January 9, 2020 -- Psalm 119:90 -- God's Generation to Generation Faithfulness
/Your faithfulness endures to all generations,
you have established the earth and it stands fast.
Psalm 119:90 English Standard Version
The Hebrew language reads: “to generation after generation your faithfulness endures”. There is an emphasis on the fact that each generation will perceive the blessedness of the Living God Who established the earth.
“One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4 English Standard Version
This is the work of each generation—to declare to the next the glory of God. The most important work we have is to make sure our children know God. There is an intimacy to this. It is not a matter of knowing God intellectually. It is not a matter of knowing God as the One my parents worshipped. Those of us who know God have a sacred trust to communicate what we know of God to the next generation. One generation declares the goodness of God and the next takes hold of this faith and as it grows and develops in them they in turn speak the glory and goodness of God to the next generation.
Too many of our generation have the wrong focus with regards to their children. They desire that their children have it easier than they did financially so much of life is focused on teaching financial security. The children learn money is most important. Others desire that their children be connected with all the family—family is most important. So every Christmas and Easter, birthday and anniversary becomes a time when the family gathers and this gathering trumps church attendance, taking precedence over worship and meditating on the Living God. What have you been making your life’s great focus? Is it sports? Hunting? Fashion? Friendship? Ask yourself this, when I die, will it be said of me at my funeral: “He loved the LORD wholeheartedly”? At your eulogy, will your friend rise up and say, “The praise of the LORD was ever on her lips, if you really wanted to know her, you would need to know her deep and abiding love for her Savior.”
Those who regularly read these devotions will know of my dedication to declaring the glory of God as it is revealed in creation. The LORD created the heavens and the earth in six, 24-hour days. The beauty of creation declares her Maker’s glory. Evolution cannot do this. There is not syncretism possible between the creation of God and billions of years. These are mutually exclusive. The more one examines the creation the more one sees the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit at work. Evolutionists’ religion requires that there is no god, that nothing created itself. That is the core belief of that faith.
In sharp contrast, Christians know the faithfulness of the Living God. In the depths of eternity past, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit determined to create the heavens and the earth. The Father declared that He would be the Source of every good gift. Christ prepared to be the sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world. The Spirit would take the deep and mysterious things of the Father and the Son and make these known to all who believe.
Fellow believer, meditate on the things of God. Let the glory of God be your joy and your song. Determine now that you will share your faith with the next generation. Parents to your children, friends to your dear friends, teaching the faithfulness of God. In the act of teaching, our joy-filled believing is deepened. As we speak, we confirm our steadfast confidence in God. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ—earnestly pray that the word of God will live richly in the thought-life of your children and in the life of those around you. Married or single, our greatest legacy is knowing we have communicated the great and glorious truth of the Triune God’s faithfulness to the next generation.
Thank You, faithful Father in heaven, for those who shared with us the glory of knowing You. Thank You, Spirit of God, for those—teachers, parents, grandparents, friends and sometimes even near strangers—whom You placed in our lives who so diligently and devotedly shared their love for Jesus Christ. Thank You, Living God, for the faith You stirred to life in our generation. With the writer of this psalm we rejoice in knowing You and long for the joy of all true believing to be communicated to our children and their children. It is our fervent prayer that our friends and nieces and nephews will bless You. Forgive us for the times we have neglected our life’s most important mission of making You known. Rekindle in us a holy zeal to share—with everyone in every place—the truth that You are faithful, glorious and worthy. Amen.
