Generations

"When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.'" (Proverbs 4:3-6).

There are four fathers involved in today's passage. Solomon is passing on to his son that which his father, David, had passed on to him. David, of course, passed on to Solomon what he received from his Heavenly Father. When Solomon was the only child of David and Bathsheba, before his three brothers came along, his tender heart was being formed by his parents' teaching. He was now working to form his young son's tender heart.

Deuteronomy 6:2 mentions "you and your son and your son's son" because generations matter. What we learn from our fathers has an impact on our children just as what our fathers learned from their fathers has an impact on us. We are either in a positive cycle of truth and wisdom or a negative cycle of lies and foolishness. If it is the latter, the cycle must be broken.

It could very well be that Solomon asked God for wisdom because of the consistent teaching he received from David. It seems David repeated the call for Solomon to seek wisdom, hold fast truth, keep commandments, get wisdom, and get insight. The call for a life marked by wisdom and truth was a call handed down through many generations of his family.

What message has been handed down to you? What were you told by your father? What was told to him? If the message is a call to "get" wisdom and insight so that you may live, you are very fortunate. If the message is a call to "get" life on your own terms and in your own way, you need to break that generational cycle... now! Before it is too late to really live.