A Word from Judges 2

I don’t know about you; but every now and then, it’s easy to look around and think, “It wasn’t this bad when I was a kid! The world keeps getting farther and farther from God, and things keep getting worse and worse.” And naturally, we could be right! And yet, as today’s word from Judges 2 reminds, we’re not the first generation to feel that way.

The people of Israel were finally settled in the Promised Land. And in the years that followed, they faced challenges, and they won victories. But then the story changed.

       “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 in his anger against Israel, the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them…And they were in great distress.

       “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges…They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. And whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies…But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors…They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” (Judges 2:10-19, selected)

So, are we doomed to live in a downward spiral of rebellion and sin? Well, left to our own devices, maybe so. But thankfully, we’re not left to our own devices! And instead, we can offer a prayer like this one from a worship song I used to sing:

Give us clean hands. And give us pure hearts.
Let us not lift our souls to another.

Oh God, let us be a generation that seeks,
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob.

                (From Give Us Clean Hands, by Chris Tomlin)

So today, let’s be that generation! And may getting closer and closer to God help the world to get better and better. Amen.