Enjoying My Fathers Legacy

          

Mutsuko became a Christian as a child. One day she told God that she was willing to serve him as a missionary. That day seemed very distant on the morning the despondent widow with her three little girls received official notification of husband’s death at war, from the Hiroshima municipal officer. There was no ray of hope as the four boarded the train home.

Mutsuko saw no way out except suicide. The train would cross a river and from that bridge she would jump with the children firmly in her grip. However, God intervened and spoke to her just as the train approached the bridge. Had she not given her life to Him? Had she not promised to serve Him? Had he ever let her down?

Could he not provide what she needed to feed three hungry mouths? “Entrust them to me; one day they shall be missionaries and go where you couldn’t go and do what you couldn’t do”. Clearly it was God’s voice. In tears Mutsuko repented of her selfish ways and committed her little children into God’s hands.

That was not the last crises for the family. Though Mutsuko found much needed employment at a downtown hospital, it seemed to her that God was telling her to leave Hiroshima and flee to the mountains. First she kept her thoughts to herself but felt compelled to share those thoughts with her relatives. They only laughed.

It was ridiculous to leave Hiroshima. The city was of little strategic military position and had been spared bombing thus far; “continue to work and support the family”, they urged. Mutsuko followed their advice. Then one day the voice she heard was louder and more urgent. This time, without notifying anyone she fled.

The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima the next day.  Her daughter Esther became a missionary to India while her other two daughters served God in Jamaica and Kenya? God kept his promise to Matsuko, “entrust them to me, one day they shall be missionaries and go where you could not go and do what you couldn’t do” (Ambassadors for Christ, 1994)

In Psalm 37:24-26 we read “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends and his descendants are blessed”. Psalm 37 has words of a veteran who carries the scars and the sword-cuts of many battlefields.

Therefore we may regard David as speaking with the fullness of knowledge and the confidence of ripened wisdom. Solomon wrote “the glory of young men is their physical strength and the splendor of aged men is their gray head” (Prov. 20:29). Gray hair represents wisdom and experience. The beauty of youth is physical but the beauty of age is spiritual.

The Bible uses a Palm tree to illustrate spiritual growth (Ps. 92:12). The young elegant and beautiful trees symbolize resilience and strength. The old Palm trees with scarred trunks produce the sweetest fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). Constant practice of godly principles has resulted in perfection (Heb 5:14); God’s discipline has produced a harvest of righteousness and peace (Heb. 12:11).

The scars of life produce the fruit of holiness. We gradually lose the strength and beauty that is temporary so we may concentrate on the strength and beauty which is forever. And so we’ll be eager to leave the temporary, deteriorating part of us and be truly homesick for our eternal home. If we stayed young, strong and beautiful, we might never want to leave.

Being young has many advantages, but with age comes the joy of reflecting on God’s faithfulness. David was growing older, but he was also growing more thankful for the many blessings he had received from the good hand of God. He knew that God’s faithfulness endures and ultimately will be shown to transcend time as we see His goodness in the eternal land of the living.

An unnamed psalmist had a similar reflection. He said “the Lord is gracious and righteous … return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living... what shall I return to the Lord  for all his goodness to me?” (Ps. 116:5-12)

David had not seen the seed of the righteous begging for bread. In Psalm 112 we have wonderful promises. We are told that “blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever.

Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; He will not be afraid, He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; his horn will be exalted with honor.”

Blessed is the man who delights greatly in God’s commandments (Ps. 112:1) and also delights in God’s works. Psalm 111:2-5 says “great are the works of the Lord ; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered ...he provides food for those who fear him ; he remembers his covenant forever. 

The man who delights in God will never be shaken. As he trusts in the LORD, his heart is established. He will not be afraid of evil tidings. His good works and right standing with God are lasting. Unlike many human endeavors that fail or are short-lived, godly living is characterized by lasting success. When all the flowers of secular glory are withered away; this man’s state will be still firm and flourishing.

The faithfulness of God to the righteous makes a significant impact on their children as well. The children enjoy the blessings of God bestowed upon their parents. God never allows the children of the righteous to be destitute. They may have not had the same material luxuries that others do, but they are faithfully provided for by the Lord Himself.

David had seen people prosper and he had seen people suffer. He had witnessed the hand of God work for people and against people. He had observed that through all seasons of life: seasons of prosperity and seasons of adversity, God never abandoned the righteous; he was always with them. The children and grandchildren of the righteous experienced his protection and blessings too.

Walking with God does not affect only you; it affects the future of you children. David observed that some people were blessed simply because a parent had walked with God. Do you desire to leave behind a flourishing posterity?  Do not just try to do it  by accumulating heaps of wealth to leave behind; live in fear of God and give your descendants something that will not be taken away from them (Luke 10:38-42).

God keeps covenant for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments (Exodus 20:6). One time there was a famine in the land of Israel.  God said to Isaac “do not go down to Egypt; dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you… because Abraham obeyed my commandments.  Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold (Gen. 12:1-13).

Abijam was a grandson of Solomon and great grandson of David.  1 Kings 15:1-5 tells us that “his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”.

The influence of godly parents on their children is enormous and the results are eternal. Those children have a special place in God’s heart. Possibly you are one of those who are enjoying fruits of their parent’s faith. To the godly parents God says that among other things, “your descendants will not beg for bread”. You can tell the Lord “remember the word to your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope” (Ps 119:49).

In Jeremiah 32:37-41 God says “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good”.

Psalm 102 is written by an afflicted psalmist. He says “he weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I said, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; your years are throughout all generations”. The psalmist is feeling weak and near the end of his life. However, he ends the psalm with a note of confidence and triumph.  

He says “the children of your servants will continue and their descendants will be established before you.” He is utterly confident of God’s goodness and ultimate victory for his people. If the psalmist did not see it in his own day, his children surely would and their descendants will be established by God’s goodness and strength.

Living a godly life does not guarantee our children’s salvation which is the best thing that can happen to them. But it does ensure that, if they choose to follow God, then they will already have godly examples of what it looks like to follow after Him. And, like Isaac and Abijam, they will be blessed, not because of anything they have done, but because they have been born to godly parents.

Moses told the Israelites “diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren...that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and that they may teach their children... keep His commandments that it may go well with you and with your children after you (Deut. 4:7-10,40).

Let us fear God and walk his way daily. Let us keep track of what God is doing for us and a record of what he has done for us this far. We should let our children know how God has been gracious and faithful to us. As we do so we will see the Scripture fulfilled. The blessing of the righteous will be upon us, as well as our descendants, for God is absolutely faithful to fulfil His promise!