One generation shall praise Your works to another

Psalm 145 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
⁶ Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And I will tell of Your greatness.
⁷ They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works.
¹⁰ All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,
And Your godly ones shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
¹² To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord sustains all who fall
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
²⁰ The Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

In Deuteronomy 11:7-21 God says:  Your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did. You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year. It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,  that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.      

If we in America want to know why we have fallen as a nation, regarding the prosperity of our people, perhaps we should begin by looking at what God commanded and promised to the Israelites. As a nation we should recognize that from the founding of the U.S. our eyes have seen the great work of the Lord. Like the land promised to the Israelites, America is also: A land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year. If we will be honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that the decline in our nation’s prosperity directly coincides with the time we began to neglect to teach our children the commandments and the goodness of God. Judeo-Christian values and the Bible itself were once the foundation of not only our government, but of our educational system and curriculum as well. Nearly all of the universities and colleges in America were founded as places first and foremost to teach the Bible and its values. Elementary and high schools regularly included times of prayer and meditation. Songs which glorified and honored God were a part of every day. Consequently the U.S. had the best and most successful schools and students in the world. But, man in his own foolishness decided that it would be better to remove God, Jesus and the Bible from our schools and curriculum. Our nations standing around the world, regarding education reflects this decision by the fact that we have fallen well below many other nations in education and student performance in nearly every category and far below most in discipline morality and student safety.

In the same way, our entertainment industry also once honored and revered God and His values. Movies, television, music and books told the truth concerning good and evil. Isaiah 5:20 says:  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!    Do we need to look any farther to understand why our culture is steeped in anxiety and woe? Rather than giving glory to God and what is good, most of what we call entertainment appeals to our sensuality and lust. Traditional families and fathers in particular are dishonored and throughout the entertainment media, good is made out to be evil and evil is made good. If that is the message we teach our children, why are we surprised when they learn it and live it?  How can Hollywood pretend to be shocked at and disgusted by the culture on sexual misconduct which prevails throughout it, when that is what they have based their profits on for decades? How can any of the entertainment media  speak against guns and violence when they have profited billions through the promotion and glorification of it?  

The breakdown of the family is perhaps the final and greatest attack against the values and commandments that hold the promises of God for our present and future genrations. In John 10:10 Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”    Someone will teach our children. As parents and as families we need to decide who that will be. We can no longer depend on our schools, our media or any other aspect of our culture and society. They tell the side of the thief. They will lead our children farther into darkness and woe. It is up to us as parents and as families to tell our children the truth, to teach them of God and good, so that they may live in the promised abundance of God and Christ.

May the words of the psalmist be our declaration, our prayer and may they be how we speak to the present and future generations:      I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.  The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.  Amen.