Lord God, we thank You that all of scripture is inspired or literally God-breathed. We thank You for pointing us to the Gospel message even in seemingly uninteresting and uninspiring lists of names. We confess our ignorance before Your matchless wisdom and we acknowledge that the names on these lists were neither uninteresting nor uninspiring to their original hearers and readers.
We know that we can name most people groups of the world among the names found in this chapter. Some of them are still around today while others have had their names erased completely. As earthly nations, kingdoms, and empires are built up and torn apart, help us to see that Your redemptive plans are eternal and will prevail.
We thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving us all unique gifts, cultures, and preferences. May our diversity point to You, the Source of endless creativity. Strengthen us in your power to be mighty in using our many gifts before You. Remind us that not being faithful to use the gifts that You have given us is just as bad as using them to build our own kingdoms. May we steward our gifts, our cultures, and our preferences to build our Lord Jesus’s kingdom instead.
Holy Spirit, all through Your word, You have been pointing us to Your eternal plan of many being saved because of the righteousness of one person. Remind us that no ordinary human being meets that standard of righteousness. Prevent us from putting people up on pedestals, placing unnecessary pressures on them, and setting ourselves up to be disappointed in them.
May we be wise enough to see Your plan of salvation eventually unfolded in the perfect righteousness of One Person, our Lord Jesus. Remind us that He is the ultimate Conqueror who overcame the world. He did this by laying down His own life for us rather than enslaving people to Himself. He alone never disappoints!
Father, Son, and Spirit, may we clearly see that the plan of Your Good News to redeem all the nations of the world is a wide open invitation for all who believe that Jesus is Lord!
