When (you think) the next generation is flat-out wrong.

I reflected last week on how God was stirring Samson as he was growing up, and how such stirring happens in us as well. Now we come to Samson’s interest in a woman, but not just any woman:

Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. (Judges 14:1-4)

Samson was interested in a daughter of the Philistines — the occupiers, the enemy, the oppressors of the Israeli people, and a woman of a different faith! His parents were appalled. From everything they believe and were promised, this decision seems insulting and damaging. They may be asking, “Where did we go wrong?”

That question is not limited to Samson’s parents. The next generation often has a different idea or plan than their parents, and it creates friction in the family company. It might involve changing the management structure, starting or selling a part of the company, spending time differently than their parents, or even marrying someone of whom the parents don’t approve.

What we often don't see is that the new or different way, this way that may even feel like a betrayal to us, has a larger purpose. Indeed, the special, and unexpected, point of this scripture is that the turmoil is also part of God’s plan.

Did you ever adopt an idea or practice in your younger days that your parents told you was terrible or absolutely wrong? How accepting are you of the next generation's seemingly outlandish or risky ideas?