When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
Genesis 25:25-27
The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you.
What kind of legacy are you leaving?
When you think of legacy, perhaps you think of finances, belongings, or property. As we age, we begin to ask more and more “what is my legacy?” It’s easy to feel that we don’t have enough time in this life to accomplish all that we wish that we could. I know that I feel that way often.
Methuselah had 969 years to build a legacy (Genesis 5:25-27).* Can you imagine what you could accomplish in that amount of time? Can you imagine the things that he could build and leave to his family!?
Interestingly, there is almost no biblical record of the acts and deeds of Methuselah. A handful of verses give us little story on the many years of Methuselah (Genesis 5:21–27; 1 Chronicles 1:3).* His writings are not found in the Bible, deemed critical for the people of God to read over the generations. There is no mention of his wealth, his wisdom, or his financial investments.
Here’s what we know about Methuselah: he was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah.* In these few facts, we see an amazing legacy!
Enoch was so close to God that he did not die; God brought him up to heaven Himself (Genesis 5:24). Methuselah, having observed that, lived longer than any other human recorded in Scripture.* Methuselah then grandfathering Noah.*
Noah, as you recall, built an arch as God’s provision of salvation during God’s judgement on humanity.* In a culture of sin and wickedness, Noah chose God.
In the 969 years of Methuselah’s life, God only chooses to include this in His Word: Methuselah was raised by a man so close to God that death did not take him, and he somehow influenced his grandson in a culture of corruption that lead Noah to choose God over everything and everyone else. Methuselah saw that faithfulness in Noah (Methuselah lived until the year of the flood).* The Arc took 100 years to build, and Methuselah witnessed its building.* Methuselah got to see that his legacy included faithfulness to God, intimacy with God, and salvation.
What more could we ask for?
I don’t know Methuselah, but I know that his son Lamech was only recorded as doing one noteworthy thing: naming Noah.* Should Methuselah be disappointed in his legacy? Should he feel like a failure? Sometimes the most powerful details of life and legacy are not recorded as great feats, but as simple faithfulness. Methuselah somehow walked out his life for 969 years in a way that influenced his son Lamech to think that naming his son Noah might bring about the salvation that the world needed. Lamech looked at the world, and said, “this world needs God.” In the words of Lamech, Noah received his name because, “out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”*
This desire was fulfilled as God said, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man” (Genesis 8:21).*
Legacy is not always grand (Lamech simply named his son). Legacy is not always visible (Methuselah died before seeing the flood and the salvation of the Lord through Noah). Legacy is sometimes a seed (all of this came from Enoch’s intimacy with God).
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to realize that there is more to your legacy than you realize. Perhaps today God wants you to see past what you want for your legacy to see what He is doing in and through your legacy. Perhaps today God would ask you to pray new prayers for your legacy. Maybe today He wants you to focus on intimacy with Him.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
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*Easton, M. G. (1893). In Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (p. 461, 505-506). Harper & Brothers.
Walton, J. H. (2001). Genesis (p. 280). Zondervan.