Heritage

Ps. 78:8

...and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

 

 

Reading a verse like this makes me think of the heritage that I leave for the next generation. What do they see? Do they see my heart and my actions? How do they interpret what I do? Has communication been established so that my most important thoughts and attitudes can be shared? How can I bridge the generational gap and open a window of communication, or is it mainly through life style? Certainly, it makes it so very important that what I say and what I do are the same.

When I think of Israel on the wilderness walk, their actions were blatant. There was no disconnect between what they did and what they thought or believed. How horrible for them to have their life style be long remembered as something to avoid. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were...We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did...We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did...nor grumble, as some of them did...Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction [I Cor. 10]
 

This is certainly not  Ps. 145:4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts, or Ps. 79:13 But we the people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give thanks to You forever; from generation to generation we will recount Your praise, or Ps. 71:17-18 O God, from my youth You have taught me, and I still proclaim Your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim Your might to another generation, Your power to all those to come, or Ps. 92:12-15 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.God has clearly given me a mission and a purpose, to stay faithful to Him to the end, to speak of Him and recount His wondrous works, and to show that the Lord is the same Lord from one generation to the next generation. Old age doesn't mean uselessness in God's economy, it means the link for the most vital communication there is!

Father,
Show me how to recount Your wondrous deeds to the next generation. Make me life transparent for You having my thoughts and attitudes be the same as my actions. Help me remember and treasure all Your mighty deeds. Let them fill my spirit.
In His name,
Amen