Years ago, I heard a minister say, “Don’t leave battles for your children to fight.” This has stuck with me for years and I am determined to win battles and destroy strongholds so that my children and grandchildren don’t have to endure battles I could have won.
God’s covenant is a generational covenant, and I believe if we choose to walk in Him and follow Him, it sets the stage for our children to do the same. It all, of course, begins with what we teach them and even more importantly, what they see modeled before their eyes.
This past week, I heard my friend, Marsha, teach a lesson about the Tamarisk tree – a profound insight that goes along with this truth of our God being a generational God. Let me explain.
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. (Gen 21:33)
Abraham had made an agreement concerning a well – it was at that time that he celebrated God’s faithfulness to him to obtain this well by planting a tamarisk tree and praying to El Olam, the everlasting, eternal and never changing God. This is where God first got the name El Olam.
The tamarisk tree isn’t just any tree. According to the Bible commentaries, the tamarisk tree is a symbol of faith, especially during hard seasons. It is also a symbol of enduring life in harsh desert and the commitments that are made for future generations.
In other words, Abraham was planting something intentional. He was planting something he knew would be there long after he was gone. It would provide shade and protection for generations to come. For his children and their children.
There are a few more interesting things about a tamarisk tree:
It thrives, not survives, in dry and dark places.
It is planted in desert places.
It captures moisture at night and releases a cool mist the next day.
I just love the symbolism of this tree – it thrives in hard places even when planted in the dry place and during its darkest time, it captures moisture or refreshing to release during the daytime, during times of heat. Isn’t that awesome. This reminds me that we too can thrive in any condition regardless of what is dark and dry around us.
Abraham planted this particular tree, knowing it would thrive. Knowing it would shelter his children and their children and their children. He knew he served a generational God.
Over 900 years later, we read in the Bible that King Saul sat under a tamarisk tree to address his servants. Was it the same tree, only God knows. But this I do know – that tamarisk tree Abraham planted served and sheltered generations.
Today, are you planting things that will serve and protect and shelter generations to come? Are you refusing to let go of promises from God so that the fulfillment of those promises will go down to your children and grandchildren? What are you planting today? Are you planting things that remain? Oh, I hope so.
We serve a God who is a God of generations – may we be more like Him. May we leave things behind that our children can walk in – that is my prayer.
