ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER

ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER
Psalm 145:4 
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” 

David may be thinking of his generation commending God’s works to his son’s generation. We can suffer from generational amnesia when God’s mighty acts are not remembered, recounted, and passed down. Not all of us think ahead in terms of generations, but God does when he introduces himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3.5). 

Yet, it is recorded that “David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers….” (Acts 13.36, emphasis added) Some interpret this to mean that David served only his own generation since he would not be around for the next. This makes sense for those who wish to invest their finances and resources in God’s work, to do so while they can. This, rather than leave their assets to their children and hope they use them wisely. Our posterity may not always share the same values we hold.

But wait, did David serve only his own generation? Not really. When told he could not build the Temple for the Lord, he prepared materials and manpower for his son Solomon to do it (I Chron 22.1-6; 28.1-9) In this way, he served his generation by serving the next, leaving behind a legacy that endures. Truth is, whether we like it or not, what we do or fail to do affects the generation coming after us. 

Today, with the fast pace of change, the need for inter-generational conversation and collaboration poses an increasingly urgent challenge. I once thought that my children and grandchildren were living in my generation, but I now know I am living in theirs—and must speak in their language and to their culture. What God has done in my generation must be made known and commended to theirs. 

Note: Something is lost in translation when we read the psalm in English. The original Hebrew text uses a literary device known as alphabetic acrostic: each of the 21 verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from aleph to tau (like the English a to z), except in this case, the letter nun (or English n) is missing. Such a structure embodies poetic elegance, expresses completeness, and helps in memorisation.

One generation to another