Our fathers have told us

Psalm 44:1-8 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us
The work that You did in their days,
In the days of old.
² You with Your own hand drove out the nations;
Then You planted them;
You afflicted the peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
³ For by their own sword they did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
For You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
⁵ Through You we will push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
⁶ For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
⁷ But You have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have put to shame those who hate us.
⁸ In God we have boasted all day long,
And we will give thanks to Your name forever. 

Proverbs 22:6 says:  Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.  In Deuteronomy 6:6-9 God commanded the Israelites saying:  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.   Again in Deuteronomy 11:18-20:  “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.      Who is training up our children today? Who is teaching them the way they should go that even when they are old they will not depart from it? Who is teaching our children the commandments of God? Surely it is not our education system. God, Jesus and the Bible are not welcome there. Surely it is not our entertainment or news media. God, Jesus and the Bible are mocked and ridiculed there, along with any who stand with them or for them. We are seeing the results of a generation raised with little or no knowledge of God. We are seeing a generation and another generation raised up without the knowledge of God become increasingly confused, not knowing or understanding wrong from right; not even knowing if they are male or female. Good and evil, darkness and light are not things we get to decide. In Isaiah 5:20 God 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!  What gender we are is not a decision we make, it is how we are created. Genesis 1:26-28 says:  God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them…    To dispute these things is confusion at the least and perhaps worse, a source of woe. In Luke 17:1-2 Jesus says: “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.” If our children are not trained up, if they are not taught, how will they know? The world will teach them that they can choose their own truth, then wonder why they are confused. The world will answer for the lies and confusion, but what of us who have neglected and shirked our responsibility to do what God said?

The psalmist says:   O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us The work that You did in their days, In the days of old.  You with Your own hand drove out the nations; Then You planted them; You afflicted the peoples, Then You spread them abroad. For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.   What was the result, for the psalmist, of hearing what God had done?  He says: You are my King, O God.   There is no question or confusion on the part of the psalmist having heard what God had done. The awesome God of his fathers is his God.  He says:  Command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me.   There is confidence, knowing that God is unchanging, what He did for the previous generations, He will do again.  Look at what that knowledge and confidence leads the psalmist to declare:   You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever.   There is no question, no confusion. In fact the psalmist declares that it is already accomplished. Because God was faithful to past generations He declares the present victory. Should that not be the legacy we give to our children?

In today’s culture and society, we not only have people and children who are confused, but also many who are stricken with fear, anxiety and depression. In John 16:33 Jesus says:  “I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Hebrews 13:8 says:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  On the cross, in John 19:30 Jesus said: “It is finished!”  He has overcome, yesterday, today and forever. We should have peace and courage. Who will teach our children? The world will say there are many ways they can choose. In John 14:6 Jesus says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  Who will teach our children?

May the prayer of Habbakuk 3:2 be our prayer today:  Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.    Indeed Lord God, may we see the miraculous things You have done and may we tell them to our children and our children’s children. May we teach them and train them up that they too will say:  You are my King, O God. Command victories for this generation, Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever.   Amen. Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Amen.