Through the generations

Dec 6, 2020 | By Hannah Turner BK ‘23+.5

It astounds me to think how limited human knowledge is. We spend all our time  searching for answers or teaching what we already know, and it feels shameful to admit that there are some things we just can’t know. Generally we stay away from those questions. You know the ones. My favorite is, “why do good things happen to bad people, and vice versa?” because it points to the grey areas of life. Sometimes people even add “if God is so good then…” before the question as the idea of karma fills their minds. To think about the millionaire who profits from sweatshops or the child that is injured in a car accident is bewildering. I’ll admit I don’t know the answer to this question, but maybe it doesn't have just one. What I do know is that all truth comes from the Bible, and so we must start there to find an answer.

The first part of this question to address is what we presume to be good or bad. This doesn’t mean we need to look for possible positive outcomes from a bad situation. What we should do is look at how we are defining good. Does the dishonorable millionaire really have anything good? I mean, money can be great, but wealth in itself is not a blessing. When we pass into eternity, we do not take any of that with us. One’s earthly wealth doesn’t really matter. That millionaire is not blessed, in the biblical sense of the word, at all. God wants us to remember that we are citizens of heaven (Phillippians 3:20-21), and therefore must shift our perspective. God says that, though we focus on the world, it is eternity that really matters.

In this eternal reality, the most significant blessing is the salvation we receive through Christ Jesus. God was planning this blessing from the beginning. In Genesis we first see God’s actions and character as a blessing to His people. God’s presence was extremely important. He is omnipresent, but reveals Himself constantly. God is present so He can do a good work in and through us. With Abraham, God made the promise that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham (Genesis 17:18-19). God made the covenant promise with Abraham specifically, but God is faithful to maintain it throughout all following generations. God could have revoked the blessing when the family turned away from Him. But His faithfulness is stronger than our sin.

If we look at the stories of Abram and his descendants, we will find a powerful  account of God's blessings and curses. They are not stagnant, but flow through the generations. The family, as a unit, is so important to God that one person’s actions affect the others immensely. In Genesis 15, God makes the covenant promise with Abram. He repeats the promise over and over: that Abram will be the father of nations, and they will be blessed with Him as their God. Sarai, Abram’s wife, tries to take matters into her own hands. Instead of abolishing His promise, God reminds them of it by changing their names—at that time a source of their identity. Abram becomes Abraham—father of a multitude—and Sarai becomes Sarah—princess. God’s promises are truly everlasting.

Abraham’s son Isaac soon inherits the covenant promise. Eventually, Isaac’s whole family is intertwined in sin as they all remove their trust from God (Genesis 27). Nonetheless, God still works amongst them to keep the covenant. Jacob inherits the covenant and soon encounters God at Bethel. Jacob worships God there and vows to follow Him, but somehow he still never lets go of his selfishness. He falls in love with Rachel but is entrapped in the sin of her father Laban. Jacob is tricked into sleeping with Rachel’s sister, Leah, and ends up marrying them both. Their home is full of jealousy and anger. At long last, Jacob seeks God’s blessing with weeping and defeat. As a reminder, God breaks his hip and changes his name to Israel—he who strives with God (Genesis 32). Jacob, surprisingly, still ignores God, and more destruction and sin continue to cover the family (Genesis 34). God is still faithful, however, and gives Jacob the name Israel a second time (Genesis 35:1-15). Additionally, God unites Israel and his brother Esau at the death of their father Isaac. Esau did not inherit the covenant, and his life was full of sin. He had great material possessions, but it was nothing compared to the covenant. Esau never had a relationship with God like Jacob’s. 

There are a lot of similarities throughout the stories of this family. The covenant is passed down through the generations. God is faithful to His promises even though the family continues to fail. Every person in Abraham’s family turned away from God at some point, including Abraham. The sins they commit have an effect throughout the generations. In Jacob’s family, the actions of both Laban and Jacob bring despair, suffering, and competition. Esau’s offspring become rivals of the Israelites. Since they turned away from God, they suffer the consequences of sin. Still, God patiently waits for them to truly turn back. Those who do not turn back never get to experience true blessing from God and relationship with God. 

There is hope in God’s character and in the life of Jesus for us to break the cycle of sin in our lives. Our life is not solely ours. We were created by God, and the decisions of others clearly affect our lives. Yet, through Jesus we are made new, and our lives can be redeemed. If from our limited knowledge we see good things happening to bad people, then we need to be reminded of a greater perspective. Every human has sinned. Maybe that bad person has truly repented, and been made new—we should rejoice! Or maybe we are defining worldly things as a blessing, and not realizing that there is much more treasure in Christ Jesus.