The Next Generation
Read Psalm 71:14-18 NIV
As for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
of your saving acts all day long—
though I know not how to relate them all.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your mighty acts to all who are to come.
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Deuteronomy chapter 6. In this chapter we find the Israelites finally ready to enter the land that God had promised them, but before they do God has some final instructions for them. Moses gathers the whole community together. I mean everyone – from the youngest to the oldest -and he reminds them of all that God has done for them and his commandments. And then he lays out a plan to ensure that faith in God for them as an entire community gets passed on from generation to generation. It is a simple and beautiful depiction of faith lived out in everyday ways and shared so that the next generation benefits from the previous generations.
…if only they would have heeded Moses’ advice. As we read on in Scripture, we see that the Israelites must have had short memories because generations later they were a people who had largely forgotten all that God had done and whole generations knew nothing of God’s faithfulness.
Now it could be easy for us to shake our heads and wonder how they got it so wrong. But maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to point a finger – after all, someone looking at our history from a birds eye view could probably say the same about us.
It is easy to let the busyness of life or even the differences between generations keep us from having conversations across generations about what faith really looks like. But I believe that God calls us to the same thing He called those Israelites to so many years ago. He calls us to live out faith in front of the next generation, walking beside them, pointing out God’s power and goodness along the way, and helping them to live a faith that they can call their own.
When we think along those lines, the words at the end of today’s passage become our prayer and part of living out our own faith as we seek to be apprentices of Jesus. So, today in light of that desire to follow Jesus and be His apprentice, what questions do you need to ask yourself about how you respond to the next generation?
Whom has God placed in my life to walk beside as they learn to follow Jesus?
Where have I overlooked my responsibility to the next generation?
What can I learn from the next generation about God and following Jesus?
Where can I step in to help lead the next generation?
