Sins of the Father

(Today's reading - Numbers 14-15; Mark 6: 1-32)

Sometimes it doesn't seem that God is fair. I know, I shouldn't say something like that, but it is how I feel. By human reasoning, sometimes God is harsh and unfair. By human reasoning! Today's reading contains such an account. In Numbers 14, we read about the reaction of the children of Israel to the bad report brought back by the spies who went into the Promised Land. You know... the people there are giants and we are grasshoppers. Caleb and Joshua are the only ones that give a true account and encourage the people to cross over the river Jordan and take the Promised Land.

I struggle with how I would have reacted if I was there hearing about the giants. Would I have gone along with the crowd and demanded a new leader to take us back to Egypt? How would you have reacted to the bad report? The fact is that the people rebelled against Moses and God. God declares that He will strike them down and disinherit them. (vs 12) Moses pleads for God's mercy and He changes His mind. (vs 20) God changes His mind... I know that is tough for some to accept, but there it is in black and white in your Bibles.

He is merciful. He lets them live, but the result of their rebellion will be felt for generations. God sends them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. (why forty years?, look it up... vs 34) For forty years these people will be punished for lack of faith; not only these people, but all their children and their children's children and maybe even their children's children's children. That doesn't seem fair, does it? These kids have done nothing wrong; it was their parents and grandparents. So, why would God do this to the generations that follow? And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. (vs 33) 

You see, while God is merciful and forgives their sinfulness, He does not eliminate the consequences of their actions. They didn't trust that He would deliver the land into their hands, so they didn't enter the land. They rebelled against His leadership, so they learned the hard way to follow the leaders God had put in place. They learned that what they did impacted their families for generations. I am sure that there were many difficult conversations around the dinner table. "But granddad, why did you not trust God? I am out here wondering in the desert for all these years because you were unfaithful." Lessons were learned... the hard way.

Thankfully, we would never be like that. We would never act unfaithfully and see the consequences of our actions in our children... would we? Take a moment here to think... (thinking, thinking) Is what your children hear around the dinner table going to make them stronger? Do they hear about your negative feelings about the leaders in your church? Are you too busy to take them to the assembly on a regular basis? Do they see that sports and hobbies are more of a priority to you than kingdom work?

And then after all that... the parent's unfaithfulness; we sit and wonder why our children are unfaithful. I have seen it too many times to count... the "sins of the father" is visited upon the children. One generation's unfaithfulness results in several generations being lost in the wilderness. The responsibility is great.  When God gives us our children, He entrusts their futures to us. Will they hear our fear? Will they see us tremble before the giants of this life? Or will they see us faithful and trusting God to take care of whatever comes? Forty years is a long time!

Joshua and Caleb got to lead the people into the promised land. They were faithful. They trusted in God to lead them to victory and their faithfulness was rewarded. What about you? Will you be faithful to the God that is leading you and your family into the Promised Land? Or will you allow the bad report of "what you are missing" to pull you away? The choice is yours... but your choice will impact the generations to come. Choose wisely.