4/18/15: God Has No Grandchildren

One of my Biola professors once said, “God has no grandchildren.” What he meant by that was everyone must come into a personal relationship with God for himself or herself. We must interact with God as our Father and we as His children. Every generation with God is the first generation.

I thought of this as I read Judges, chapters one and two. It took only one generation before the children of Israel were utterly disobeying God. They were not driving out all the old inhabitants of the land, which led to their intermingling with them and taking on their habits, the worse of which was worshipping their gods. Judges 2:10-12 says:

10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.
11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;
12 and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. (NKJ)

Because the folks of the new generation had not experienced God for themselves, they easily slid away from Him. That taught me that the development of my faith is a function of trusting God for myself. I must get to junctures at which no one can help me but God. As the saying goes, “I won’t know that God is all I need until God is all I’ve got.”

We hinder our children when we don’t allow them to lean on God for their needs, their rescue, and their advancement. Perhaps we are helping to raise a generation who is leaving the Lord because we keep trying to provide for them that which only God can provide. It’s difficult, but there comes a time to allow our children to work out their own salvation, to work on their own testimony. Do our children know God for themselves, or is He more like a grandfather to them – someone their parents knew well, but who is removed and seen as the guy who comes by to dole out money every now and then? A child who knows the Lord for himself – as his own Father – will come to please God with his entire life.

____________________________

©2015 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Get ready to watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at http://www.HSBN.tv.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble