Psalms 22:4 – In You our fathers put their trust; they trusted and You delivered them. God prepares families to carry forward the legacy of godliness and walk of faith so that His name will reflect in the lives of individuals and families. Fathers and mothers are forerunners of faith and the message of their life of faith in God is passed on to their children, grandchildren and future generations. When children look at the faith of their fathers and mothers, the Spirit of God works in them to take the challenge of trusting the God of their parents, grandparents and all others who gone before them. This helps children to put their trust in the God of their fathers and walk with Him. We have the examples of fathers like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph who walked with God and learned to trust in Him. God led them forward as they put their trust in Him. Because their children followed their faith and that of their fathers, God led them also in His path. When new generations emerge, they always learn from their previous generations and walk accordingly. We find this trend in the lives of Noah, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah and their children and in the families of Joshua and Caleb. When God works in the lives of His children, He always has the next generation in His mind. It gives us great confidence that the God of our fathers and mothers is the same God who is with us today. He is faithful to lead us victoriously as He led our previous generations. We are here today because of the way God worked in their lives. It is a matter of great spiritual strength for us to know that the God who led our ancestors through tough experiences victoriously will lead us also.
Dear friend, do you realize that you are a link in God’s chain of people whom He raised up to live by faith. Whoever in that chain that put their trust in God is a great example for us to follow today. But whoever in the same chain who didn’t put their faith in God is a great warning for us to learn lessons on how not to walk in this world. We have enough generations, fathers and mothers to look back to give us light to walk forward by faith. Isaac looked back at the life of his father who found Jehovah-jireh and introduced that God to Isaac. This God became Isaac’s God also and he lived for that God all his life. In his turn, Jacob looked at both the lives of faith of Abraham and Isaac and followed that God by faith. He even dared to wrestle with God by faith and asked for true blessings. Joseph learned big lessons of faith from his father Jacob which helped him to live through the 13 years of sojourn through the pit, dungeon and the years of moral attack by the enemy. He named his children by faith just as his father Jacob named his brother Benjamin by faith, and trusted God to give him wisdom to govern Egypt in the toughest times of their national history. This faith in God helped him to be found a godly man by heathen Pharaoh and his top executives. All of these were accomplishments of faith in the God of their fathers and mothers. Today this God has become the God of our fathers and mothers who set examples of life of faith before us in strengthening us to keep going forward by trusting in His promises. Let the light that has been shed abroad in our hearts through the legacy of generations be the light that will lead us forward in these troubled times full of challenges. Let us handle these challenges by faith in the never-changing Lord who is our Jehovah-jireh.
Psalms 22:5 – (Our fathers) cried to You and were saved; In You they trusted and were not disappointed. Thought for TodayFaith of the generations who have gone before us is a light that guides us in our daily walk of faith and trust in God and His providence.
