Generation to Generation

By Knox Chamblin
 
In December 2008, I turned seventy-three. Invited by Tabletalk to address younger generations “on matters pertinent to the faith,” I thought of Psalm 71, the prayer of an elderly man. Says verse 18: “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” I seek to do so now.
 
Wisdom: “O God, from my youth you have taught me” (Ps. 71:17a). “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (90:12). For an ancient Hebrew, heart had rational, emotional, and volitional dimensions. So one way to love God with all one’s heart was to love him with all one’s mind (Matt. 22:37). I urge you, whatever your calling, to commit yourself to the serious study of the Holy Scriptures. When I taught at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), reading an assigned exposition sometimes left me wondering: “If this student believes the Bible is God’s infallible Word, why has he expended so little effort to mine its treasures?” While writing a commentary on the gospel of Matthew in recent years, I was acutely aware of the need for both utter dependence on God and unrelenting discipline: these are like the two wings of an aircraft, both essential for flight (Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, chap. 8).
 
Read the rest