Bible Reading: Ezekiel 20,21: James 5
“Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said I would pour out my fury against them in the wilderness” Ezekiel 20:21 (KJV).
Every father likes his son to resemble him in all aspects of life but no father likes that his son takes up bad parts of his life. Like father, like son is usually used when the man or boy has the same attitudes as his father or behaves in the same way. The children of Israel were highly privileged people among those on the surface of the earth. In spite of the numerous miracles they received from the LORD while they were in Egypt and when they were in the wilderness, they did not live up to the expectation of the Almighty. The miracles Moses performed before them in the land of Egypt should be convincing enough, the provision they accessed in the wilderness when they were hungry should be enough to remind them of the might of God yet they were not bothered. The first generation failed him and unfortunately, the succeeding generations decided to follow the same route. What an unfortunate situation!
The prophets had been proclaiming to the people on the abominations of their father. The history of Israel is that of a long series of rebellion against God. God recognized that the same rebellious spirit that had characterized the nation historically was still on in the days of Ezekiel. A Commentator says “Evil cultural traditions were passed on from one generation to another. It is likely that the Jews of Ezekiel’s day were relying on their noble heritage to preserve them.” God then cautioned them to take another look at that heritage. Profanity characterized older generation, and this is quite unfortunate. Everything that God frowns out in the law handed over to them was their fancy.
When God discovered that, the fathers have messed up, He decided to turn to the children with the mind that they would be corrigible but it was very unfortunate. Listen to the instruction of God to the children: “But I said unto their children in the wilderness, walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourself with their idols” Ezekiel 20:18 (KJV). Their children rebelled against this. What type of generation is this?
Folk, is your situation also like this? Are you still trailing the road your forebears travelled which never paid them? Listen, God is not willing that you continue on the path of disobedience of your parents, it shall surely lead to a dead end. Wake up now. I also encourage those who have the legacy of righteousness from their parents to please sustain it so that the baton can be passed on to the next generation. It is when that is done, that rottenness shall be reduced from our society. Allow the proverb like father, like son to be made on a positive note because of you.
Prayer: O Lord, grant me grace to live a life of positive generational impact.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo