Sons of Issachar

      I was listening to my Bible on cd in the car the other day when a verse in I Chronicles 12:32 jumped out at me. While talking about the Israelites who joined David, the text says:

      “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.”

      This stood out to me because when the author referred to the others who joined David, he referred to their valor in battle.

      The Benjamites were men who could use both their left and right hands to sling stones and shoot arrows (I Chronicles 12:2). The Gadites were mighty men of valor, trained for war, who could handle sword and spear (I Chronicles 12:8). The Manassites were all mighty men of valor and captains in the army (I Chronicles 12:21). The Zebulunites could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons (I Chronicles 12:33).

      But the men of Issachar were men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

      That is powerful. That is what we need today.

      We need Christians who understand the times, with knowledge of what Christ’s church should do.

      We need to see the two sides of this and we need to use both of them.

      Today, people go to extremes. There are some who are so interested in “what works within our culture” that they never go back to the Bible to make sure what the church is doing is scripturally authorized. On the other hand, there are some who are so biblically based that they never translate what they read in the Bible to doing anything with the gospel in our world. We need both.

      We need to find that middle ground in which the Bible world intersects with our world. We need to be students of the Word who learn what Christ’s church should do. As I Timothy 3:15 says, the scripture was written so we would know how to conduct ourselves in God’s church.

      At the same time, we need to recognize the times in which we live. Not that the times change the message of the gospel or what is authorized. However, the times affect the methods we use to present that message. The times affect what we can expect from people who are not Christians.

      What do we need today? We need people like those from all the other tribes. We need Christians who will just get in the trenches and do the work. We need Christians who will draw up in battle formation and take on the devil.

      Leading the way, however, we need people like the sons of Issachar who understand the times and have knowledge of what Christ’ church should do.

Edwin L. Crozier