Moses was a great leader of God’s people, keeping them aware of God and His will for their lives. Joshua succeeded him, and he also led the people in the way of the Lord. Under the leadership of these two men, Israel was freed from slavery in Egypt, led across the Sinai desert and ushered into the Promised Land of Canaan. However, when Joshua died, a great change took place in Israel. “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10 NKJV). God had convincingly led Israel through one of the darkest periods of its history. Yet, they did not know the Lord.
Why did they not know Him? Why did their parents not tell them? Hardly had Israel left Egypt when they began to complain and to forget what God had done for them (Exodus 15:23; 16:1; etc.). In reflection, the psalmist wrote, “They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert” (Psalm 106:13-14).
The potential threat of forgetfulness is as real today as it was for the Israelites. In order to minimize the threat, each member of the Lord’s church must get involved. Not only are we told to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God…” (2 Timothy 2:15), but we also have the responsibility to continually remind ourselves of what we have learned. We do this through our regular assemblies (Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:25), as well as by our joint commemoration of the Lord’s death “on the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7). When our children and the children of others see us faithfully attending all the services of the church and eating the Lord’s Supper each week, they see the importance of the knowledge of God in our lives.
The apostle Paul exhorted, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). We must remind ourselves continually of what God does for us. We must instill that in our children and in the generations that follow. Then, perhaps, we can avoid what happened in Israel. “Another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD.” God forbid that it should happen to us!
[Editor’s Note: It has happened already! Our children know more about and spend more of their time and money on the personages and the things of this ungodly world (1 John 2:15-17) than do they have a meaningful knowledge of Almighty God, their Creator, Lawgiver and someday their Judge. Losing our children to the world, evidenced by assemblies overpopulated with senior saints and underpopulated by their offspring and their offsprings’ offspring, has affected virtually every congregation of the Lord’s church. History repeats itself, it is said, and it is true religiously as well. It’s time for history to repeat itself with a religious revival (Josiah, 2 Kings 22-23; Restoration History). The churches of Christ need to be converted (again) to Christ (Matthew 6:33; 16:16) and to renew their (biblical) conviction (Acts 4:19-20). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
