—especially for God’s people who ought to know better. God expects His people to walk in godliness, and He holds us accountable to that requirement. Today’s Old Testament reading reminds us that this expectation has always been the case, even if it reminds us in a painful way:
- “But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.” (1 Chron 9:1)
- “Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the Lord because he did not keep the Lord’s word.” (1 Chron 10:13)
There is a cost for our unfaithfulness. At the same time, though, today’s reading speaks of God’s grace in allowing His people to return to their land after exile. As one writer put it, “The passage from vv. 2–24 [ch. 9] is the story of a restored people in a restored city and land. . . . The whole history of God’s people is the story of fresh starts by God’s grace. God always picks up the broken pieces and puts them together again.”*
This story is thus a story of forgiveness and grace. That story, of course, continues into the New Testament, where we read of God’s coming Himself in Jesus to redeem us. We are sinners, but we are forgiven.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you grateful for new beginnings God grants?
PRAYER: “Thank You, God, for picking up our broken pieces.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: 1 Chronicles 12-16
Two-year plan: Psalms 100-102, 1 Corinthians 6:12-7:7
MEMORIZATION VERSE (May 1-15):
“Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples.!” (1 Chron 16:8)
*Thompson, J. A. (1994). 1, 2 Chronicles (Vol. 9, p. 107). Broadman & Holman Publishers.