Joshua 23:14
“And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye
know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath
failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning
you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed
thereof.”
When I was a young boy, I always enjoyed
getting into the car with my dad to ride with him to the places he needed to go. All it took for me to go with my dad was for him to ask me if I wanted to go. I enjoyed watching my dad make small corrections on the steering wheel, watching how he turned and even looking at how he accelerated and braked.
However, there came a point when I wanted to drive myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy riding with my dad, but I wanted to be able to drive the car myself. I was thirteen years of age when it was the first time I got behind the steering wheel of the car to drive it myself. Our church was in the country, and my dad threw me the keys and told me to take the car to the bottom of the hill on our church property to grab something and to bring it back up to him. I was so excited about being able to drive the car because I wasn’t riding with my dad, but I was driving the very car he drove and the way that he drove it.
One of the most troubling things I see in the verse above is that the generation that rode on the blessings of Joshua didn’t rise up to continue to see victories for the LORD when he got old. Instead of trying to replicate what Joshua did, they rode on the coattails of his blessings, and they soon found out that the old man wouldn’t always be there. The younger generations’ lack of drive to attempt great things for God eventually led to their demise and departure from God, which resulted in captivity.
The verse above reminds me of what is happening to America. This present generation that we live in has been riding on the blessings of the previous generation, and instead of getting behind the steering wheel of faith to see God do something great in their life, they continue to ride on the blessings which is leading this nation to destruction.
The older generation is not going to live forever. My friend, you can’t ride on the blessings of the previous generation forever. At some point, you need to attempt great works of faith if you are going to see God do something in your lifetime. Riding on the blessings of the previous generation is okay for a short period, but it should be motivating you to step up and see those same blessings for yourself. You can’t live forever on the blessings of the previous generation. If this generation is going to see God’s power, this generation needs to rise up and attempt great acts of faith as did the previous generation.
Let me ask you, are you riding on the blessings of the previous generation? You can’t ride forever on those blessings. God gave you their example so that you would learn what you should do. There is a generation that is following you, and how will they ever learn how to see God’s blessings for themselves if all you do is ride on the blessings of the previous generation? The next generation will never know the blessings of God’s great works if you don’t step up and attempt great works of faith for God. Stop riding on the blessings of the previous generation and get behind the steering wheel and lead the next generation to see God’s great works with their own eyes.
