This Current Generation
I read the following verses this morning and just closed my eyes and sighed because we can see those verses being played out all around us. I felt discouraged and sad.
“There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.” (Proverb 30:11-14)
I wonder sometimes if, all through time, someone has read this and said, “This…right now…IS that generation.”
I’m inclined to say that now.
However, I checked out the meaning of the word “generation”. It means an age or a revolution in time and, surely, “generation” as we know it is something that does come and then it goes. In other words, generations operate in cycles.
So, I find myself tempted to say, “This…right now…IS that generation.”
However, I think it is more accurate to say that we are witnessing one of those generations…one of those cycles in which children curse their parents (Proverb 30:11) and, even, nations curse those who established them. (Foolish people mock our nations’ “fathers and mothers”; we tear down their statues and rip their names off things that commemorate them and their deeds. Indeed, they discard the foundational beliefs of their earthly parents AND the Heavenly Father.)
Currently in place is a generation that is “pure in its own eyes”; it thinks it can do whatever it wants and that is all good and won’t bring them any harm (Proverb 30:12a). This current cycle in humanity thinks itself to be clean (“pure”)…not because it actually IS clean. Rather, it has tried to delete the concepts of sin, wrong, and dirty from the world’s vocabulary. It has redefined good to be bad and bad to be good and has even tried to redefine God (the definer of both good and bad), “yet it is not washed from its filthiness” (Proverb 30:12b). This generation will not escape the consequences of its filthiness outside of God and His cleansing.
This generation is elevated in its own eyes “and their eyelids are lifted up” (Proverb 30:13). They proclaim themselves to be “enlightened” and “progressive” and “woke” and highly evolved humans.
Finally, this generation is mean in its speech, its “teeth are like swords” and its “fangs are like knives” (Proverb 30:14a). It is not kind and gentle at all. It “devours the poor (those who lack) from off the earth, and the needy from among men” (Proverb 30:14b) – all while making a big show of being loving and caring about those who lack. This only serves to make this generation feel good about itself.
This is not new; NONE of this is appearing on the earth for the first time. It is not really a “sign of the end times”.
This generation is just that: a “generation” - simply another cycle of people who live sinful and prideful and mean lifestyles. In other words, this has happened before. Whole people groups have been captivated by malevolent people and beings in the past. This is merely the most recent batch to do these things. God has seen this before.
Moses spoke of a crooked generation in his day and in the future: “They have corrupted themselves; they are not His children, because of their blemish: a perverse and crooked GENERATION.” (Deuteronomy 32:5). Because they are unwittingly discipled by the devil, generations like this come and go without interruption: “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4)
So, how shall we live in the face of all this?
Should we allow this to beat us down and cause us despair? Many Christians are experiencing that and, to be sure, it IS sad and discouraging to watch a generation choose spiritual suicide over life in Christ.
How else can we deal with it?
I propose that we hold our ground, pray for the lost, pray for those described in these four horrible, yet TRUE, verses in Proverbs 30, and have hope.
God is bigger than all this. He WILL touch hearts and change people.
Remember, this is just a “generation”; until Jesus returns there will also be good generations.
David spoke of a generation of righteous people: “God is with the generation of the righteous.” (Psalm 14:5). He spoke prophetically about generations of people who seek the Lord; David speaks of a “generation of those who seek Him” and who “seek His face” (Psalm 24:6). Some of these generations exist at the same time the foolish and ungodly generations do.
In other words, not everything we are seeing in the world is bad. There are generations who love God and who are grieved over the state of the people in the world. If you are…YOU are part of these generations spoken of by David in the Psalms. The word says something encouraging about those generations.
These generations will be blessed by God: “The generation of the upright will be blessed” (Psalm 112:2).
Let’s commit to being that generation.
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalm 24:3-5)
I read Proverb 30:11-14 and just closed my eyes and sighed because we can see those verses being played out all around us. So, I prayed.
I have resolved, and I invite you to join me, to refuse to be captivated by the disorder in the world and in the people of that generation. Nothing but despair can come of that and it would only delight the evil one who directs those people to live like that.
Instead of looking down on the human debris field that is currently so proud to be sinful, let’s look up.
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah” (Psalm 24:7-10)
Amen.
Pastor Mike McInerney
Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.
Decatur, TX
© January 30, 2020