How Good Is Your Guide?

6After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. 8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (Judges 2:6-15 NIV)

I want you to notice something as we begin our study. Take a look at the Scripture once again and you will see that in verse 7, under Joshua’s leadership, the people served God faithfully. In verse 8 a dramatic change of events takes place. Joshua dies at the age of 110 and is buried. In verse 10 we read,

10After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

We are told that when Joshua and his generation died another generation grew up to adulthood and they did not know the Lord. Neither could they recall the great stories of how God had acted on their ancestor’s behalf through all of their trials and struggles.

There are so many different lessons contained in these verses for us, but I want to focus on one specific lesson. Before I get to that I have to ask the question, “Why did the children of those who had served God faithfully not know the stories of faith? Why did the children of the great men and women of faith not know the Lord?” Were they so busy serving the Lord that they forgot to pass on the faith to those who would come after them? Were they so busy teaching, preaching, giving, and serving those around them in the name of the Lord that they had neglected to teach, give, and serve their own kids? I don’t know the answer to those questions, but for some reason the next generation grew up without the benefit of knowing the Lord and His mighty power.

I believe that we are seeing Judges 3 lived out before our eyes today. I have the opportunity to work with a lot of kids and so many of the kids I know can’t tell you the stories of God’s faithfulness throughout the generations. They don’t know that God saw the suffering of His people in Egypt and did something about it. They don’t know that He gave David the strength to bring down the bully on the schoolyard. They don’t know that He gave sinners a chance to begin again. They don’t know about Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego and how those kids refused to bow their knee to the pressure being put on them. They don’t know about Esther and her boldness. They think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. They can’t name even the first of the Ten Commandments. They just don’t know. Why don’t they know? Because we haven’t told them. We’ve told them about everything else under the sun, but we’ve haven’t told them about the Lord and His faithfulness. As a result our kids are running on empty trying to find some kind of meaning out of this life, but they don’t know that apart from Jesus Christ there is no meaning in this life.