Bridging the Gap

S: Judges 2:10 – When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.
O: As one generation died a new generation arose to take their place but this new generation did not know the Lord or the miracles he had done to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt or through the wilderness or how he delivered the promised land into their hands.
A: We absolutely have to pour into the generations around us. We desperately need the wisdom of the generation before us. They have life experience to share with us. Instead of ignoring them we should be sitting at their feet and soaking up the wisdom and love they have to share with us. Just as desperately we need to be pouring into the generation coming behind us. Later on in this scripture it says this: 17: They turned quickly from the ways in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. This passage may have been written eons ago but it is just as relevant today – if we do not pour into our teens, our youth and our children we will lose them. Likewise if we become too busy or think that we are too important in what God has given us to do to listen to our elders we may end up having to re-learn lessons already taught. Each generation is a gift from God. A gift that we all too often take for granted. We as Christians need to learn to lead the way.
I know that in this season of my life I have been called to work with youth. I love them with a passion I have never known before. It is also sometimes one of the loneliest, heart wrenching things I have ever done – because our youth are the battleground and all too often we lose one to the world. I believe with all my heart that if we pour into our children they won’t all leave the church for the world and even those who do will return.
P: Father God I thank you for what you are doing in the generations around me. Father God I want to be part of the bridge between the generations. Use me Lord. Give me eyes to see what the generation before me can teach me. Help me to slow down and take the time to listen and reap what this generation has sown for me. Let me point every single child you send me to you. Remove from me anything that could cause one of these precious ones to stumble Lord and use my life as a billboard for you. Fill me up with more and more and more of you and pour me out all over those around me. AMEN/