From year to year, it’s pretty infrequent that I remember this year how a passage hit me in previous years. The nice thing about getting older is that it’s “deja vu all over again” more often than not. But not so when it comes to Psalm 24. I take in the psalm this morning and immediately I’m thinking, “Gen S!” — the Generations that Seeks Him. I’m a boomer, currently we talk a lot about Gen Z, the “zoomers”, oh, but to be part of that generation marked forever as seekers! So, I went back in the archives and enjoyed some thoughts from 2018. Here they are again with a tweak or two.

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I’m a baby boomer. That’s how my generation is referred to by those who talk of the characteristics of people born during certain time periods. And that’s all I had to do to be a baby boomer . . . be born. I cannot not be a baby boomer. I might wanna be cooler and wear a Gen X t-shirt. Or try to be more hip and wear knee-less, tight jeans and think I can roll with Gen Y, the Millennials. Or whip out my electronic device and let others know I’m as with it as one of those Gen Z influencers. But that’s not how it works. I’m part of the generation (and there were a lot of us, hence the “boom”) that was born post-World War II, between 1946 and 1964. So, I’m a baby boomer. Done deal.

But as I’m hovering over Psalm 24 this morning, I’m chewing on another demographic that I’m also part of. And, in a similar way, I’m part of that group through nothing I did or could have done. It isn’t a generation of people I was physically born into, but an ageless, eternal cohort of men and women I was born again into. A generation that I think of as Gen S.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

(Psalm 24:3-6 ESV)

My “people” are those who can ascend the hill of the LORD. Those allowed access to His holy place. Those invited within the veil to behold His glory.

We are distinguished in that we have received blessing from the LORD. In fact, though dwelling on earth, we’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). What’s more, we have also received righteousness from our God — a righteousness credited to our account apart from works (Rom. 4:6). Thus, marked as those who seek Him, we might think of ourselves as “Generation Seeker” — as Gen S.

We didn’t earn Gen S status; it was bestowed upon us. Such privileged access before the LORD of all the earth “and the fullness thereof” (24:1), such abundant blessing by the One from whom all blessings flow, is due solely to the fact that we have been counted among those who have clean hands and a pure heart. And this not of ourselves, it too is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).

Clean hands not because of our goodness and perfection, but hands made clean through the shed blood of Another. A pure heart not of our own making — for naturally, mine was a heart of stone encrusted with sin. Instead, a pure heart because it’s a new heart. Clean hands and a pure heart, gifted by the God or our salvation.

Such is Gen S, the generation of those who seek Him.

We didn’t behave our way into this generation. We were born again into it. Because of the Father’s Sovereign determination. Through the Son’s sacrificial death. By the Spirit’s soul-regenerating dynamic.

Though once lost, we were found. Though once blind, now we see. Though once in bondage to sin, now living in freedom. Though once wandering aimlessly, now seeking the face of God.

We’re part of Gen S. Not because of who we are, but because of what He has done. (Thanx again, Casting Crowns)

We’re members of that generation that seek Him. Not because of what we’ve done, but because of who He is.

Gen S by grace alone. Gen S for His glory alone.

Amen?