Let this be recorded for a generation to come so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
– Psalm 102:18
Is that not a great picture? “Let this be recorded. Let this be written down now for a generation to come, for people who are not even alive right now, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.”
Psalm 102:18 Challenges Us to Live as a Testament for Future Generations
Think about that. How can you and I live today for the spread of the gospel to people who have yet to be created? Just think about that. In your life today, how can you live now for the sake of people who’ve yet to even be born? How can you live so that they praise the Lord? Oh, it just makes you think, “Well, what can I write down today? What can I record?” And then just think about Jesus’ commission for us to make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples. How are you faithfully making disciples who will carry on that work in others’ lives? Who will make disciples in others’ lives? Who will make disciples in others’ lives? And on and on and on? This is how the gospel spreads from generation to generation, through people who are making disciple-makers.
So what does this look like in your life right now? How are you living not even just for the people right around you or even around the world? How are you living today for people who’ve yet to even be created? And obviously, part of making sure those who have yet to be created are reached with the gospel means pouring the gospel into the next generation. The youngest among us. Make disciples of teenagers and children who will one day, Lord willing, be moms and dads who are making disciples of their teenagers and children. Oh, whether you are a parent or a grandparent, or single or without kids, we all have a responsibility to work to pass the gospel on to the next generation, to the youngest generation.
Psalm 102:18 Encourages Us to Leave a Legacy of Praise for Future People
God, help us to live out Psalm 102:18. Lord, help us to live today so that a people yet to be created by you will praise you. God, help us to be faithful disciple-makers. All of us in Christ, to obey your commission, to make disciples of the nations of the next generation. God, we pray especially that you would help us to pass the gospel faithfully on to teenagers, students around us, and to children around us in such a way that they will be equipped to do the same with their children and their children’s children.
Oh God, we long for the return of Jesus. We would love Lord Jesus for you to come back as soon as possible. We pray that you would help us to faithfully pass the gospel on through generations so that people yet to be created may praise you. God, help us to live with the long view in mind as disciple-makers of the next generation and as disciple-makers among the nations.
Praying for the Brahmin People
God we pray for unreached people. We just think about grandparents and parents and children in the Brahmin of India who have no knowledge of the gospel. They are unreached by the gospel. God, not only will their children. Oh God, help us to stop this trend of generations coming and going among this people group and many like them without ever hearing the gospel. God, we pray for Brahmin children yet to be created. Allow them to praise your name because we have faithfully spread the gospel to their grandparents and parents, and to Brahmin children today.
God, help us. We pray to live for the sake of generations to come among all the nations. That they might praise your name. Help us to live today for that. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Psalm 102:18. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
