My father grew up poor. I did not. My father sometimes had little to eat in his home as a child, but learned that God provides…and He always did. I never encountered those basic need issues as a child. However, when our children were very young and I was in school, Diane and I faced the brutal reality of not knowing how we would pay the bills. I was earning $250 per month and our rent was $225 per month. That left very little for other living expenses, including school. Yet, God always provided with astonishing timeliness. Like my father, I learned that God could be trusted to provide what we needed.

As I consider my children and grandchildren, I realize they know little, if anything, about deprivation and truly hard times. They have not had to learn what it means to trust God for basic needs. My adult children may have to deal with financial stress due to lifestyle choices, income changes, and stewardship issues. They feel the stresses but know nothing of actual deprivation. While younger generations must deal with challenges and temptations I never had to face when I was a child, not getting everything they want is not the same as not having what they need.

As a grandparent I sometimes forget that my grandchildren have not experienced what I have experienced, or even more, what my parents and grandparents experienced. I can easily resort to a cynical, even judgmental, attitude when they are not more grateful for what they have. It is at such times that I need to be reminded of God’s words to Moses in Deuteronomy 11: “Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God…it was not your children who saw what He did for you in the desert…but it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done” (Deut. 11:2, 5, 7).

D.A. Carson writes in his daily devotional guide, For the Love of God, about the “generational distinction” Moses makes before the Israelites in this Deuteronomy passage. Carson offers these inferences from this distinction:

1. The older generation should be quick to obey, because of all that they have had the opportunity to learn;
2. The older generation must systematically pass on what they have learned to their children; and
3. God’s provision of blessing (or conversely, a curse) are depend upon the first two points.

The implications ought to be obvious for us as grandparents. As He did in Moses’ day, God has set before us a blessing and a curse. We are those who have experienced God’s faithfulness, in times of want as well as abundance, so that we are without excuse. It is our responsibility to pass on what we know and not let this generation grow up without knowing the greatness and faithfulness of our God. How well we do that will bring either blessing or a curse for the next generations. For their sake, I hope we understand that.

GRANDPAUSE: What I believe about God is the most important thing about me. A. W. Tozer