I have been reading through the historical books of the Old Testament this year. Just completed the reading of Judges. I read with both alarm and sadness these words from Judges 2 - "The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD died at the age of a hundred and ten. ... After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, 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 fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt" (verses 7-12).
Did you pick up on the central warning in these verses? Okay, let's work on it together. The background is against the successful campaigns that the children of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, had fought in the land of promise, the land of Canaan. Everywhere the children of Israel looked, there were the reminders of God's faithfulness to His promises to them. The land had been subdued, although there were still pockets of resistance that remained. The future looked bright. But the years rolled by. Leaders, including Joshua, grew older. Eventually, those who had been witnesses to the faithfulness of God died. And, as happens so often, the memories of them faded from reality.
The text makes it very clear that the generation that followed Joshua, Caleb and those other leaders of Israel did not have the same focus. They did not have the same allegiance to God. They did not practice the same obedience to God's commands. In fact, the text makes it very clear that "they did not know the LORD." How sad! Here were the children of some of Israel's giants in leadership - those who had experienced the sun standing still; those who had witnessed the walls of Jericho falling down; those who celebrated the destruction of city after city, including that major center known as Hazor - who did not even acknowledge this miracle-working, faithful God. They were "theologically ignorant."
How did this happen? you will ask. Was this a failure of the sacrificial system as practiced at the tabernacle set up in Shiloh? No. This failure came as a consequence of parents - especially fathers - not fulfilling the task and the responsibilities that God had given to them. Friends, what we see here in Judges 2 that results in years of cataclysmic oppression is the failure of the home. You might remember God's words to families through the lips of Moses: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).
Okay, so what are parents supposed to do? They are to tell their children about God. They are to excite their children about what God is doing and what God can do in their lives. They are to lead their children to a dependence upon God. As a father, that was my role - to teach my children about God. In essence, I was their "theology teacher." Granted, at times I probably did not do this as well as I could have, but it was my desire to point my children to God and to instill within their hearts a desire to follow God always.
That is NOT what happened in Israel. The Bible does not tell us the reasons for this failure on the part of Israel's parents, but I believe that there could have been several. First, the busyness of the conquest kept them from having adequate time with their families. Oh how we need to guard against busyness today - it is an accomplished thief of our time. Busyness becomes that priority - that tyranny of the urgent. Its voice is a strong one. Satan loves to use the tool of busyness to keep us from doing what we need to do - teach our children the truths from the Word and to love and obey God. Second, success kept them from having adequate time with their families. You see, when success eludes us, we are more intentional about our dependence upon God. But God had given these fahters success after success. And I believe that because of their successes, these men became rather apathetic in their own relationships with God. And, if as a father I am apathetic in my own walk with the Lord, then, you can rest assured that I will not be as diligent or passionate in sharing biblical truths with my children. As I look at our world today we have had a great deal of success. Few of us worry about our next meal. Few of us are anxious about where we will spend the night. Few of us are concerned about having sufficient clothing - in fact, if anything, we have too many clothing options in our closet. And so, in our success, we have grown comfortable, perhaps even apathetic in our own walk with the Lord. And this has been handed down to our children.
Friends, as I read through the book of Judges I kept coming back to these verses. When the homes fail, society fails. When parents fail in their God-given responsibilities to disciple their children, then a culture that is not friendly to Christian principles will gain the victory over the hearts and minds of those children.
It is not the responsibility of the local church to disciple my children, that is my responsibility as a parent. Now I am eternally grateful for the assistance I have received from the local church over the years my children were growing up, but Marlys and I assumed the primary responsibility. It is time that we, as church leaders, provide the resources parents need and provide the encouragement parents need so that the next generation will not be one of whom it was said, "they did not know the Lord."
If you would like more help in this area, I would encourage you to go to the D6 website where you will find a lot of tools and encouragement. It is never too late to get started. And, when you start, God will give you the encouragement you need.
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