Building a Godly Heritage

Nine childish voices rang out loudly,

“O LORD, unto Your land You showed

Your favor graciously bestowed;

The captive Judah You set free,

Restored his wealth and liberty.”   85A

It did my heart good – it reminded me that God has done this for me, too. He has bestowed His gracious favor and set me free.

I hung this psalm on our cabin wall in the summer of 2016 when we felt so frightened and trapped by circumstances that were far, far beyond our control.

It was still on the wall when we sat down to our first meal with the combined Elliot households this summer. In the chaos of that first dinner together I wanted a hymn quick. So that’s what we sang.

For a few days I cast around for another hymn – one a little more “child friendly.”  But the children caught on fast! And there was something appealing about the little boys belting it out for all they were worth. So we kept on singing Psalm 85A.

I thought of all the hymns I loved as a child without really understanding until much, much later.. and I decided I would just count it as building a heritage.

Building a godly heritage…   I thought of this again as Uncle #5 set us to memorizing Psalm 103:1-6.

My father began so many of his prayers with those beautiful words,

“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

- Psalms 103:1-2 KJV

As a small child I wasn’t very clear on the nature of blessings and benefits…  but I could hear the reflective awe in my father’s voice. I think I can still hear it.

And those words have helped and strengthened me again and again over the years.

In fact, early this year my husband and I began praying from this psalm every night – because its an antidote to all that ails me. And there is a lot that ails me.

Building a godly heritage.

This picture of Daniel is part of our family heritage, too.

In our early days in Ajigasawa, we had men. Young men, too. But such men! I wanted Josephs and Daniels. But we had Thomas and Peter and Judas.

I sent for a poster of Daniel in the lions’ den and hung it at the front of “the church” (a room in our house at the time.) It didn’t seem to exercise the desired effect on those men and they drifted off. But the Elliot children went on looking at that poster for the next 30 years. It seeped down deep into their souls and gave them backbone.

I think it gave me backbone, too. Pictures are powerful.

I hope this picture is seeping into our grandchildren’s souls now along with their memories of summer in the cabin at Takayama. Because…

Life is messy. And life is sometimes rather frightening.

I hope the verses we recited and the  hymns we sang this summer will come back to them when they need courage and grace to go on.

Because life is also beautiful.

BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL,

AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME…

BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL,

AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS.