Judges 2:10 And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
I am continually amazed at what I think my children know that they may not know. Of course, that is my fault when they don’t know something. If they don’t know some matter of national or family history, that may be something I was alive to see but my children were not. I can distinctly remember when the hostages came back from Iran in 1979. I remember my dad watching the live television as the Iranian hostages returned to American airspace and got off the plane on the tarmac. He said, “We are watching history. We will remember this someday.” Indeed we have. It is history now. My kids weren’t alive then, and I was a child when it happened.
Likewise, when it comes to our relationship to God, it doesn’t matter what God has done in the past if you don’t know Him now. In Judges 2:10 it says, “And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” It doesn’t matter what you know or what you have seen God do, there always comes a time when a new generation comes on the scene. That is continually happening. The book of Joshua begins by essentially saying, “Moses is dead; bring forth Joshua.” Now, we read in Judges chapters 1 and 2 that Joshua has died and that there was a new generation on the scene.
When Joseph died, the Bible says, “There arose up a new king…which knew not Joseph.” There is continually a revitalization of generations, new generations that come up. So, there was a new generation in a new land that didn’t know the Lord and didn’t know what God had done. How sad! Israel had crossed the Red Sea, crossed the Jordan, and had seen great victories. This generation hadn’t known that, and because they weren’t taught, God was invisible to them. God is invisible to those who are ignorant of Him.
Think about Israel, the past promises, the past victories, and the past choices. Think about their coming out of Egypt, the golden calf that they worshipped, the bitter waters that they drank, and the manna from Heaven. You can’t see the future. If you are ignorant of the past, you are completely blind.
Every day it is not only important to recognize God in your life but to teach Him to your children. It is not only important to remember what God has done but to remind our children of things that they may not have yet seen. They haven’t seen your past and you won’t see their future. So, the only way to be aware of what God is doing is to see God and to teach Him to your children, because it doesn’t matter what God has done in the past if you don’t know Him now.