His Blessing for A Thousand Generations!

His Blessing for A Thousand Generations!

Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,  but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

I really liked this verse for today because it reminded me of one of my favorite songs. Originally I was just going to start with verse 5 as that is what was given at prayer group. However, it started with You shall not bow down before them or worship them and in my mind, I wondered who we were talking about. This is why I included verse 4 as well.

If we look at verse four, we see that God is telling us not to make idols. He is saying it doesn’t matter what we make the form/idol to look like. We just shouldn’t make them. Now, I remember hearing this and wondering about all the statues, pictures, and medals we have of Mary and Jesus nowadays. I mean, it says, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

I remember Father Mike talked about this during the Bible in a Year podcast. I couldn’t remember exactly what he said, and I didn’t want to give you misinformation, so I looked it up online this morning. I found an article called Do Catholic’s Worship Statues? It was found on the website Catholic.com.  The author states, “People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: “And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat, shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:18–20).” He gave a few other examples.

He goes on to talk about the religious use of Images. He said, “During a plague of serpents sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to “make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Num. 21:8–9). One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations.”

Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church, they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas. 

I had no idea I was going to mention that today, but that is where the Holy Spirit led me. It is important to stop and explain things when they come up. If I had a question, I am probably not the only one who had the question. If you want more info on this topic or more detail, I will place a link for the article in the show notes. It was really interesting to read.

Moving on to verse 5, it says, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me.” When I first read this, I was thinking how it didn’t seem fair that God would punish children for the iniquity of their parents. I looked up the meaning of this verse to see if someone else had the same thought that I had, and it turns out others thought the same thing.

Here is what BK Shiroma had to say in the article DNA of Sin. “Now, at first glance, this seems unfair.  It seems as though God is saying he punishes children for their father’s (or mother’s) sins.  But God makes it very clear later that this is not the case.  In Deuteronomy 24:16, God commanded the people, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”  In Ezekiel 18, God rebukes the people who quoted a proverb that seemed to imply that God would punish children for their parent’s sins. So if God doesn’t punish people for their parents’ sins, what does he mean by punishing the children for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generations?

The author goes on to explain that sin and its effects tend to be passed on from person to person, especially in families. For instance, if we grow up in a broken family, then that is all we know. We tend to act the way our parents act. If our parents are divorced, we may end up divorced because that is all we know. If a child is abused by their parents, they may grow up and find they are doing the same thing to their children. A lot of children who have parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol also become addicted to drugs and alcohol. The author states, “Each person is punished for their own sins which they commit, suffering the pain and heartache that comes from sin, and yet passing on their sins to the next generation for which they themselves will be punished.”

Hearing this may cause us to feel hopeless. We may feel like we are doomed to repeat our parent's mistakes, and that can feel overwhelming for us. However, the answer to this overwhelm, and hopelessness is found in verse 6, “But showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” If we love God, and we keep His commandments, then he will show us, steadfast love, not only to us but to the thousandth generation. The author states, “If the cycle of sin is to be broken in our lives, we need a relationship with the living God.  We need his transforming power in our lives.  We need to say, “God, I need you.  I need your healing.  I don’t want to be a slave to sin in my life anymore.  I can’t do this on my own.  Help me.”  And if we repent of our sins, reach out to Him, and let him take the throne of our lives, he will give us victory over the sin that is destroying us, and that cycle of sin will be broken.  Instead of passing on sin to your children, you will pass on the love of God, which he shows to a “thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

This brings me to one of my favorite songs. If you have not heard it, I invite you to look it up on YouTube today, or Spotify probably has it as well. It is called The Blessing. I am not sure who originally sang it as I found it online from Elevation Worship and from Bethel Music with We The Kingdom. If you search for The Blessing, I am sure you will find it. All of these Lyrics are repeated several times. Just listing the lyrics loses so much of what makes the song great. However, I wanted you to hear them in case you don’t take me up on the invitation to hear the song. At least this way, you hear the words. I pray you listen to them and you take them in. God is talking to you right here. This is His blessing for you. I will pray these lyrics over each one of you today as our final prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I pray these lyrics are a blessing to each person listening to this episode.

The Lord bless you and keep you

Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you

The Lord turn His face toward you

And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen

Amen, amen, amen

May His favor be upon you

And a thousand generations

And your family and your children

And their children, and their children

May His presence go before you

And behind you, and beside you

All around you, and within you

He is with you, he is with you

In the morning, in the evening

In your coming, and your going

In your weeping, and rejoicing

He is for you, he is for you

He is for you, he is for you

He is for you, he is for you

He is for you, he is for you

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend! 

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, when I tell you I want you to use you, do not tell me I am too small for you to use. Do not tell me to call someone else. It is you who I am calling, and I tell you I can enable you to do whatever task I ask. Take a step of faith. Take a step of trust. I am your God. I know what is best. If I tell you I want to use you, say yes, Lord, and do what I tell you, and you will marvel at all you can do. It is I who am God. It is I who enables anyone that I wish. Move forward in faith today, today, and every day. I am your God, and I love you.”

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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