It is exciting to start off the 40-Days to Destiny today. In the next 40 days we will have various people writing down some of their reflections on the specific passages that are designated for that particular day.
This morning I was reading Psalm 145 and verses 4 and 5 jumped out at me. The Psalmist, David writes, "One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works" (Ps 145:4-5).
There were some questions that ran through my mind:
1) What causes one generation to commend God's works to another?
2) Why is it important to share about what God did in one generation?
3) What would the previous generation say to the future generation?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines, "commend" as, "to represent as worthy, qualified, or desirable; to express approval of; praise; to commit to the care of another; entrust."
When you think about the history of the Israelite people, you will realize that they had a lot of reasons to give praise to God. But throughout their history, we notice that it was easy for them to forget and even go against some of the convictions that their forefathers had.
Maybe this is the reason why God told the Israelites, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Dt 6:6-9).
It reminds me of the importance of discipleship and carrying on a legacy for future generations. Therefore, when David used the word, "commend" he was discipling and transferring God's principles to the next generation. He wanted them to know the worthiness of God, how desirable He is and how well qualified God is to be entrusted with everything.
As I think about our 11 year history, I feel this tremendous burden to "commend" God's work to the younger generation. I want to proclaim the faithfulness of God for all these years. I want to express how God is so worthy of our praise. I want to share about all the incredible things that God did. I want to testify about the transformations that have occurred over the years.
Since the younger generation was not here at the start of the church, this is one way of helping them to see how great and awesome God is. Maybe this is the reason why David in this Psalm spends so much time just talking about who God is and what He has done. It is fascinating to see the God-centeredness of this Psalm with words like, "your," "his," "you," "the LORD," and "he."
As we start off this 40-Days to Destiny journey, it is my prayer that the older generation will be reminded about all that God has done in our lives and that the younger generation will learn and hear about the faithfulness of God to our church.
Therefore, it starts with me and I have to start "commending" God and His works to the people around me. I am longing to live and leave a legacy for the future generations.
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7 comments:
When I think about significant groups or activities that I've been involved in in my life, there has always been a sense of history and legacy from one generation to the next. I hope that this will continue in future generations at HMCC.
This biblical principle of "passing something on to the next generation" reminded me of a specific scene in the movie "300"...
A year after King Leonidas and his 300 Greeks soldiers had bravely fallen to the King Xerxes and the Persians, the new Greek king was leading 10,000 Greek soldiers into battle against the Persians once again..
Before the battle ensued, the new King began to "tell the next generation" about the heroism and valor of the 300 Greeks nearly a year ago so that the new "generation" of soldiers would NOT forget their deeds..
:-)
It's funny, I couldn't help but think how fortunate it is that we have "old timers" =P in our church (and some of who left) that can impart to us what it was like back when HMCC first started.
I hope that those of us here who are going thru the 40D2D can one day look back to this season fondly and impart our experiences to the people who are in HS & grade school now!
- Victor
Pastor Seth's blog and the comments that followed really made me think about the idea of passing on to future generations, the greatest and everlasting legacy- God's words, love and teachings and the understanding of His immeasurable greatness. (Even though I realized from the reading that no earthly creature can fully comprehend - "no one can fathom" the full extent of God's power and love for it is so great)
Being relatively new to HMCC and to Christ, I am feeling a sense of these outstretched arms of the Pastors, handing us this legacy. I am energized by it and hope I can learn to do the same eventually to my future younger brothers and sisters. I pray that we, as the 'younger generation' of our church presently, will freely and sincerely "speak in praise of the Lord" so that we are always reminded of God's grace, love and power and to spread His word freely. I don't know why but I haven't been able to do that yet and I pray that as I come to know God more, my faith in Him will constantly be strengthened and that I can help pass on the legacy in the future.
Powerful adjectives attributed to God jumped out at me from the psalm: glorious, mighty, righteous, awesome, wonderful, gracious, compassionate, faithful and loving to ALL. (His love does not discriminate!) These adjectives gives me the mental image of the overflowing fountain that Pastor Seth talks about that is “rich in love” and with “abundant goodness”. I love the thought of that!
The psalm also reminded me to:
1. Pray for humbleness because God “lifts up all who are bowed down and upholds all those who fall”. I realized that we must truly know we are weak and broken and that we NEED God. I remembered the first time being overwhelmed by the feeling of desperate need for Him during worship on the first night at the recent Global Access retreat. I didn’t understand where it was coming from at that time but His presence overwhelmed me and I remember just repeating over and over again that I finally know I need Him.
2. Pray for patience and to always remember that God gives us “food at the proper time” and not our time. God knows what’s best for us and what is enough to satisfy.
3. See God as a parent who is “slow to anger”. I realized in retrospect that God really gives us so many chances to trust Him and repent for all our faults and sins. It is only after countless of His chances that we are disciplined. And even after that He makes sure that we learnt a memorable lesson from it. I realized that I really can’t imagine a single human being who has an ounce of His patience.
4. We do not just sing and praise, but we do so “joyfully”!! As I reflected on the psalm and thought hard about the meaning of the words, I wondered: What more can we possibly want? I thought about how amazing it is that He provides EVERYTHING for us and has specific plans for everyone and loves us even when behave in ways that frequently hurts Him. Thinking about it is really heartwarming for me. I wonder what reasons I have to not be content sometimes? How can we not be so thankful and praise Him in pure happiness?
I also only came across the side notes about Psalms in my student Bible as I was reading this psalm. I thought it’s really interesting and smart how psalmists used parallelism instead of rhyming so that this kind of poetry can be translated into any language without losing its meaning and vibe. To me it shows that
Also I only picked up on the voice changes (frequent transition between talking about God, then directly to God) after Pastor Seth pointed out to us how the psalm has a voice that is so God-centered. I love the power that this voice has in glorifying our God and pray to be able to learn to praise like that. = )
I’m sorry this is such a long string of thought!
Benedict,
Bro... that was a clutch illustration. I remember that scene very well. The seeds of sacrifice in the past became the inspiration for the future... it was glorious.
Wow Judy... those were some incredible insights. Keep it coming. Recently, I was reminded how new insights come to old passages when I keep "chewing" on His Word. It is incredible to think that it is the "living" Word. It really comes alive.
A past story for the new gen:
The first time I participated in a daily church-wide Bible Reading Plan was during my sophomore year in undergrad, like, a long time ago. T'was awesome to have spontaneous conversations about what we were reading, knowing that everyone was reading the same thing. One day Rose and I ran into Toufue on the Diag. We ended up at Martha Cook for Friday afternoon tea for a discussion about our BRPs. I learned a lot, seeing the the scriptures through the eyes of education and history students, the latter who confessed to actually enjoy reading the labourious genealogies.
With that said, I appreciate this forum to read and glean diverse insights on these daily Destiny readings. Yay, diversity!
-amyliao
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