The Jewish exiles felt that they had suffered because of the sins of their forefathers and to some extent this was true. God had said to them, “I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Note here that the punishment is upon the generations of those that hate God. People are not held guilty for the sins of their ancestors. This is the point that is being made here in Ezekiel 18. The fact is though that when a person decides to pursue a life without God (which is the worst offense a person can commit) they establish a momentum of life that successive generations will most probably get swept up in. It is a sobering fact that our wrong choices do indeed have multigenerational effect. That is the nature of human responsibility. However, this does not predetermine a person to a certain path in life. While it is more likely that a person will step into the patterns laid down by his ancestors, the choice is still there for every person whether to repeat those patterns or not. We are not held guilty for the sins of our ancestors, but we must be very conscious and wary of the negative patterns in our family line. These patterns give us vital clues to what may be ‘chinks in our armour’. Let your life set a new and positive pattern so that the next generation will have some positive momentum to step into.
Reflect on some negative family patterns that you may have picked up and ask God to create in you a new heart.
Read Ezekiel 18
