For many years I taught the older preschoolers for a women’s day Bible Study Fellowship class. My co-leaders and I taught many books of the Bible to these little ones, sometimes spending a whole year in a book like Genesis. While we covered many heroes of the faith in our Bible lessons, our director always challenged us in our telling of the stories to make God the hero. So, if we told the story of Noah, we wouldn’t just make him the ultimate good guy, but emphasize in our narrative that God was the one who equipped Noah for his important job and rescued his family from the flood.  

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I was teaching Genesis again today to the ladies at the women’s prison, and we were learning about another hero of the faith, Joseph. In light of our psalm of praise today from King David, I was wondering if Joseph taught his kids about all that God did in his life, if he passed on to the next generation the “mighty acts” he saw God perform? Did he tell them about all he had accomplished, or did he make God the hero of his story?

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The Bible tells us Joseph did give God the glory in several interactions. When called before Pharoah to interpret his dream, Joseph gives God the credit, saying, “I cannot do it . . but God will give Pharoah the answers he desires” (Gen 41:16). Also, God gave Joseph the interpretation that eventually saved the remnant of his Israelite family, to keep the covenants God had made with Joseph’s forefathers.

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The Bible gives us two examples of how Joseph passes on his legacy of faith by his actions. He gave his two sons Hebrew names rather than Egyptian names and took them to see his father Jacob for a blessing before he died (Gen. 48). While the Bible doesn’t say what he taught Manasseh and Ephraim about God specifically, I hope that what he modeled early in his life about trusting God and telling of his greatness was passed on to the next generation. One commentary stated, “The Bible records no evidence that they abandoned their father’s faith; instead, their lineage is part of the chosen people of God, continuing the covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  

Today we can recount all that God has done as we have learned from the Bible, but we can also share how God has worked in our own lives. We can tell our own stories in ways that make God the hero of our stories. For isn’t it God alone who created us, set us on the path to follow him, sustained us through suffering and deserves all our praise?

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My husband is an example of someone who is very good at commending God to the next generation. In addition to reading his for kids the Bible (or listening to it read together), he has shared his testimony with them or in their presence many times. They all know his stories that he shares of God’s faithfulness, and if asked, I think they’d say it wasn’t by his own strength and wisdom that he got into medical school and became an eye doctor, but with God’s guidance and equipping. He could easily make his successes all about himself, but wisely, Richard always makes God the hero of his story.

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We see many people in the Bible, from Joseph and David to Paul and John, make God the hero. It is up to us to continue to tell the next generations about God’s wonderous deeds. We don’t have to have some amazing testimony to share; we can simply tell of the ways we have seen God be faithful in our own lives. Who can you tell about God’s mighty acts this week?

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Holy and mighty God, we praise you today for who you are and all you’ve done. Any wisdom we have, Lord, comes from you, and so we pray you will help us to pass on this wisdom to the next generation, always being sure you are the hero of every story. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.