generations

Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it.

Psalm 22:30-31

The confidence of David that the works of the Lord in saving the troubled are so great that they will be told to future generations is an encouraging motivation. It is so easy today to focus only on the bad news. but David wrote Psalm 22 out of a bad situation. Here’s how he described his experience:

• He feels forsaken by God. (22:1)
• His prayers feel unanswered. (22:2)
• He is scorned and mocked by his society. (22:6-7)
• Trouble is always near. (22:11)
• People act like vicious animals. (22:20-21)

Yet is all this pain, this persecution, this perplexing spiritual struggle, David remains somehow confident that just as God had helped him in the past, God would also save him again. He trusts God. He praises God. He worships God even in the most painful of problems. And that worship carries him confidently past all of the pain.

David’s faith envisions a bold future that God has revealed. It is captivated by these two visions:

• The world is the Lord’s and He will see it turn to Him as He rules the nations. (22:27-28).
• Future generations will worship and serve the Lord, even if the present generation is challenging to faith. (22:30-31)

O Lord,

I need the faith that is so clearly calling me to trust in You today. Although my world is increasingly hostile to You and to the gospel, You are moving history toward that moment when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father! And though it is not always visible to me, You call me to faithfully worship, obey, and proclaim Jesus in the gospel. And a people yet unborn will know You. And so I believe! 

Amen