The Fabric of A Great Generation

Good Morning!

I did some further thinking about my post from yesterday. My mother’s generation is often referred to as America’s Greatest Generation – and when you consider its accomplishments, it truly is one of the greatest generations. But the groundwork for that generation is found in its forebears – such as my Grandma Ward.

They were in the first generation that was born after slavery was abolished. They were at the cusp of many of the great inventions – the electric light, the phonograph, radiation, penicillin and so on. Their generation was the one that witnessed the growth of the United States to one of the world’s powers – beginning with the Great White Fleet and ending with the Great Depression. They knew bounty and they knew hardship. And in the process they raised the men and women who we regard as our greatest generation.

A common trait amongst the Greatest Generation is their faith. The Baby Boomers are the first generation to turn away from God. And it really shows – just check out the headlines on any given day and see how we treat each other. But our parents (and grandparents for some of you whippersnappers) trusted God. Many had been put in harms way and knew they had survived only because God protected them. I believe that faith is what sets our greatest generation apart – and sets a goal for each of us.

Our nation is in trouble because we have turned from God. But here’s what God says to us:

2 Chronicles 7
The LORD Appears to Solomon
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’
19 “But if you[a] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”
Footnotes:
a. 2 Chronicles 7:19 The Hebrew is plural.
b. 2 Chronicles 7:19 The Hebrew is plural.
c. 2 Chronicles 7:21 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now so imposing, all

Solomon was dedicating the Temple to God. And God responded. Our nation CAN return to God and our nation CAN once again know the blessings that come from truly being a Christian nation. And we can be the fabric from which the next great generation springs. But it begins with a return to God. Let’s pray that this will happen soon.

Agape’


Mr. Jim