Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Psalms, Psalm Twenty Eight verse Nine, “O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd and carry them forever,” (NRSVB). In this psalm of David he calls on God to hear his prayers and his supplications for the people that he is leading as king. He describes how he goes down to the Tabernacle, how he lifts his hands toward the innermost sanctuary of the Lord and intercedes before him for the spiritual and physical welfare of the people. It is only God who can bring about stability and security for people. It is only God who sees the hearts and knows the desires of the inner-being of humans. God changes hard-heartedness and brings peace among people, for he directs them in the paths of righteousness.
David teaches us, through his poems and prayers, that those who trust in and rely on the Lord, those who walk in the instructions of the Lord, must bring the needs of the people to the Lord, before they bring their own personal needs. When people experience the example of leaders who intercede for them in prayer, leaders who seek the ways, wisdom and blessing of the Lord on them, their hearts are strengthened. Nations need leaders who put the spiritual and physical welfare of the people first and foremost. Israel found in David a king who was concerned about the relationship between the people and God, Almighty. David experienced when he brought his task of ruling the people, before the Lord, interceding for them, that God blessed the people and gave peace and stability in the kingdom.
Throughout scripture God instructs the leaders, through the prophets, to teach their children and bring them up in the commandments of the Lord. “You shall teach and impress the Word of the Lord diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children. You shall talk of it when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way , and when you lie down and when you rise up,” we read in Deuteronomy 6 verse 7, (Amplified Bible). The inheritance, the gift that is handed down from one generation to another, is far greater than a gift of land and transitory treasures. It is the gift of the Word of God, imprinted on the minds of the generations, to seek God and live under the shadow of his love and promises. If children are not taught in the ways of the Lord, nor instructed in his word, they would not be able to understand what they read in scripture, even when they are adults. When the Queen of Candace’s minister of the treasury came from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to worship, he was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah loudly in the chariot that he was riding in. The Apostle Philip heard him reading and asked him whether he understood the scripture passage that he read. This learned man said to Philip, “How is it possible for me to understand unless someone explains it to me and guides me in the right way?”
Through Jesus Christ, God has given the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven to all people who on earth do dwell, as we sing in the words of the Old One Hundredth Hymn. Throughout the history of the people of the world and God’s journey with them, scripture has called on leaders and parents to hand-down the knowledge that they have received to their children, so that they can know the Lord and be blessed. The knowledge of the Lord and his ways equip people with wisdom to see the light of God’s love. Then they can move from darkness and clouded understanding into the clear knowledge and assurance that God is love. God blesses the people and he calls them his very own. The Apostle Peter writes in his first Letter, Chapter 2 verse 9, “You are God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,” (NRSVB).
Dear Father God, we thank you that you lead us into understanding you word and ways as we come and follow your commandments and worship you with prayers, supplications, praise and singing. We thank you that you promise your blessing from generation to generation. You are the God of our fathers and mothers, the God of our children, and the God of all future generations. You have called us your very own, Amen.