Are we fighting a losing battle? Is it inevitable that our children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren will turn from the Lord? I’m reading Judges two in my devotions:
Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel (Judges 2:10).
David Guzik says this:
“The new generation had no personal relationship with God and no personal awareness of His power. God was someone who their parents related to and who did great things for their parent’s generation (emphasis added). The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord (Judges 2:11). Even in the days of Joshua Israel did not fully possess what they could have in the Promised Land. Yet in that time they remained faithful to God, and they did not worship the idols of the Canaanites. After the death of Joshua, they fell into the worship of these grotesque idols.”
He explains: “It is strange that anyone would want to trade a personal, real, living God for a false god that is the figment of man’s imagination. Yet there is something within man that is afraid of the exact God we need; we would rather serve a god of our own creation than the real, living God whom we can’t control. The gods we create are the gods wanted by our sinful desires (emphasis added).”
Strange indeed! We shake our heads and say, “What is wrong with these people?! How could they forget all that God had done—all the amazing miracles?” Well, they did and turned to the gods of the people they were supposed to destroy but didn’t, gods their children wouldn’t have been tempted to follow if they had obeyed God.
Our response is so varied. Some may become radical, putting their families into straitjackets which God never intended, and they lose their children. Others turn away from the Bible, judging it in the light of today’s over-tolerant culture and throwing it out. And yet perhaps the most dangerous reaction are blind spots. We close our eyes and hearts to God’s truths, picking and choosing what we think is best for us and our families and yet losing many of the essential doctrines necessary for godly living.
There is a phrase we don’t want to overlook: For whatever the reason, their children did not know the Lord (Judges 2:10). Why? Because their parents were resting on past victories and forgot to raise their swords for the day’s battle in their own homes! God had led their parents out of Egypt, miraculously kept them alive in the wilderness, and conquered their enemies. While those times were glorious, they forgot to continue true heart-worship of the One who made it all possible! “Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end,” and now we just have to live with mediocre normal. WRONG!!
As parents and especially as grandparents, we need to remember the “glory days” with fondness but we need to show our children that the God of the glory days is the God that we walk with every day! We need to show them that God is real, alive, powerful, holy, loving and all the other wonderful attributes that make Him so real in our everyday living. So, there is the rub—is He real to you? Is your relationship with God vibrant and alive? Are you feasting on His Word or just living on someone else’s leftovers? Dig in and learn the Bible and in so doing so many blessings will come:
- You will get to know the God of the Bible.
- You will be transformed and renewed in your love for God.
- You will shine brighter.
- You will be changed, and others will see it.
- You will have something real to share with your children and grandchildren besides another new toy.
- Life will have purpose and meaning.
- And if you keep at it, someday you will stand before the God of the Universe AKA your very best Friend, and He will say, “Well, done!”
Beyond Common Sense 