“Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” (Josh 5:9)
The LORD said this to Joshua after the next generation was all circumcised – obeying God’s command that all the males of Israel would be circumcised from eight days old and upward (Gen 17:12). The wicked generation that had wanted to return to Egypt had failed to circumcise their children and left the next generation to do the hard thing once they reached adulthood.
And that is true for many things in life. Many times, parents fail their children, leaving them in a spectacular hole. A hole made for them, but their hole to climb out of nonetheless.
So, if you come with baggage, and your pedigree is not pure, and you struggle with an imperfect childhood that has left you with painful scars and habits…
Or perhaps you are a victim of too much spoiling, so you never learned to work hard. Maybe you deal with the consequences of being told you are the center of the world all the time, so selfishness abounds in your character…
Or mayhaps you never learned how to be a husband, wife, father, or mother because your parents gave you a broken home instead of a proper model to follow…
Take Joshua’s advice – do what the previous generation didn’t. Roll away the reproach by sculpting your character according to God’s pattern. Do the hard things. Change your family tree.
That way, your children can run where you have stumbled.
#Biblebites Matt. 4:4