Psalm 145:1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever
This past week I was talking to my son about what he wants to pass on to his son. His son is less than a year old, but he is already thinking about the things a dad needs to pass on to his son. These are not necessarily earth-shattering things. They are just skills, habits, and things a boy should learn from his father.
Recently, I was speaking at a Family Camp here at the Bill Rice Ranch, and I noticed that there were numerous families that had two or three generations at camp that particular week. That brought a question to mind. What will you pass down when you pass on? Every person should pass down the things that matter. We are passing down our family history, our skills, our biases, our priorities, our physical traits. All of us are passing things on to the generation to come, namely to our children if we have them.
Psalm 145 is interesting because we realize that King David himself had a king. Verse 1 says, “I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.” Here is a king who had a king. David’s king was God Almighty. What do you have that is greater and more transcendent than yourself? The God that David had as king was for all people for all time. For instance, verse 13 says, “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” This is something that was greater and more enduring than David.
Recently, I drove by a beautiful farm in my area that has been in a family for well over 160 years. I once knew the patriarch. Of course, if a farm has been around for 160 years, it has had numerous patriarchs, but the man I knew was the oldest man on the farm and was kind to me and neighbors here on the Ranch. I bumped into a local acquaintance recently who lives not far from the Ranch and this farm. He named the man who owned the farm and said, “Yeah, he was a good investor.” That reminded me that years ago the gentleman who owned the farm had given me a book on investments. That makes sense because he was good at it. This morning, I was reminded that that gentleman is dead. He is gone. I don’t know how long that farm will stay in the family, but it certainly won’t be forever no matter how great their investments are.
The God David was passing on exceeds every generation. He exceeds one group of people. David says, “I will speak. Men shall speak. Creation shall speak.” Verse 9 says, “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Verse 10 says, “All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.” Verse 16 says, “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Verse 18 says, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. Verse 21 says, “My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name.” The point is Jehovah is a God for all people of all time. This is not only the God of today or of this country or of some ethnicity.
The takeaway is that parents need something greater than self to pass down to their children. David was a king, but he wasn’t the ultimate king. David had a kingdom, but God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. So, David basically says, “First, I will extol God. Next, I will make known to the sons of men God’s mighty acts. Last, I will praise of the Lord.” Every parent needs something greater than self to pass down.
How do you do that? First, give credit and praise to God. Verse 4 tells us, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” You know a child does not have a long enough memory or the experience and understanding to know all that he has seen. It is up to parents to say, “That was God.” One generation shall praise thy works to another, declare God’s works. Your testimony is simply God’s presence in your history. It is wonderful to be able to say to your child, “That was God,” to see God in your story.
Said another way, verse 7 says that we ought to remember God. It says, “They shall abundantly utter the memory the great goodness, and shall sing.” Songs are one way to remember God. In the book of Psalms, a lot of psalms are acrostics or other devices to aid memory. Many were placed to tunes so people could remember them. Why were these words worth remembering when people did not have personal physical copies of the Word of God? They needed to remember these words because they needed to remember God.
In a changing world where nothing you see will outlast you and few things you see will live much longer than you, we need something bigger and greater to pass down to the next generation. What will you pass down when you pass on? The real question is, “How are you passing God to your children?” That is important because all of us need something greater to live for and something greater than self to pass down.