Daily Devotional For Sunday, September 20, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional reading for today comes from Ezekiel 18:1-4:
“Then another message came to me from the Lord: (2) “Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? (3) As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. (4) For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die” (NLT).
We are reminded that this was a popular proverb or saying. The prophet Jeremiah refers to this as well in Jeremiah 31:29. The main point of this passage is this: People do not inherit righteousness or wickedness but are responsible for their own sin. Each individual should repent because God does not take pleasure in a person’s death. Based on Exodus 20:5, the Jews held a false belief that God would punish even the children for their parent’s sins. That is not what Exodus 20:5 implies. It means that each successful generation is impacted by the previous generation’s sin, and in this case, their father’s or parents’ sins. Our parents’ sins affect us, their children. Your parents’ sins affected and impacted you. So, you have a choice: you can break the cycle or join it. I chose to break the generation cycle of alcoholism on my father’s side of the family. I have never consumed alcohol.
Even in college, when my friends went to get drunk, I went with them but while they were drinking beer, I drank sweet tea. I’m not bragging, but thanking God because if I had not, I know the dam would break and my family would suffer for it. There comes a point that each future generation has to decide if it is going to pass their sins on or stop them.
This means that each child, each future generation has the opportunity to break the cycle of sin from the previous generation, and in this case, their parent’s generation. In our text, the exile and Jews have failed to do this. Sour grapes were loved in biblical days. These days, we prefer sweet grapes. Our lips can pucker only so much before the pain is too much.
The second half in this proverb, “ . . . the children’s mouths pucker at the taste” has caused translators issues. The Hebrew is not clear. Some translated it as “. . . the children’s teeth ache.” Some translated it as “. . . the children’s teeth become blunt and dull.” Some translated it as “. . . the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
Regardless of the actual translation, the point is this: anyone who has eaten acidic food understands the unpleasant sense registered by one’s teeth. In the Book of Proverbs, it compares vinegar to the teeth to smoke in the eyes (Pr. 10:26). This promise from God that one will die if they sin reminds us of God’s warning to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15-17). This passage is saying that the present generation is paying for the sins of the past generations. Every generation has to suffer for the mess the previous generation made.
The Hebrew text seems to suggest that the present generation in this text had given into nihilism – the belief that life is without objective purpose, meaning and intrinsic value. This present generation in our text saw their lives only through the mess left by the previous generation. Their lives were doom and gloom. “Why even bother to make a difference since we are powerless to undo what our parents did?” Now before we feel sorry for the current generation in our text, they were not only impacted by their parent’s sins, they too were doing some of the same sins. So, they were without excuse with God’s judgment.
Reflection Assignment: What impacts did your parent’s sin have on you and how have you dealt with them? If you have children, what sins did you commit that affected and impacted your own children in a negative way? What can you do now with the Lord’s help to change that?
Scripture To Meditate On: Lamentations 5:7, “Our ancestors sinned, but they have died—and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to help those who have been impacted and affected by my sins. Help me to minimize that in others today so that others in the future will not have to suffer for my sins. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly