"One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts."

"But you were not willing to go up [to the Promised Land], rebelling against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, 'The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us. Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the havens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.

So I said to you: Don't be terrified or afraid of them! The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God, who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

When the Lord heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath: None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the Lord completely.” (Deuteronomy 1:26-36)

The generation that followed Moses out of the Egypt into the wilderness saw incredible miracles. They were freed from slavery through God's miraculous power. They crossed the Red Sea as it split before them and then swallowed up their enemies. They were led to Mount Sinai to worship the Lord and given the Ten Commandments.

Psalm 78:13-16 says,

He divided the sea and led them through;
    he made the water stand up like a wall.

He guided them with the cloud by day
    and with light from the fire all night.
He split the rocks in the wilderness
    and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
He brought streams out of a rocky crag
    and made water flow down like rivers.

Yet this generation was known for their grumbling, complaining disobedience and idolatry. Psalm 78:17 goes on to say, “But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the most High.” Over and over they grumbled, looked to turn back to Egypt where they were familiar and served other gods because they failed to trust God or understand His love for them.

Stephan says about them in Acts 7:37-43, “...Moses received life-giving messages to give to us, but our ancestors were not willing to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt...
So God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. This is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel? You carried along the shrine of Moloch, the star of the god Rephan, and the statues you made for yourselves to worship. I will send you into exile beyond the city of Babylon.”

“Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts, let us not lift our souls to another... Oh God let us be a generation that seeks, seeks your face Oh God of Jacob” sings.

In Deuteronomy 4:1 Moses says to the people, “Israel, listen to the laws and rules I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you will live and be able to enter and take possession of the land that Yahweh Elohim of your ancestors is giving you.”

The first generation out of Egypt, while they had seen incredible miracles, could not enter the Promise Land because they failed to trust God or understand His love for them. Instead, they kept rebelling, complaining and turning to other gods. When faced with the possibility of what God had for them, they shrunk back in fear and disbelief from entering the land. They responded, “Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? They said to each other, 'Lets choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:4)

Moses prayed for them, “By your great love, please forgive these people's sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now” (Numbers 14:19).

This was also a generation that had seen great mercy. Yahweh spoke to Moses “from above the throne of mercy on the ark containing the words of God's promise, from between the two angels” (Numbers 7:89) 

God dwelt in their midst and led them as a cloud by day and fire by night from place to place over the forty years in the desert. The column of smoke would cover the tend of meeting as they settled. Then from evening until morning, it would glow like fire. Whenever the cloud moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp and follow it until it stopped. (Numbers 9:15-17)

Over and over, God proved His love and care for the Israelites. When He brought them out of Egypt to His mountain, He carried them on eagles wings (Exodus 19:4). Then He provided them manna to eat daily, meat when they asked for it, and water out of the side of a Rock.

In Numbers 11:23 Yahweh asks Moses, “Is there a limit to Yahweh's power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true.”

Balaam spoke in a prophecy about Israel in Numbers 23:21-22, “Yahweh their Elohim is with them, praised as their king. El who brought them out of Egypt has the strength of a wild bull. No spell can curse the descendants of Jacob. No magic can harm the people of Israel. Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel: See what El has done!”

However, it was not until the next generation that this trust and understanding of His great love for them began to sink in. Moses says in Deuteronomy 3:24 to God, “Adonay Yahweh, you have only begun to show me how great and powerful you are. What kind of God is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and the mighty acts you have done?”

It was the next generation that were able to enter into the Promises God had for them. They not only knew of the miracles that were done for the previous generation, they believed God was for them and would see them through. They learned from the mistakes of the past and seeing God's limitless mercy.   They trusted God and took courage to enter into battle.

In Deuteronomy 7:16-19 Moses tells the people, “You must destroy all the people Yahweh your Elohim hands over to you. Have no pity on them, and never worship their gods, because they will be a trap for you. You may say to yourselves, 'These nations outnumber us. How can we force them out? Don't be afraid of them. Remember what Yahweh your Elohim did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the terrible plagues, the miraculous signs, and the amazing things Yahweh your Elohim did. He used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out. Yahweh your Elohim will do the same thing to all the people you're afraid of.”

This grumbling, complaining, stiff necked first generation of freedom was a stepping stone to the second generation of freedom. The second generation out of Egypt learned from the mistakes and mercy poured out on their predecessors. They also retained the understanding of His power and great deeds.

They had the courage needed from the experience of God seeing them through to follow God into the Promised Land and enter into the battles needed to take they land.  T hey did not think God hated them and want to turn back, they could interpret His acts of power into His Love for them and begin to develop trust.

Psalm 78:1-6 says,
Open your ears to my teachings, my people.

Turn your ears to the word from my mouth.

I will open my mouth to illustrate points.

I will explain what has been hidden long ago,

things that we have heard and known about,

things that our parents have told us.

We will not hide them from our children.

We will tell the next generation

about Yahweh's power and great deeds

and the miraculous things he has done.

He established written instructions for Jacob's people.

He gave his teachings to Israel.

He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children

so that the next generation would know them.

Children yet to be born would learn themselves

They will grow up and tell their children

to trust Elohim, to remember what he has done,

and obey his commands.

Then they will not be like their ancestors,

a stubborn and rebellious generation.

Their hearts were not loyal.

Their spirits were not faithful to El.”

One generation is to teach the next generation about God. Deuteronomy 11:19-21 says, “Teach them [His Commands] to your children, and talk about them when you're at home or away, when you like down or get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Then you and your children will live for a long time in this land that Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors -as long as there's a sky above the earth.”

And each generation is to look back on the previous generations to glean from both their strengths and mistakes.

Deuteronomy 32:7 says,

Remember a time long ago.

“Think about all the past generations.

Ask your fathers to remind you,

and your leaders to tell you.”

Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”    Generations have significant power to be able to influence the next generation and the direction they go.   Overall patterns of belief can be changed substantially causing a large number of people to believe in certain ways.

An example of one generation influencing the next generation is all the media around smoking and drug awareness.   At one time, everywhere you went most people smoked, even at their offices.  And social drug use was much more prevalent.   Then with the mass media around the harmful impacts, the next generation grew up without these being anywhere as near common or easily accessible.

In my own life, my husband and I had a difficult childhood and made many mistakes.  Sharing these mistakes and what we learned out of them with our son helped him to see the consequences.   Rather than making the same mistakes, he learned from them and made different and more responsible choices.

Lord, let us be a generation that seeks Your face and also points the way for the next generation, making room for them to enter into all You have for them. So many times we think it is about what we do or accomplish for ourselves, but what could be a better accomplishment than helping the next generation come fully alive into You and Your purposes -inheriting the land that You promised. Forgive me where I have missed the mark on this. I am so grateful that you use even in our mistakes and stubbornness to teach those who follow.