Have you ever read the book of Judges? If yes, have you read
Jugdes 2: 10? It reads:
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
Very serious account which calls for many questions.
Now let us look at what the Lord said to Abraham,
Genesis 17:8-9
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Let us look at what the Lord said the Moses:
Exodus 3:14-15
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
From the first account, Abrahams seed after him in their generations were to keep Gods covenant. While in the second account the name of the Lord God was to be a memorial unto all generations.
Now lets look at these accounts:
Exodus 16:31-33
And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.
And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.
Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 9
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
From these two accounts, Manna was to be kept so that generations to come can see it and know how their fathers were fed in the wilderness. They were also to diligently teach their children the commandments of the Lord.
Besides these, the children ofIsraelwere to keep circumcision in their generations (Genesis 17:12), observe the feast of the unleaven bread forever (Exodus 12: 17), keep the Sabbath forever (Exodus 31:31).
All these commandments were put n place so that the children ofIsraelwill remember the Lord God and remember what He did for them.
Now lets look at Judges 2: 8 – 12
And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
With all these steps in place what could have happened? After all the mighty acts of the Lord and ordinances and instructions in place, how could there‘arise a generation that knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel?
I think it is safe to say that something must have gone wrong. Someone did not do what they were supposed to do. Someone did not teach their children nor pass down the instructions of the Lord. Someone lived for themselves and forgot the generation to come. Man failed in their duties to the Lord and to the future generation.
Before we start blaming and throwing stones we need to ask ourselves some serious questions. What are we laying down for our own children? What instructions are we laying down for our children to pass down to their generation?
What are we teaching them of the Lord? Are we teaching them the fear of the Lord? True worship? Holinesses, the list goes on.
What you don’t know, you don’t know. We are responsible for our children and the generation to come. What are we laying down?
This calls for a serious inventory of how we are living our lives now.
May it not be said of any of us that after brother Y, there came a generation which knew not the Lord nor His ways.
Lets make a conscious effort not to live for ourselves but for our children and the generation to come.
Let this be our heart cry!!
Psalm 102:12
But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
Bisi Oladipupo
No comments:
Post a Comment