Praise in the Geneologies? Hmmmm....

Dear Jesus - My first blog post ever and it is only fitting it is on Praise!  I praise You from Whom all blessings truly flow...

1 Chronicles 5:2 -..yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s— (NKJV)

Judah prevailed over his brothers in relation to the leadership of the family.  Reuben was biologically the firstborn and certain rights were implied him due to his place as firstborn.  However, his sin with Bilhah the concubine resulted in the forfeiture of those rights.  This specific verse details that the leadership of the family devolved onto Judah which is interesting in that you may recall Judah was actually the 4th born son of Jacob.   But is there something for me in this verse?  Does this verse show me Jesus? 


Always I want to look for Jesus in my Bible passage.  And always I want to ask Him to show me the application to my personal and specific life.  Sometimes when reading the genealogies of the Bible this can feel like a huge challenge.  Frequently I turn to the study technique of name definitions to help me out. 

Go back to Genesis and look at the circumstances of the birth of each of Jacob's sons.  In Genesis 29 & 30 we find the stories of the births of each son except Benjamin who was the youngest.  Here we can jot down the sentence uttered with each child and then the name of the child. What spoke to me this morning is that Judah prevailed over everyone for leadership. Looking at the definition of his name this can be stated another way: 'Praise' prevailed over everyone for leadership.   OK - but let's dig a little deeper.  What does this really tell me?

The 3 brothers ahead of Judah in line in the family were Reuben, Simeon and Levi.  Looking at the sentences associated with their names (in the NKJV) and connecting that to our sentence above - you get something like this: Praise prevailed over my affliction, over the sense I have of being 'unloved' and over the disunity I feel in ________. (Fill in the blank:God, my family, my spouse, my kids, etc...) Isn't that AMAZING?!

Better yet - TASTE AND SEE!   Test it!  For the situation in your life that fits these criteria - immediately go to PRAISE and see if it makes a difference.

I have - it is mind/life changing.   One day - in the car - brain going faster than the car.   Ooops - go to PRAISE.   Uh - what?!  OK - started repeating the Doxology as it was the only 'praise words' I could think of.   Gradually this morphed into more praise.  The discipline of moving my brain into praise to God was and continues to be transformational.

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow! Happy Monday!