Wednesday, August 21, 2024
My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth. I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past — things we have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us. We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed. Psalm 78:1-4
Tell the Future Generations
Psalm 78 is a Messianic Psalm on the goodness and kindness of God to His stubborn and rebellious people. It was written by Asaph, a great musician and singer, as well as a prophet. He began by asking for the attention of God’s people so they would hear the wisdom in what he was saying. Asaph urged the people to never again be unbelieving of God and His faithfulness. In that attempt to remember always was a charge to tell the future generations of God’s praiseworthy acts, His might, and the wondrous works He has performed. Asaph’s message to them is one for us as well: Keep remembering God’s story and keep telling God’s story.
Asaph reminded them of experiences from Moses to David (Psalm 78:1-10), to the Israelites wandering through the wilderness (Psalm 78:9-41). He wanted them to look back and remember what they went through. In Psalm 78:35 it says They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their Redeemer. They remembered that he was their rock, and they remembered that when they were rebellious, He had compassion on them. But they deceived him with their mouths, they lied to him with their tongues, their hearts were insincere toward him, and they were unfaithful to his covenant. Yet he was compassionate; he atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often turned his anger aside and did not unleash all his wrath. v36-38
Now more than ever it is so hard to know who to listen to. It doesn’t seem we can trust the news and sadly many young people are getting wrong information from social media platforms. They trust Tik-Tok more than they do the Bible. The believe people on social media they don’t know or know anything about over their parents or teachers at school or church. It is so important that we teach our children the truth about God before they start listening to others. We may not be able to stop them from listening to the wrong sources when they get older, but we can make sure that we put the truth of God and His story in their hearts and minds first.
We have a responsibility to make sure we pass the faith on to the next generation – to teach them the truth and about God’s faithfulness. Even if you don’t have children, you may have nieces or nephews, etc. Maybe you teach a class. Maybe your children are grown, and you have grandchildren. You have an influence in their lives. By hearing our own true-life experiences of how God worked in our lives, they will recognize His work in their own lives one day. His story is ongoing and made up of remembering what He has done for us and for others in the past, what He is doing right now, and what He will do in the future.
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Exodus 6:6-7
