“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation, the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might, and the wonders that He has done.”
– Psalm 78:4
This is one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm 78. It’s a long Psalm, but the stage that’s set here, in Psalm 78:4, sets the tone for what we read throughout. It recounts all that God has done among His people in the past. How God’s people have continually turned from him and experienced judgment from God and mercy from God. And the whole intent is to pass on to the next generation the wonders and works of God. So that the next generation might know God, that’s the language in verse seven. “So the next generation should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”
God is calling us to faithfully proclaim His good deeds to the next generation.
This Verse Reminds Us of Our Responsibility to the Next Generation
There’s a longing in the Psalmist here to ensure that the next generation knows who God is. As well as what God has done, and what God will do. And additionally, what God has said. In hopes that they might walk with God. And don’t we long for that in our lives? When I think about my children and when you think about any children around you, students. Just think the next generation. And if you’re listening to this and you are a child or a student, here in Psalm 78. God’s saying He wants to ensure that you have people in your life who are telling you the wonderful works of God. And people showing you who God is. As well as telling you what God has done. Ultimately, helping you understand His word so that you might experience God in all of His fullness.
This is what we are all responsible for doing. Yes, parents, yes, grandparents, but the whole church. If you’re single or married, with kids, or without kids, doesn’t matter. We are responsible for telling the next generation who God is and what God has done. We will not hide these things from children. And we will tell the coming generation what the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might have done.
Psalm 78:4: Asking God to Help Us Teach the Next Generation About Himself
So let’s pray that God would help us to be faithful to do that. God, we pray that, we pray Psalm 78:4. May it not be said of us that we hid from the next generation the wonders of what You have done. And the glorious deeds You have done and Your might. God, we pray that You would help us to be faithful. To pass on Your word and the news of Your wonders to the generation that comes after us. Even as we look statistics, at the declining numbers, and the next generation who are active in church, who are hearing the good news of Your grace and Your glory, God, we pray that you would help us to change that.
Asking God to Give Us Concern For Our Kids
God, we pray You’d help us to change this in our homes. Lord, help us not to be more concerned about teaching our kids the things of this world, about carting our kids around to do all kinds of stuff in this world when they don’t know You, and they don’t know who You are and they don’t know Your word. God, we pray that more than anything else we would teach them who You are. We would tell them about Your word and Your wonders, Lord, that they might know You and hope in You and love You. God, I pray that for my kids and we pray that for every child, student, that is in our sphere of influence.
God to help us to tell the coming generation the glorious deeds that You have done and Your might and Your love and Your power and Your justice and Your wrath and Your mercy. Help us to tell the wonders that You have done that they might hope in You. God, I pray for every child or student who’s listening to this right now that they would hope in You, they would know who You are, they would know how much You love them. They would know that life is in You. God, we pray that the coming generation would know that life is in You alone. That there’s nothing in this world that can compare to who You are and what You provide in our lives and how You lead our lives.
God, we pray. We pray that it would be said of us that we faithfully told the coming generation the glorious deeds You have done and Your might and the wonders You have worked, according to Psalm 78:4. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
