February 24, 2024

Passage Read: 1 Chronicles 3-6
Meditation Verses: 5:25-26

Thought

At one point in the record, the three tribes east of the Jordan were doing valiantly, trusting in God for victory over the Hagrites, but a few sentences later, a few generations later, and they were unfaithful to the Lord to such a degree, that they were the first of all the tribes to be exiled. From crying out to God and trusting Him for victory to following the gods of the nations they had driven out with God's help and being themselves cast out of the land. It doesn't take long for a people to turn away from God. They are either determined to hold fast in faithfulness to the Lord, or they become lax and learn the practices of the pagans they formerly disdained. That is the path of so many of God's people through history, and it is being repeated today.

Application

It is sad that I can't ensure that my sons and their sons hold fast in faithful obedience to the Lord. Solomon is right, that a man doesn't know if those who issue from him will be wise or fools. The draw of the world is so strong, and a little loosening of God's standards here and there is not outright rejection or rebellion. It is a gradual transition from serving God alone to serving God and other powers, and that doesn't seem so bad, because God has not been forgotten, except He has because things He forbade become accepted. And a later generation is completely lost. Sadly the same is true for spiritual children. So the best anyone can do, the best I can do is conform my life as closely as possible to the Lord's likeness and will, and urge others to do the same. Some will give themselves fully to the Lord, some will give themselves partially to the Lord. And generation by generation faithfulness will fade, until God does a new work and a later generation gives itself heartily to the Lord, only to repeat the cycle until God is done with this age.