Through the Word in 2020 #66 - July 2 / A Gold Nugget in the Rubble

Slogging through 1 Chronicles can be a chore. Verse after verse of hard to pronounce names that we have no other reference to. It all seems a little pointless. And yet, God has seen to it to have it written down for us. And then, sifting though it all, we suddenly stumble on some gold that’s been buried there. Gold we do not get unless we dig for it. Digging for gold in difficult passages is part of seeking God in every part of His Word. I’m Reid Ferguson, and we’ll look at one of those nuggets today on Through the Word in 2020.

Philippians 1:19–2:11; Psalm 107; Luke 4:14–30; and 1 Chronicles 7:14–9:34. Those are the sections before us today. And the person I’d like to note for a moment comes up in vs. 31 of 1 Chronicles 9 - Mattithiah. His name comes up 8 times in Scripture - most often in lists. We know very little about him beyond the mention of him in today’s text. But if you run over the mention too quickly, you’ll miss something precious.

Mattithiah, the text says, was one of the Levites. And as one of the exiles who came back to Jerusalem in the first wave of those returning from Babylon, he entered back into service. Now the Temple had been destroyed in the seige some 70 years earlier. But it appears the Levites erected something like the old wilderness Tabernacle to carry out the worship ordinances until a new temple could be built.

Mattithiah had his part in that. The text says that he “was entrusted with making the flat cakes.” Those cakes were part of the daily sacrifices to be offered before the Lord as prescribed back in Leviticus 6.

And what is the point of all this?

This man's job in serving God was simply to bake the bread of the offerings. But it is important. Look at the careful wording. It does not simply mention his baking the bread - it says he was "entrusted" to bake the bread.

The smallest service among God's people is a sacred trust. And oh, that each of us would take whatever we contribute to the service of God’s people that way - as a sacred trust. That we would carry out whatever task we might be “entrusted” with as a holy responsibility - and not just busy work.

That we would understand the importance God places upon each of us bringing our service before Him. That we would grasp the seriousness with which we ought to approach any task that contributes to the body of Believers and the worship of God before the World.

The Father takes it seriously enough, to inscribe this otherwise unknown and obscure character in the eternal pages of holy writ. He takes no less notice of your efforts.

Heavenly Father, may I be one you can entrust with such things. With anything. May I never consider anything done in your name trivial, tedious or easily neglected - if in even the smallest way it contributes to the right worship of your name in the earth. And may you find me faithful in it.

Something to consider today Christian.

God bless. And God willing, we’ll be back tomorrow.