Psalm 44:1 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:
When you see the evil in the world today, the lack of moral direction and personal discipline, and the absence of responsibility for one’s actions, do long for the good ol’ days? As a Baby Boomer, I grew up with the Beaver Cleaver family on TV and the show Father Knows Best. A nuclear family is what they were called. Mom staying home, Dad with his briefcase in one hand and piece of toast in the other kissing the top of kids’ heads before he dashed out to the business world to make more money than they had ever dreamed possible. The kids said their prayers, thought the world was ending if they broke a window with a baseball then worked like the Dickens to pay for it, and everyone in the neighborhood knew each other and lived by the same rules of loving God, country and each other. Ah, those were the days…
But, of course that was not reality. There were seedy, deceitful people back then, drugs and unwed pregnancies, drop outs and gangs- ever see West Side Story? The truth is it is not man that makes this world a heaven on earth, but God by changing the hearts of people one at a time when they invite His Son Jesus into their lives to rule their souls. That was the way it was then, and so it will be until He comes in glory.
We need to tell the next generation of the deeds God has performed in our lives – the blessings, the rescues, the loving support, even the disciplines for our own good. But, let’s not paint it as the good ol’ days gone by that can never come again. Rather, let’s assure them it can be the same for them today and tomorrow. His mercies are new every morning, and His blessings are more vast than the oceans. And now, as back then, Father still does know best!
