October 11th, 2026: A Faithless Generation | Judges 2:6-15

There are people who lived lives of faith and courage in front of us who are an inspiration to us.  It isn’t a natural impulse to seek God or follow His ways; our vision has to be opened.  Thankfully, God places people in our paths to help bring us into our own personal relationship with Him.  

There comes a time for every believer, when we have to stand on our own two feet and decide for ourselves what we believe and to whom we belong.  We won’t be able to piggyback our way into heaven on another person’s shoulders.  We need to have our own faith, our own experience, and walk in our own commitment to Jesus our Lord.

And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.

The generation that saw the crossing of the Jordan on dry land by the power of God, saw the walls of Jericho fall, and followed the Lord to victory in battle after battle in the Promised land, stayed faithful and committed to God.  They benefited from Joshua’s strong faith and leadership.  They lived on land they didn’t pay for, reaped harvests they didn’t plant, and lived lives of freedom and blessing like no one had ever known before.  And, it was all because they trusted and obeyed the commands of God given through His servant Joshua.  

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.

A new generation arose. They did not know Yahweh, the God of Israel, as had their ancestors. They had not endured the hardship of slavery or  the refinement of the wilderness.  All they knew was blessing. They  had lived in the benefit, abundance, and mercy of God. 

Instead of being filled with gratitude and worship, they became complacent and unfaithful.  They refused to fight the battles that God called them to; they directly disobeyed his word.  They forgot to live in the truth that their forefathers passed down to them.  The nation of Israel raised children who didn’t regard the things of God as important to their lives.  

It didn’t take long for decline and corruption to bring misery and suffering.  Joshua challenged them, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” God allows each individual the freedom to choose their own path.  However, He does not let us change the consequences of our choices.  

Many are angry today, because they are reaping the harvest of living an undedicated and unholy life.  They have created their own misery.  They have planted the seeds of disobedience.  They blame God, rather than themselves,  for the messes that they’ve made.  

God made his directions plain.  He provided a way for those who sinned to repent through the changing of their hearts and the offering of  sacrifices. The law of reaping and sowing was in effect then just as it is  now.  “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”

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.

God had masterfully demonstrated His supremacy over the gods worshipped in Egypt and among the pagans of Canaan.  He performed miracles unlike any the world had ever known. God turned a band of slaves into a victorious army and kept every promise he’d made since He spoke to Abraham. Yet, the nation of Israel turned away from the God of their fathers.  Why?  Maybe out of boredom.  Maybe out of ignorance.  Maybe they desired to be like the nations around them.  For whatever reason, they broke their covenant with God and behaved like those who had lived in Canaan before them and whom God had destroyed.

 And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

They rejected God and they saw just how weak and powerless they were on their own.  They went from the top to the bottom.  They got their own way and realized how much they didn’t want it.  The suffering that we bring on ourselves by disloyalty and disobedience serves as a beacon to guide us back to the source of every good thing.  God spoke through Moses and He spoke through Joshua. The message was the same, “Choose blessing or choose cursing.”  

Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 

We change our minds, we lose our focus, we wander away and reap the consequences, but the one thing that always stays the same is God.  His character, His love, His Justice, His Grace, His mercy,  have no end.  Our lesson ends with God’s  long suffering and loving kindness as He offers yet again, to help Israel to turn to Him. 

God raises up judges, leaders, to move them in the right direction.  We shall see that this nation will even refuse to listen even to the judges.  Here begins in greater detail, the cycle of blessing, falling away, punishment and repentance that will make up the whole of the book of Judges. 

 Let us consider our own cycles of disobedience.  There is a way to break the cycles that bind us and free us to a way of faithfulness and grace.  Jesus asks that we turn to Him.  Led by the Holy Spirit we are able to live within the means of God’s word. 

Make sure you are not resting on someone else’s faith, you need your own.  Turn to God and with that choice comes an eternal, faithful, and personal relationship. 

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!