Generational Hope

 As we go through the daily routine of life, there are those times when we get so focused on the specifics right in front of us that we lose sight of the big picture. When we lose that larger perspective, the details don't seem significant enough or have the importance in themselves to warrant the expenditure of our energy. We begin to lose our vision, sense of purpose, and we can begin to wander aimlessly. Let's step back for a minute, and get a really big picture that I think can help us move on again with joy!

In the beginning, God created man (male and female) and gave him a command, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28. Later, after man's sin, rebellion, and destruction in the flood, God again gave a similar command to Noah and his family as they started the human race over afresh. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” Genesis 9:1–2.

When God gave the command to fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it, He was not expecting that Adam would accomplish this by himself. In fact, the context tells us that the subduing and taking dominion would be progressive and done in the process of filling the earth. But we can see that God intended still more. The seed of Adam was well on their way to filling the earth when God brought a flood to destroy them. Simply filling the earth was not the answer. Any animal can do that. The wickedness of that people was not part of God's plan for subduing the earth.

God's thoughts regarding Abraham give us a little clearer picture of His plan. “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spo-ken to him.” Genesis 18:19. God's plan was that man, created in God's image and in His likeness, would have dominion over the creation (for God and as God would) in righteousness and justice. We have shown ourselves to be incapable of carrying out God's plan on our own. In the previous verse, God said, “…I have known him ( Abraham ) in order that …” in other words, God's knowing of Abraham caused him to command his children after him. In Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, he writes, ”But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God , how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?…I have doubts about you.” Galatians 4:9,20. It is God's “knowing” us that causes us to walk in His ways. We who are “known” by Him will never hear the statement from Him, “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” Matthew 7:23.

The very proof of our being known by God, is whether or not we command our children after us, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice. God has called us to raise up generation after generation of righteous people to populate the earth. He has given us His Spirit to bring this about. Through Christ's victory on the cross, God has called us to be “ the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell in.” Our nation is going the way of those who don't follow the Lord, but we have a call upon us to turn this around. Home education is one of the tools God has given us in these days to carry out His command. This is a larger perspective for sure. I don't know about you, but to think that teaching reading or math today to our little ones is part of taking dominion over the earth for Jesus Christ is starting to get my blood flowing again. May we start every day with the heart and prayer to advance His Kingdom for His Glory! May we be diligent to train our children in the Lord as we see the larger picture of glorifying God as our goal. If indeed we have heard Him and have been taught by Him, we are the very ones that God intends to continue fulfilling the original command given to Adam, not in our strength or by our power, but by His Spirit!