Listen

He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

Psalm 78:5-7

Think

“Trust but verify,” my high school physics teacher told us. Of course he was talking about lab results, but his words have broad application.

Have you ever imagined having children some day and considered how you would hope to raise them up? It will probably include some ways you were brought up in your family and perhaps also ways intentionally different. As we grow, we trust and verify. We test the wisdom and values we receive from our families against our own experiences. Some of it holds true and works for us, and some of it does not. If we become parents someday, we will try to impart what we have learned and the values we hold to our own children. The cycle begins anew.

In this psalm, the writer points to the faithfulness of generations, to the wisdom passed down. It is the day-to-day, year-to-year experience of trying to live out our faith that brings us to set our hope in God. We can trust God’s teaching to hold true.

Jonathan Chesney

Pray

God of past and future, I give thanks for your faithfulness to the generations and for those in my life who have shown me what it means to live according to your commandments and love. Ready my heart this day and all days, I pray. Make me a witness to your works, that all around me may learn from my words and actions that hope safely rests in you alone.

Go

Life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who journey the way with us.

So be swift to love and make haste to be kind.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us, and remain with us always.