2 Chronicles 22:3
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab,
for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.
I recently attended my annual family reunion. This year we met down in Kemah, on the Boardwalk. We had a great time and I learned a great deal about how the branches of the family tree were connected. My cousin shared a list of family members, from her mother’s bible, with the date of birth and the day of their death, going back to March 28, 
1898. That was the day the oldest of my grandfather’s siblings was born. What an incredible find? A week later, with the flow of generations still thick in my thoughts, I came across the startling passage above on social media. The verse reached out of the post and grabbed me. It shook me to sobriety with its unabashed indictment of the generations of Ahaziah.
The statement is about Ahaziah, the 8th King of Judah, but it’s an indictment upon his family for three generations. His grandfather Ahab’s house is synonymous with wickedness. Do you see the connection between Ahaziah and the ways of his grandfather’s house was his mother? He was like his grandfather because his mother was his counselor. She encouraged him in the wicked ways of his grandfather. Given the explicit description of such biblical characters, we tend to think that they knew and accepted that they were as wicked as they were described. I believe most people God would describe as wicked would see themselves as good people. Ahaziah’s mother probably thought she was doing the best she could.
The passage caused me to think soberly about the ways of my own house. Will my son counsel his children to do righteously or wickedly because he was reared in my house? Will my descendants become unsuspecting counselors of wickedness or of wisdom? If the Lord chooses to memorialize my house in verse will it be synonymous with wickedness or with righteousness? I can offer no quick fixes. I have no steps to breaking generational failure. What we need is to be rescued. Delivered. Saved. A Savior to whom we more closely cling. For unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, do so in vain.
The Point of Reflection 
Exodus 20:5
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exodus 34:7
who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Numbers 14:18
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’
Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
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Since posting the previous comment on AUG 11 I have been preoccupied with thoughts about how even an exhaustive cite of proof texts can nevertheless amount to an insufficient answer, to the point of failure to engage, much less edify the soul of a Pilgrim.
How often I have remarked to myself that we pilgrims need to “Behold” the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So I have returned to offer this message by C. J. Mahaney, to enable us to Behold the Heart of the Father, whose compassion toward us moved Him to send us His Son.
https://sovereigngracemusic.org/training/resources/worshiping-god-the-father-understanding-the-miracle-of-adoption/
This will be familiar territory for some of you, but then, “I Love to Tell the Story for those who know it best…”
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