A Legacy of Sin...

Reading the Old Testament can be difficult at times. Even for someone who grew up in the church and now, as a preaching pastor for 14 years I still get a little sick as I read. All the people that were slaughtered at the hands of the Israelites as they took possession of the land God had promised their ancestors. I wonder why they didn't tell the other kingdoms about God? Or why God didn't reveal Himself to them like he did to the ancestors of the Israelites so they didn't have to be destroyed? But today I am reminded of a few things.
1. God is God. I have no right to judge Him (that's a scary proposition anyway!) or His actions or decisions. Who would argue in the court room with a human judge and not expect punishment? He is God. I am not.

2. In my reading plan this year I am reading right now both in Genesis and Joshua. I am reading about God's call on Abram (Abraham) and about Joshua leading Israel in their conquest of the promised land.
This has given me the opportunity to see something that is often forgotten. Remember the story of Cain and Able? Cain killed his brother, the first murder, the first generation after Adam and Eve, THESE PEOPLE STILL TALKED DIRECTLY TO GOD! And yet it didn't help. Cain still took Able's life and was cursed by God for his sin and sent to live in other parts of the country, an outcast. But, God didn't kill him. So, he took his family, moved away and started other cities and people groups. Adam and Eve had Seth and he, like Able, honored God and was blessed by Him. Noah, was a descendant of Seth. After the flood, Noah's son Shem sinned and Noah issued a curse on him. God was with Noah's other two sons but Shem took off and lived a part from God, while building and occupying cities as his own family grew. Then we could talk about Jacob and Esau, Jacob blessed and followed God. Esau doing life his own way.

So when the Israelites begin to take the land, they are taking it from the children of men who decided their way was better than God's. Men, and then families, and eventually whole nations living in opposition to God. That's where they come from. Abram (Abraham) however, Moses, David, etc. could trace their lineage back to men who followed God.

3. In the minds of Old Testament nations military power meant a stronger god. If you were overthrown by another people group you began to worship their god because he was obviously stronger than yours. But that didn't happen with the One True God of the Israelites. They wondered in the desert (and everyone knew it) but survived on "bread from heaven," manna. They were unstoppable on the battle field but these other nations refused to worship their God. They were as stubborn and as their ancestors before them and refused to honor and worship God. Because of their stubbornness they were destroyed. Not because God arbitrarily set them aside for death.

What's the moral of this story? The selfishness or sin of one man, one woman, can set in stone the legacy they leave their children. When you disobey God. Turn your back on Him. Refuse to accept His love and care, you may just be sealing the fate of your offspring for generations! Leaving them a legacy of sin so that even when face to face with the reality of God they refuse to follow, just like you.
But, if you turn to God and give your life to Him you are setting the table for your children to know what real life is as they follow God themselves. Choose for yourself. A life for your children that leads to life eternal? Or a legacy of sin? It may just be up to you.