Exhortation Station

The other day I was reading in 1 Chronicles about King David’s army and came across an intriguing passage.  Let’s dig in.

1 Chronicles 12:32,33,38 — “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command. ³³ Of Zebulun, there were 50,000 who went out in the army, who could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and helped David with an undivided heart… ³⁸ All these, being men of war who could draw up in battle formation, came to Hebron with a perfect heart to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to make David king.”

Notice it says the sons of Issachar were “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.”  About the sons of Zebulun, it says they “helped David with an undivided heart.”  In verse 38, we read that all the men of war who could draw up in battle formation came together “with a perfect heart to make David king.”  To me, these verses speak to what kind of warriors we should be as we seek to serve the One True King and Creator of the universe.

The verse about the sons of Issachar was particularly impactful to me, and it got me thinking about a passage in 1 Thessalonians.  Let’s read…

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 — “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. ² For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. ³ While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. ⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; ⁵ for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; ⁶ so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹ For Elohim has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Yahshua Messiah, ¹⁰ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

Read verse 3 again.  The cry of “peace and safety!” is all around us.  This false peace seeks to undermine the reality of sin and the need for repentance.  True peace, on the other hand, comes only when we recognize our sin and our need of a Savior — Yahshua Messiah.

Brothers and sisters, we need to recognize the times we are in.  May we not be lulled to sleep!  May we be like the sons of Issachar, understanding the times so that we may know what our response should be as warriors of Yahweh.  May we be like the sons of Zebulun, serving our King with an undivided heart.  May we be like the sons of Israel in 1 Chronicles 12:38, drawing up in battle formation and coming together with a perfect heart to proclaim Yahweh and His Son Yahshua as King!

(All Bible passages NASB; emphasis and Hebrew transl. added.)