Generational Loss of Hope

Scripture:
Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind,
          and the fool will be servant to the wise.
Proverbs 11:29

Observation: This is one of the most basic proverbs, and at its most base level easily understood by most people. If by one's actions you destroy your family, then your family will have nothing. In the end, this harms you, as there will be nothing for you to inherit from your family ... no home, no money, and even no legacy. What you are left with is "wind", something that you cannot hold let alone own.

Application: This phrase - inherit the wind - became the title of a famous movie. The movie was about a real event in U.S. history, commonly called the 'Scopes monkey trial', in which a teacher was found guilty of violating the law by teaching about evolution. Now today, it would be a conclusion that most Americans actually believe evolution is not only obvious, but scientifically proven, despite the fact that there is actually no scientific proof of any evolutionary connection between humans and animals, and in fact the opposite is true due to the huge number of genetic differences between us and all animals.

However, to me the most interesting fact today is the movie borrowing this proverb for its title. Yes, it was dealing with a rather 'religious' topic - creation vs. evolution - and thus looking to scriptures has some logic. However, this proverb is a clear warning about disgracing your own family (ancestry) and thus bringing ruin on your own life.

Specifically, science has challenged ancestry, and in popularizing this challenge has left billions of people to reject the Lord as creator, and thus even reject the existence of the Lord entirely. This has ruined entire families, leading to the loss of the moral anchor of our society, elimination of personal understanding of identity, and general ignorance of the true love and belonging that comes from a relationship with Jesus and Yahweh.

When it comes to joy, peace, happiness, and hope, so many today just don't have it because their families have lost the ability to pass it from generation to generation. They don't even have the foundational understanding of life and nature to know they could - and should - have easy access to a blessed life. They have inherited only wind.

Prayer: Lord, I am reminded just this second of the real-life example you showed me of someone who lives without knowledge of you. It is a life of crippling and all-consuming fear, where even basic activities like moving about in public become hours of nonstop anxiety and stress. I see people every day who come from ruined families, and in a very real sense their spiritual inheritance is now so far beyond their grasp that all they know is that that they have no anchor in life to hold onto, which is Jesus and the hope of the gospel. Please, dear Lord, help such people rediscover you and the life they could have if they were to believe again and change their inheritance of their future family. Amen.