Scripture Daily

Context No. 2082 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 13:1-5: in context

1David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. 2David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let’s send word everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have pasture lands, that they may gather themselves to us. 3Also, let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again, for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul.” 4All the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor River of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring God’s ark from Kiriath Jearim.

Newly established as king, David gathers the leaders of Israel and makes a proposal. He wants to bring back the ark of God, the sign of God's presence among his people, which had been neglected and left aside. Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, he says, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. Under Saul, the ark, and the seeking of God it represented, had been let slip; and David's resolve is to recover what had been neglected, to seek God again after a season of not seeking him.

David's words carry a quiet confession and a good resolve: we did not seek it in the days of Saul. Under the previous reign, the seeking of God had been neglected. The ark, the sign of God's presence, had been left aside; the devotion it represented had lapsed; God had gone, in a real sense, unsought. David does not merely lament this; he resolves to change it. Let us bring the ark back; let us seek God again; let us recover the devotion that had been let slip. His impulse is toward restoration, toward seeking God after a season of neglect. This speaks to seasons in our own lives when the seeking of God has lapsed. There can be times, like the days of Saul, when we have not sought God as we ought, when devotion has slipped, when the practices of seeking him have fallen away, when God has gone, in effect, unsought in our lives. And the question is what we do when we recognize it. David's example is to resolve on restoration: to seek God again, to recover the neglected devotion, to bring back what had been let slip. The recognition that we have not sought God becomes the occasion not for despair but for a fresh seeking. It is time to seek the LORD, Hosea says; and the time is whenever we recognize that we have let the seeking lapse. There is grace in this. God does not remain forever lost to those who have neglected him; when they seek him again, he is found. You will seek me and find me, he says, when you search for me with all your heart. The season of not seeking need not be permanent; it can end in a fresh resolve to seek, as David resolved to bring back the ark. This calls us to examine whether the seeking of God has lapsed in our own lives, and, where it has, to resolve on restoration. Like David, who said we did not seek God in the days of Saul and set about seeking him again, we can recognize where our devotion has slipped and resolve to seek God afresh, recovering the neglected devotion and bringing back what had been let slip, trusting that the God long unsought is found by those who seek him again with all their heart.

Has the seeking of God lapsed in my life, a season like the days of Saul in which devotion has slipped and God has gone, in effect, unsought, and can David's resolve, we did not seek it in the days of Saul, so let us bring the ark back, move me not to despair but to a fresh seeking, recovering the neglected devotion and trusting that the God long unsought is found by those who seek him again with all their heart?

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