God Chooses Whom He Chooses

I was reading in 1 Chronicles earlier this evening. While I doubt any of you are saying, “Oh, yes, one of my favorite books!” I did find some nuggets buried among all the genealogy. :)

In 1 Chronicles 5 we have the history of the sons of Reuben. The first thing that caught my attention in this passage was in the first two verses.

“1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. 2 Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph).” 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 (emphasis added)

To understand this, we need to refer back to Genesis 35:22 and Genesis 49:4.

“22 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.” Genesis 35:22

“4 'Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father's bed;
Then you defiled it--he went up to my couch.'” Genesis 49:4

We do not know what led up to Reuben, Israel’s (Jacob’s) first-born son having a relationship with Bilhah. Bilhah was Rachel’s maid and one of Israel’s two concubines. Since Rachel was having difficulty in conceiving while her sister was freely producing sons for their husband, Rachel had “given” her maid to her husband as a concubine, just as Sarah had given her maid, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, when she believed she would never be able to provide him with a child. Bilhah bore two sons to Israel, Dan & Naphtali.

Whatever the events leading up to the act, the sin was committed. “Israel heard of it” and the Holy Spirit saw that it was recorded in Scripture. That one sinful act, dishonoring both his father and Bilhah, cost Reuben his “preeminence” – the rights bestowed on the first-born son.

We sometimes seem to believe that God doesn’t really care about what we do day to day – or that in His “grace” He will overlook our sin. Not so!

There have been too many times over the past few years of the secret deeds done by men of God in places of “preeminence” being brought to the light for all to see and know. As with Reuben, these things always exact a price – whatever “preeminence” the individual had, it is stripped from them.

There have been many sensing and expressing that there is more exposure to come. God is intent on having a pure Bride for His Son. The five-fold ministry is specifically tasked with assisting in bringing Her to maturity. Those within the five-fold ministry, and particularly those in key (or preeminent) leadership positions, who are themselves living impure lives need to hear and heed this warning. Get it straight – or know that the time is coming when it will be exposed.

But there is another point here that is also interesting to me.

When Reuben lost the privilege of the first-born birthright, it did not simply pass to the second-born son, Simeon. Instead, it passed to the sons of Joseph, which means the grandsons of Israel.

We know that both Israel and God favored, Joseph. We know that Israel favored him because he was the first born of Israel’s first love, Rachel. But we do not know why God favored him – any more than we know why God favored David over his brothers or why God “highly favored” Mary above all other women to be the mother of His Son.

Have you ever looked at someone that God has obviously “favored” (anointed in a special way, caused to be favored by both believers and non-believers, placed in a key position, etc.) and wondered, “why did God pick them?” (Be honest! I have – and I’m pretty sure at least most of you have as well. :)

I’ve learned over the years to simply take a step back and realize that God is Sovereign. He gets to choose whom He wants to choose.

He chose Abram while he was in a heathen land to send out of that land to a land he knew nothing about, including not even knowing where it was, promising to give it to him. He chose Isaac over Ishmael. He chose Joseph to be the deliverer of not only his family but the nations of the world at that time. He chose Moses over Aaron to be the deliverer of His people. He chose Saul, the son of Kish, from the smallest family of the smallest tribe in Israel to be the first king. Then, when Saul lost the favor of God due to direct sin (there’s that theme again – God will judge sin in His leaders), God’s favor was passed to David, the youngest of the sons of Jesse. And the list goes on …

Lest we think this was simply an “Old Covenant thing,” let’s take a look in the New Testament. Jesus chose the 12 to be His disciples. (He even chose Judas knowing what he would do in the end.) Out of them, He chose three – Peter, James & John – to be His inner circle and get special times with Him that the others did not. Yet, when it came time to establish the church in its early days, it was James (the brother of Jesus, not the disciple/apostle) that was selected by God to head the council of elders in Jerusalem. And we can’t forget Saul, turned Paul. God picked one of the worst human enemies of the early church to become one of His greatest ambassadors.

Yes, God chooses whom He chooses.

He sometimes even chooses the unrighteous and gives them favor and preeminence to do His tasks for Him. That's a teaching for another day ...