Building Monuments

I've been thinking a lot lately about a teaching I heard recently.


The teaching was on heritage and blessing. It started out talking about how the early Israelites built monuments to God with stones. Every time they had an encounter with God, or a trial that God got them through, a battle, a blessing, whatever God did, they built an altar or monument to God. They used unhewn stones that no man had cut.


When they built these they were as a testimony and witness of God's greatness and goodness. They also served as conversation starters as the children would ask, "Why are all these stones stacked up like that?"


Then the fathers could explain that God did something great and wonderful that only He could do. By telling the story, they were in effect building the monument greater - adding their own stones to it. So the next generation had a bigger, higher monument to start with and they could then brag even more and more and pass the story on.



There is another story of how the fathers of our faith passed down the blessing to the next generation by the laying on of hands. They actually imparted to them wisdom, blessing, testimony, experience, heritage, possessions so that the next generation could build on that and go to a higher level.


As we grow older, we may not be able to do physically what we could do . We may have lost some of our mental ability, we may feel bad because we have reached a point where we feel useless or like a burden. That is the time that God in His wisdom and mercy has given us to best be able to pass on the blessing, to impart the anointing, to share the story, and explain the heritage.


May those of the younger generations be wise enough to grasp the meaning of this. To desire like Elisha did the double anointing of Elijah and be willing to listen and learn and BE there. To draw it out of us.


There is much to be said for youth and zeal and strength. There is much more to be appreciated about endurance and perseverance and diligence. These come with time and age and experience. If the youth is wise, they will take these things passed down and build on them. Then they don't have to go around that mountain for themselves, but can learn and avoid that mountain and get on down the road faster and farther.

We all know what "old money" does for people. We know that the children of the wealthy have a head start and advantage over those who start out with nothing.

The same is true spiritually. The children of wise parents have the same advantage. They can start out at a higher level and go even higher than their parents or grandparents.

At a time in life, when it seems that a person has nothing else worthwhile to give, God in His wisdom has ordained that to be the time of greatest anointing to pass on what no one else can - their life's wisdom, experience, blessing, heritage.

I wonder if we really REALLY understand that.