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Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all night long with a fiery light. He split rocks open in the wilderness,and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers. (Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16)
We are, on paper, the most connected generation ever. With what once was an awesome invention for talking and sharing with others far away, has now made us the most disconnected people ever. The smart phone has made us dumb; dumb to each other that is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not throwing away my phone nor should you, but think about what we are missing out on. I've seen it in restaurants, cafes, even my home, people seated next to each other, not looking at one another, but staring at a tiny screen, some typing on it, some reading from it, some laughing at silly pictures someone has sent them. There are some living even now that can remember a day without telephones. For the first six or so years of my life, we had no phone. My best friend and I could shriek a sound that was as close as we could come at that age to whistling "Come over!" And when I went over, or he came over, we would talk. Mostly nonsense, sometimes serious stuff about life, but we were connected in that way. At supper time, my mother's voice could carry throughout the neighborhood and most knew when it was time for Junior to come and eat. At meal time we had to share about our day, especially school, who are friends were, what they were like, and we were connected in that way. We prayed before we ate, not a long theological treatise on thanksgiving, but a prayer of gratitude. And we would go to Sunday school; there was no option. We learned from our teachers things about God, and later at home if questions about God came up, we could ask our parents.
The psalmist is saying we need to continue that. The things of God should never die in our hearts nor lives. The things God has done for us we should tell our children. Honest recounts of struggles and conflicts that God helped us through, and how those make up the fabric of who we are, why we are, and Whose we are. It will bless their lives and keep the faith alive. And to add to the story, as the psalmist did, tell the stories found in the Bible about how God acted on our behalf in the Exodus, the birth of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. And we can still enlist the help of the church through Sunday school, small groups, youth group, Bible studies, etc. As God gave the Israelites abundant drink, so can God give us and ours, that drink from the deep waters of abundant life.
PRAYER: Loving God, bless *|FNAME|* with rich blessings today. May *|FNAME|* and those around know of how much You love us. This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Tell Someone about God's great love!
Eradio Valverde
