“O God. we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old.”
I love this Psalm! If you read it in its entirety, you will see the utmost importance of teaching the next generation about our God and how He works. The psalmist starts by remembering all that their fathers told them about the things the Lord has done (v.1-3). He then moves on to praise the Lord, the King, for His power and might. Declaring that God alone can save (v.4-8). But then, his tone changes. In verses 9-16, the situation has changed. The psalmist says that it feels as though God has rejected them. He has not gone out to battle with them. He has allowed them to be disgraced and laughed at. He has let the enemy have victory over them. This does not sound like the same God that helped their fathers. So, the psalmist then begins to examine what they might have done to bring on all of this hardship (v.17-22) and he cannot seem to find it. I can hear him crying out to God saying, “Why is this happening? What have we done? Where is the God of our fathers? Why are you not doing the same for us that you did for them?” But that is not how the Psalm ends. The Psalm ends with a call to the faithful God to come to their aid. He has not given up on God. He knows that He will come to their rescue. He knows that He will redeem them. He is appealing to God to keep His word and He looks to the past to know that He is faithful to do what He has promised.
When we are able to remember God’s faithfulness in the past, it emboldens us to trust Him in our present and with our future. It is so important that we tell our children, this next generation, about the things that the Lord has done. It is important that we share His faithfulness with them, even if it means we have to share some of the harder or embarassing things with them. The more they know about how God has worked and is working in our lives, the more they know of His story. The more we show them how to look to the past to see his faithfulness, the more they will be able to trust Him in the future. Someday, these little ones will suffer the pains of this world. And as hard as we try, we will not be able to prevent it. But, we can help equip them to endure it! So share with your kids about what the Lord has done. Take time to tell stories. Take time to remember His faithfulness in the hard times. So that some day, they can stand, like this psalmist, in the midst of trial, suffering and silence from God and know that the Lord is true to His word and faithful to His children!
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