WHO ARE YOU?

In my scripture reading, I am currently bogged down in a list of names that spans 9 Chapters (I Chronicles 1-9). In times like these, I wonder what is the benefit of reading such scriptures. I know that "all scripture is God-breathed and useful...", but what good can come from trudging through a list of names, most of whom have no other information about them. One benefit is that I like the idea of our second son having a name that has a good meaning in Hebrew, so these chapters have plenty to choose from. It's just too bad that most of them are names like Bakbakkar, Ebiasaph, and Meshelemiah. Occasionally I come across one like Caleb, that not only sounds good, but whose character was an outstanding one. Unfortunately, in Caleb's case, his name is literally translated, "DOG". Two other possible meanings are "fat" and "milk". Why couldn't Caleb mean, "The Lord is my Rock".
Apart from name ideas, there is a benefit to reading this list. First and Second Chronicles was written after the exile. It contains many of the same stories as First and Second Samuel and First and Second Kings, except this account focuses only on Judah, the Southern Kingdom, the kingdom that was continuously ruled by a son of David.
Chronicles was written to people who had just returned from foreign lands, serving foreign kings and learning about foreign religions. In Exile, they were the fringe folk, the outcasts. They had no history, no roots, and no anchor. For 70 years they lived this way, but now they have returned. They have come back to the place where they belong. But though they were in their homeland, they didn't know who they were. I Chronicles gives them their roots back, it provides them with an anchor. Not only were they given their identity as a race, but their identity as God's people.
Do you know who you are? What is your identity? Can you look back through your geneology and see a people who have been shaped by God? Even if you can't, you will be able to trace a spiritual geneology. Look through the Bible to see how God worked through the lives of countless millions, and see how the faith of Abraham has been passed down through the millinea to you.