Let Our Children See Your Glory

Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! – Psalm 90:16-17 NLT

When I read this verse, I was hit with such a deep cry and with a spirit of intercession.  I recognized that this verse is talking about walking with God in such a way that we build momentum for the next generation.  The first verse says, “Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory.”  My heart reads this as: let our children constantly experience You and have an intimate knowledge of Your manifest presence.

I can’t think of a greater honor than to be called to live for another generation. I want to be a believer who not only believes God for great things now. But one who also believes that my children will see greater things.  And so even now, I pray for this ongoing revival to increase and I imagine a generation born into a thriving supernatural culture.  A culture where it’s normal to see angels. It’s easy to see the sick healed. It’s delightful to watch food multiply. And raising the dead is just what we do on Mondays.

The second verse says, “And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!”  What efforts are we asking Him to make successful? Our efforts to follow Him, to serve Him and to sustain His outpouring. We want to do everything we know how, to be faithful in stewarding a move of God. More importantly, we want God to bless our efforts so that our children would experience more of His world.

Isn’t this what David did? Of course it is! In Acts 13:36, the scripture says that David served his own generation by doing the will of God.  David created momentum for his sons and his descendants by carrying out everything God desired. Wow! David clearly portrayed what it looks like to live for a time you may never see. He laid up plans for Solomon to build the house of the Lord.  David not only wrote up intricate plans for the building of the temple but he also set aside gold, silver and other precious materials.  In today’s currency, this would be commensurate to $32 billion. He also gave $800 million of his own personal treasury toward the temple. Why would David do all of this knowing Solomon would be the one to see the fruit? He tells us why, “I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 28:2) David had a heart after God and he also had a heart that believed in the next generation.

Let’s take a look at Abraham. He’s known as the father of faith. Abraham depicts what it looks like to be a father of promise. God told Abraham “I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6).  The Lord also promised that Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars and the sand on the seashore. Well Abraham died at the age of 175 and he had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael; neither of whom were nations and neither of whom were kings.  So did God keep His word? Yes, but not in Abraham’s lifetime.  And that didn’t make the promise any less true.  Abraham lived beyond his time, and since he believed God’s promise, he taught Isaac to keep the covenant with God.

Why should you care about living for another generation? Because it’s a basic need in every believer. Don’t believe me? Even the secular world has discovered this truth and states, “there’s an intrinsic human need to be involved in something greater that one’s self.” You see, when you became a believer you were formed and fashioned in the image of Christ.  You share His likeness.  He was your prototype.  Well what was Jesus like? His description of Himself says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Matthew 20:28 In simple terms, we won’t be happy until we find something to give our lives for. He has placed eternity in our hearts. A knowing that there’s more to this divine plan than what I see today. And because of that, I’m willing to live my life in such a way that they (our children) are better off.

This revelation is for singles, couples, parents, grandparents and everyone else. We are all called to live beyond our lifetime by stewarding what He’s given us today. We live in hopes that our children would see His glory!

© Solape Osoba 2012