Hope for the Next Generation

Have you ever looked around at the world and all its problems and wondered how the next generation is ever going to make it?

It can be easy to feel hopeless, like there’s nothing we can do to combat the flood of ungodly influences which bombard our young people. But I ran across Isaiah 58 the other day, and was struck by the promise it gives:

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to walk in.” (v.12)

Notice, the foundations of not just the next generation, but many generations would be raised up.

But how? How do we become the kind of people that raise up godly, Biblical foundations in the next generation—and do it so well that it lasts for generations to come?

If you read the rest of the chapter, you’ll see that the key is a sincere, humble relationship with God, a heart eager to hear and determined to obey His leading.

Dear Reader, the next generation will likely have much to overcome, but there is hope for them—if we will but be faithful and consistent in our walk with God.

The passage below is a lengthy one, but I encourage you to take time in reading it, asking God to show you how He wants you to deepen your relationship with Him so that He can use you to be a foundation-builder for many generations to come.

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring for thee speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee: the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted in soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations: and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:5-14