ICS Daily devotions
Leaving a Good Inheritance for Our Children
What is the best inheritance that we can pass down to our children and grandchildren? Money, properties, or a journal of our walk with the Lord? Our children’s children probably will be able to do better than us when it comes to making a good living as innovation, technology and human science continue to develop. However, it would be priceless if we are able to model our walk with God for our children especially during the difficult times and to journal it for our children and grandchildren.
Hebrews 11:32 (NKJV) And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.
You can find the ‘journal’ of the life of Jephthah in the Book of Judges. He was rejected by men but accepted by God.
Judges 11:1-2 (NKJV) “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
We learn that Jephthah was born of a prostitute due to the indiscretion of Gilead. Even though his father took him in as a son, it must have been difficult for Jephthah growing up in the family as the eldest son. As the eldest son, Jephthah would have been well-positioned to receive his father’s blessings and inheritance as they were his birthright. However, he was chased out by Gilead’s legitimate children as they felt he was a threat to them before the father could pronounce any blessings or allocate any inheritance to him. Despite all these, Jephthah was not bitter or angry nor was he lacking in confidence and wishing perhaps that he could be born into a better family. Instead, we find that he was confident and his name must have stood out among many to be a wise and worthy leader.
Judges 11:5-6 (NKJV) And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”
God is at work even when we do not feel, see or hear anything in the natural! Nothing will be able to stop God’s calling and plan in our lives. Our background does not affect God’s plan in our lives because our past, status and class in society do not determine the future that God has in store for us.
If we journal our walk with God through our ups and downs, showing that we did not give up despite our difficult situations, then our children and grandchildren will learn that God is a God of restoration and that He has a good plan for our lives. They will learn to walk by faith that He is a good God who has our interests at heart.
Sermon Series: You Are in the Hall of Faith! (Part 2)
