Is there hope in the second commandment?
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments,” says Exodus 20:4-6.
Chapter 20 in Exodus outlines the Ten Commandments. God gave these to his chosen Jewish people after bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. When I first heard these words, they seemed unfair.
“Lord,” I prayed, “don’t hold my father’s iniquities against me. Why would you place my father’s behavior against my account?”
After all, I reasoned, I make enough of my own mistakes, bad choices, and poor judgments. My sins are constant proof that I need a Savior. Adding the sins of my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather felt burdensome, suffocating, and—well—not fair.
Hopeless Relationships
Additionally, for some of us, there exists complicated heartbreak in our relationship with our fathers. The Ten Best Decisions A Single Mom Can Make lists these statistics:
- One in four homes is single-parent led
- Approximately 15 million single parents are solo parenting 22 million children in single-parent families
- 85 percent of single-parent families are led by single moms with primary custody of their children
- One-third of single parent families live at, or below, poverty level
- Less than half receive child support
- The average yearly child support to single moms is $6,000
Between the lines of these stats are a significant number of children with a hole in their life where a father is designed to be. Abandonment for any reason is rugged. Add in behavior laced with abuse and addiction and the weight of accumulated generations of iniquities is shocking.
“My father struggled with alcohol all my life,” author Pam Farrel said. “With each passing year, my dad’s anger and depression grew, leading to increased episodes of domestic violence and physical abuse—most aimed at my mother or absorbed by my mother as she stepped in to protect her three kids.”
Finding Hope in the Second Commandment
Scripture describes the character of God.
Psalm 36:7, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Matthew 6:30, “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
Matthew 19:26, “with God all things are possible.”
And John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
In John 14:9, Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” The character Jesus displayed throughout his ministry was abundant with grace, unconditional love, forgiveness, and hope.
Replace Lies With Hope in the Second Commandment
My view of the character of God in Exodus 20:3-4 was not in alignment with how the character of God is described throughout the Scripture. Whenever misalignment occurs, I have learned that my thinking is often backwards, inside out, upside down, and needs a tune-up.
Because heart wounds and experiences cloud my understanding of who God is, I have found value in working with a mentor.
Each time we talk, she takes me back to the Bible. “What does Scripture say?”
In the process of studying the Word of God, lies I’ve believed are uprooted and replaced with truth including hope in the second commandment.
In Exodus 20:6, God says he shows “steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” The NIV version of Exodus 20:6 says it this way, “but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” God blesses those who love him by loving future generations for many decades to come.
Families frequently pass traditions and characteristics, both good and bad, from generation to generation. Those who do not love the Lord and keep his commandments can influence future generations to live apart from God. Yet, our loving Heavenly Father proclaims his mercy in Exodus. For families who could live without relationship with God for a thousand generations, God graciously intervenes in the third or fourth generation. He gives opportunity for someone in that line to love him and keep his commandments.
Grace and Mercy
The hope in the second commandment is God invites those with a history of rejecting him to have abundant life with him. This renewal interrupts the ongoing pattern of previous generations passing on a life lived without God. When God’s invitation to relationship is accepted, God abundantly shows love to thousands connected to those who love him and keep his commandments.
The hope in the second commandment is that God mercifully extends his loving invitation to live in relationship with him. Despite the behavior my family members chose, God helps me and my family have the unparalleled blessings of God. His love, grace, forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life are gifts offered to me.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,” says John 3:17, “but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17 is the continued hope in the second commandment.
Find more hope in The Ten Best Decisions A Single Mom Can Make by Pam Farrel and PeggySue Wells.
