Generations

Scripture

Isaiah 38: 19 “Only the living can thank you, as I am doing today. Each generation tells the next about your faithfulness”

 

Observation

In Hezekiah’s state of fear he calls out to God to give him the opportunity to continue his life for an extended period. He says that the testimony he will leave will be the legacy collected by the next generation and he wanted the chance to add to that. His prayer and cry to the Lord perhaps is a recognition of how much his life had fallen short of what he now understands as important. Perhaps his life had begun to neglect the importance of the relationship he had with God and he wanted to have more time to sharpen the intimacy of his worship. The fear of death and the loss of everything was a massive wakeup call to Hezekiah and an awakening of his spirit toward his Creator.

 

Application

Though not facing imminent death, I too need to learn from Hezekiah’s wakeup call and recognise my responsibility to pass on to the next generation the faithfulness and steadfastness of a daily walk with the Lord in my life. I need to ensure that I don’t take one moment for granted. In neglecting the Lords input into my life on a daily basis I am not only robbing myself of the Lords refining work in me but I am also devaluing the inhertiance I am leaving to my children and their children. God’s gift to me is one of generational continuance. I need to ensure that the compounding effect of my life and the testimony of God’s faithfulness within it is being constantly upgraded so that when I do come to the end of my days I can be assured that the legacy left for the next generation has been the best I could have given about His faithfulness.

 

Prayer

Lord, please forgive me when I forget my responsibility in the linkage of the generations. My life is not my own it belongs to you. I can either steward that life selfishly or allow it to be an investment within my own generation and a legacy for the generations to come.

 

Jim Jung