It doesn’t take long. After only one generation, the people of Israel forgot about the Lord. They had received the incredible blessings of the Lord as they moved into the Promised Land, but they forgot the ways of God and fashioned their lives around themselves and what they wanted. They began to look to the nations around them and desired to be accepted by them. Instead of teaching their children about the ways of God, the parents forgot about God, and now the next generation of Israelites know nothing about God and how they came to be where they are now.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
Judges 2:10-13
Only one generation. That is all that it takes to forget. One generation that doesn’t teach the next generation, and that next generation walks away from the Lord. Instead, that generation will go on to serve other gods. That other generation will look for something to worship, and they will be easily deceived by others around them. They may even say that they know all about the Lord, when in fact they are completely ignorant of the ways of God.
We see similar symptoms today. We are walking far from God, and it is primarily because we have not taught our children the ways of the Lord. We have preferred the “gods” of wealth, sex, and fame that are found in the culture all around us. Or we have looked for other social causes to give ourselves to that they themselves have become driving forces, other gods themselves. Meanwhile, we have said that we know the Lord…but we don’t want to believe.
Very little has changed from the time of the Israelites entering the Promised Land up to now. But we have a choice that we can make. We can determine that our house will serve the Lord. Will we? Will you?