by Micah Messer
If you don’t learn from the past you’re doomed to repeat it. How quickly and easily people forget. After Joshua and his generation passed away, the next generation did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord…and followed other gods. What a sorrowful statement. Their ignorance led to their idolatry (Jud 2:10-12). The void was filled with foreign gods. You can read the results for yourself. The last verse of Judges says that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That sums it up.
Absolute truth was abandoned because their parents did not listen to God, who told them to teach their children the words of the Lord (Deut 6:6-9). He said, “Teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up….write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” At structured places in the house and spontaneous times on the road, from dawn until desk, parents are told to talk about the Lord with their children. Proverbs tells parents that children who are trained in way they should go will remain faithful when they are adults. Parents should bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4)
What about your home? Are your parents leading your household to the Lord? Has your dad or mom stated as for their house you will serve the Lord? Allowing children to make their own choices and determine their own values will ruin your family. Kids will fill the void with the things of the world. Each generation leaves a path for the next to follow. In the 50’s, music from Nashville and movies from Hollywood redefined our morality. The rebellion to authority in the 60’s ended at Woodstock. For men to be feminine and women to be masculine became the standard, losing our identity in the 70’s. The 80’s AIDS epidemic promoted condoms instead of abstinence, forgetting about our purity. Our safety was taken in the 90’s after multiple school shootings. Sadly in America in 2002, we do not know God nor the works He has done. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. No one wants to believe in absolutes. No one wants to hear the truth. No one wants to obey the Bible.
May this generation have the declaration of David. The palmist wrote, “One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.” This will be written for a generation to come that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation (Ps 145:4; 102:18; 71:18) What will you leave for future generations?
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