#DailyDevotion Are You Going To Forget The Lord Too?
July 7th
Judg 2:6–23
Jdg 2:10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel…12 And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. (13) They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. (14) So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies…
This chapter sums up what would happen for the rest of the book of Judges. It pretty much sums up the history of Israel to this very day. Somebody didn’t do their job, namely the fathers of the people of Israel. It was given to them to teach their children the ways of the Lord, what the Lord had done for them and how the Lord wanted them to live. When the fathers of God’s people do not fulfill their vocation then their children arise who do not know the Lord and they will chase after other gods. As the Lord had promised when this happens, He will turn them over to the people whose gods they worship and they shall oppress them. Yet the Lord is merciful. When he hears their cries he raised up judges for them. It is written: 18 “Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.”
‘
And yet they were and are a hardheaded, stiff-necked people. It is written: (19) “But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.” And so we have the history of the Judges where the people continually fall away and repent and fall away. The Israelites in the time of the kings do the same thing. The Lord sends the Assyrians to send into exile the northern tribes. Later He sends the Babylonians to punish the southern tribes and destroys his temple as they go into exile. Finally, when the Lord fulfills His promise and becomes one of them in the flesh, the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, they reject him as well and the temple is destroyed again and they are dispersed throughout the world.
Time and again, we have not fulfilled our roles as parents and have not instructed our children in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Without this knowledge they fall away and worship other gods as well. We ourselves forget the Lord and fall away and chase after other gods, gods of our own imagination and serve them, thinking they will give us the things our hearts desire. Yet we will not be dispersed for we already are. Yet we are given over to serve the things we chase after and they wreck havoc on our lives.
Grant us true repentance Father that we remain faithful to you and your son Jesus Christ. Amen