Friday, August 14, 2015

I’m always amazed when I find myself focusing on negative things rather than positive. While reading the 10 commandments in Exodus 20, I never noticed the positive promise in verse 6 that follows the warning of God punishing children for the sins of fathers to the third and fourth generation. That warning always jolts me – the destructive power of a father’s sin. But notice what follows that warning. To a father who loves God and keeps His commandments God promises to love his offspring to a thousand generations! Think of that! What an amazing promise. It should give any father plenty of incentive to live faithfully before God. Think of it. God’s blessing on his offspring is promised for hundreds of years. I don’t think this is only true for fathers. I heard of Christians wanting to distribute Bibles in a city in Russia. As they prayed one of them remembered that when Stalin confiscated Bibles in the 1930’s he had them stashed in a warehouse. Inquiries were made and sure enough, the story was true. After further prayer they asked the authorities if they could use the Bibles for their distribution project. Permission was granted. They hired help, including a young, agnostic student. After working awhile they noticed he was off in a corner. When they went to him they found him in tears reading one of the Bibles. He told them the Bible he had chosen out of all those Bibles had written in the flyleaf the name of his grandmother. She no doubt had prayed for God’s blessing upon her family and God honored her request 60 years later!