“O God, we have heard it with our own ears— our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago:” Psalms 44:1 NLT
The descendants of Korah give us a generational perspective, “our ancestors.” There were stories, there were songs of God’s intervention and advancement. And, the current generation were able to summarize, “God did this for us!” Their greats and grands passed on these markers in history. It is really important to get the God story of history down straight and to pass it on in tact so that future children will have their own stories to tell.
“You drove out the pagan nations by your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. You crushed their enemies and set our ancestors free. They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them.”
And they surmised that God did all of this for our elders because He loved them! These memoirs and stories also gave them their own faith and courage to face current struggles and battles. “You are my King and my God. You command victories for Israel. Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me. You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies; you disgrace those who hate us. O God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name.”
Is there no room, no opportunity to share our elder’s God stories today? I’m not talking about the price of milk, gas or houses! I’m talking about moves of God. Times of supernatural, national or global sweeps of God’s spirit. Where God changes the trajectory of human history. Where are those stories? Are they in our songs of old, hidden in our hymns? Are they passed down from one generation to another through testimony of God’s great mercy and grace. Maybe that’s where these current generations have lost hope? They have not been handed the stories of how and when God has worked in the past.
Prayer
Dad,
I feel old, but not too old to remember how you’ve worked miracles in my lifetime. I wonder what stories we (now an older generation) tell our children and grandchildren of you working in our world. My world of the nineteen sixties through the new millennium. Even a forty year span of what you’ve done, how you’ve showed up. I wonder if I have done my part in deeply thinking of the past and how to communicate it today.