…the consequences can be disastrous. Today as I began reading in Judges, I came across chapter 2 and the recounting of the death of Joshua. The great leader was gone. In Joshua 24, Joshua addressed the people and reviewed Israel’s history. A magnificent history it was. Then he says in vv. 14–15,
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The people responded in vv. 16–18, The people answered and said,
“Far be it from us that we would abandon the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
So the stage was set. But things didn’t work out so well. Why? Judges 2:10–12 tells us:
All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; so they provoked the Lord to anger.
That next generation didn’t really know what God had done before their time. Why? Because their fathers hadn’t told them! And disaster after disaster followed as God’s people time and again abandoned the Lord their God and ran after other gods, the gods of the people around them.
Lesson for us. If we fail to teach the upcoming generation about our great God and all that He has done and who He is, we can expect them to largely abandon our God and the God our our fathers.
This is what we are seeing all around us. I’ve missed a lot of opportunities with my own now grown children. I pray that they seize their opportunity to pass on to their children all the wonder that is their God. And for my part, I am seeking to do more for them, as adults making their way through a turbulent world, one that is increasingly hostile to God. Maybe in that way I can pitch in a bit to teach the next generation.
Here’s a hymn based on Psalm 145. You can sing or read along to the tune. Note particularly stanza 3.
