#DailyDevotion Be Faithful & Hand Down The Faith To Your Children
Psalm 78 My people, listen to my instruction; pay attention to what I say. 2I will open my mouth with a parable and speak of the ancient mysteries 3that we have heard and known and our fathers told us; 4we’ll not hide them from their children but will tell the next generation about the LORD’s wonderful deeds, His power and the marvelous things He did:
This Psalm is a recounting of the history of Israel from their time in Egypt until the LORD set up David as king. The Psalmist is doing what God commanded the Israelites to do while they were in the wilderness, to teach the children their heritage, how the LORD delivered them from the Egyptians, gave them His Law and Covenant, and brought them into the Holy Land.
The Church in a sense continues this practice using the Church year and the lectionary. We recall the life of Christ from Advent through Easter. Then we recall all that Jesus has taught us from Pentecost until Advent. We too are called to share the mysteries of our faith with our children so they may grow up in it. If we do not do this, we fail them and they will fall into the same failings the Israelites did as depicted in this Psalm.
how 5He established the truth in Jacob and set up the law in Israel, how He ordered our fathers to teach their children, 6so a coming generation would know it; 7and children yet to be born might grow up and tell their children to to trust in God and not forget the things God did, but do what He ordered. 8They should not be stubborn and rebellious like their fathers, whose hearts didn’t stand firm, whose spirits were unfaithful to God. 9Ephraim’s men, armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle. 10They hadn’t kept God’s covenant and refused to live as He ordered. 11They forgot what He did and His wonders that He showed them.
He recalls how the LORD set up truth and the Torah (law) in Israel to teach the children all the LORD had taught and given them. The purpose of this is so they did not forget what God had done for them and so they would be faithful and obedient to the LORD. The Psalmist is doing this so they would not be stiff-necked and hardhearted like their fathers were. The LORD promised He would lead Israel in battle and defeat all their enemies. However, when the LORD brought them to the Promised Land, the people of Israel feared the inhabitants of the land and did not take it. Because of this they wandered in the wilderness until all the men over 20 died before the LORD would take the Israelites back to the Holy Land to take it.
Do we as the Church stand firm on the promises of God? In our ignorance, did we not understand what our parents were doing when they brought us to Church regularly and brought us to confirmation so we may be instructed by the LORD? In response to this, we have often stiffened our necks and made pronouncements, “I will not do that to my kids!” So because of the hardness of our hearts and the stiffness of our necks, we were not faithful to what we had been taught. We exhibited faithlessness to our children. They learned the lesson well and when they were set loose, they doubled down on our unfaithfulness and quit going all together. Will we or they enter the Promised Land?
If we wish to enter eternal life, if we wish our children to enter into eternal life, then we must be faithful to all the LORD Jesus Christ has taught us. We can only remain in the faith if we take to heart the LORD’s teachings in the Church from His mouth pieces, the pastor, live it out in our lives and partake of the means of grace. Then our children will follow us in our faith and enter paradise.
Merciful God and Father, give us Your Holy Spirit so we may open our ears, hear Your word, trust in Christ, and live out His life in our own so we and our children may be faithful to you and enter the Kingdom of Your Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.