Sunday, May 1, 2011

Heard it from Me

O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us the work that You did in their days, in the days of old. Ps 44:1

I love it when a passage of Scripture both challenges me and thrills my heart. Much of Psalm 44 is a plea to God, begging Him to reveal Himself again and to no longer forsake His people. But, the first eight verses have a different ring – the ring of praise for what God has done and the realization that they, as God people, know what He has done because the stories have been passed down to them from generation to generation.

While my absolute favorite stories to share are the examples of how God has worked in my own life and immediate family, the stories my parents have lived are a close second. I am proud to be a part of the heritage of what God has done in their lives. It is a delight to me to know that I can pass that same heritage down to my own children, thus seeing their faith strengthened as they begin to walk their own journeys of faith.

But, in all of this lies a challenge as well. There are so many times in Scripture when it seems that God works so amazingly in one generation, but then the next generation literally falls apart as if they don’t know God at all. I firmly believe it is because the Israelites failed to talk to their children. They just proceeded on the assumption that their children would know, and they failed to actively teach. So, instead of following the amazing, almighty, wonderful God of their fathers, they turned dramatically and completely away from Him.

I am challenged to be sure that my children hear of the works of God from my lips. That they learn of His wonders from my teaching. That my story becomes their own, one which they can stand proudly on because they know that the same God is active in their lives as well. May my children one day be able to claim the words of Ps 44:1 as their own – that they heard of His wonders from me.

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