Daily Reading: 2 Kings 3
Nevertheless, Jehoram clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it. (2 Kings 3.3).
Devotional Thought: "He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord..." These words were used to describe Jehoram. At least Jehoram was "not like his father and mother," Ahab and Jezebel, but he still "clung to the sin of Jeroboam" (the first king of the Northern Kingdom, who led in the civil war against the people of God).
God does not condemn children for the sins of their parents. (See Deuteronomy 24.16 and Ezekiel 18.20.) Yet, God knows that sin is an insidious infection that children pick up from their parents. That is why he gave the warning in the Ten Commandments: "I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me" (Exodus 20.5).
Sinful tendencies and habits of parents weave their destruction through subsequent generations. Children of addicts often become addicts. Children of abusers are more likely to abuse. We are seeing this played out in America today. It is hard to break the cycle.
But not impossible.
God's grace reaches into each generation to save it. That is evident by the fact that Jehoram somehow knew not to embrace the sins of his father and mother. Had Jehoram listened more closely to the voice of conviction, he could have set an entirely different course for Israel, for God shows "steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20.6)
Perhaps you are in a generational cycle of sin and destruction. You can break the cycle if you refuse to cling to that sin and if you call upon the Lord. He will "do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think."
Prayer: Father, thank you for your steadfast love that endures forever. I call upon you, O Lord, to break the generational curse of sin by the powerful name of Jesus - in my life, in my family, in our nation, and in our world. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: 10.16-18
16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.
17 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
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