1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
Psalm 40:1-3
Each and everyone of us has a past. Sounds silly..but take time to let that sink in. I have parents who made choices, but those choices were framed by how they were raised. You were once a child and your past was shaped by those who raised you. And my parents decisions on how to deal with life was a blending of the past of each of their parent's lives. And then just keep thinking back generations upon generations. It seems like our pasts are an alphabet soup of just trying to survive in this broken world.
Each of use has hardships we had to endure. And how we react is usually an extension of what we were taught. And I don't mean that if you have an alcohol addiction that your parents were also suffering from an addiction, even though the probability is pretty high. But, as someone suffering from an addiction, you might have been taught the right skills to cope in life.
If our parents did not have the skills to cope with life in a healthy way, then that is what we learned and what became the fabric of how our family dealt with life. How that manifested itself in your life might be different but we learn what is shown to us.
In the Bible it was promised that sin will carry on to our generations by seven. When I was a child I thought like a child and didn't understand how my actions would be felt down seven generations. But, now as an adult (and as a parent) I can see the full meaning of that. What I teach my kids by my actions is what they will learn. Will they learn how to deal with relationships and problems in a healthy way to will they turn to the bottle, or pornography, or drugs, etc ???
BUT, in today's verse we learn that that "He has given me a new song to sing." AND so we need to embrace aspects of our heritage while rejecting the parts that were not so healthy. And sing - sing it loud and clear. Sing the new song that God has given to us. Put your trust in the Lord.
