There's a song I’ve been humming and singing under my breath the last few days. One Line in particular keeps going round and round in my mind. "If the Lord Builds the House Nobody can tear it down"
Why do we study the old testament and look back on the past? To learn from their victories yes and encourage ourselves but also so that we can learn from their mistakes. Because if we don't we will try to build in our own strength and we will fail every time.
In Judges Chapter 2 God confronts the Compromise (vs. 1-5) An angel of the Lord shows up and basically says "I brought you out. I gave you this land. I told you not to make agreements with these people but you didn’t listen." God wasn’t upset just to be upset. He was pointing out their partial obedience. They didn’t fully drive out the enemy like He told them in Book of Joshua they coexisted with them instead. And now those same things they allowed to stay would become traps.
What you tolerate now will come back to trouble you later.
The Children of Israel feel it Feel It But they don’t Change. (vs. 4–5) They cry. They weep. They even offer sacrifices. They felt conviction but it didn’t cause them to change. There’s a difference between being emotional in a moment and actually being changed.
Then in vs. 6-10 we see one of what I think is the saddest verses in the Bible. “There rose another generation which knew not the lord.” Joshua’s generation saw miracles. They saw Jericho’s walls fall, battles won and promises fulfilled. But the next generation didn’t know Him personally. Faith wasn’t passed down it was just talked about. This connects back to everything in the book of Joshua, they experienced God, but didn’t pass it down to the next generation. As a mother and as a Children’s Pastor, I cant help but feel this one in a big way. It convicts my heart and holds me accountable. And im even more aware, now more then ever, how important it is to pass on a heritage of knowing God. It’s not enough to talk about it and be convicted by the scriptures. I have to live it and teach it and ensure that it is passed down to this next Generation.
But as we see the Cycle Begins (vs. 11–19). There is a pattern in Judges and it is still happening today. They turn from God. God allows oppression. They cry out. God raises a judge. They’re rescued. Then they fall right back again. Over and over.
It’s a cycle of forgetting→ falling → crying out →being rescued → then repeat.
And God Allows the Struggle (vs. 20–23). This part is important. God tells them that He’s not going to remove all their enemies anymore. Why? To test them to see if they would walk in His ways. Sometimes even in our own lives God doesn’t remove the struggle because the struggle is revealing what’s in us. There’s purpose in it. They didn’t wake up one day and say, Let’s turn from God. Nope. They just didn’t fully obey. They let a few things stay. They made a few compromises and they got comfortable. And before they knew it they were living in something God never intended.
And A whole generation rose up that didn’t know God. Not because God wasn’t moving but because what was experienced wasn’t passed down in a real way. Are we making him known to the Next Generation or are we just assuming they’ll eventually figure it out?
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to live in a cycle of falling, crying out, getting rescued and repeating it all over again. And I don’t want that for my Children or their Children either. I want to be rooted and steady. Obedient even in the small things. And an example of what truly walking with the Lord looks like to the Generations.
Love Pastor Mandy
Ark of Hope Ministry
Daily reading Judges 2
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