Different Lessons for Different Generations

“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.” (Jud 2:10 AV)

One wonders how that could be.  The generation that passed away saw what happened with their parents and grandparents because they followed not the LORD.  That generation passed away in the wilderness.  That generation forsook the LORD and rebelled time and again while wondering.  Their children saw this and when opportunity arose, trusted the LORD and entered Canaan.  Now, it is their children.  This generation rose and never knew the LORD, nor did they know what the LORD had done for Israel.

One might think the former generation failed their children because the Bible says they knew not the LORD nor what He had done.  However, with the celebration of the Passover, the establishment of the sacrificial system of worship, and the memorials established by Joshua, surely there was enough information to know who the LORD was and what the LORD had done.  The problem wasn’t knowing for a fact.  The problem was knowing by experience.  That is what the word ‘…knew…’ means here.  It means to perceive something.  It must dawn on the mind that it is not mere fact, but reality experienced by other senses.  In other words, even with all the information which the present generation was exposed to, they did not experience the relationship with the LORD that their parents did.  Which brings us to our point.

Each generation comes to an experiential realization of the truth.  My wife is a fifth generation Christian.  I am a first.  My sons are sixth generation.  We all process our relationship with the LORD slightly differently.  For me, everything is a wonder.  I never saw the LORD work as He does.  Others who grew up around it, see the miracles I see as the norm.  Truth doesn’t change. But the way we internalize it does.  Mathematical systems can be processed different ways but the results are always the same.  So, too, is our separate walks with God.  My children will not come into an intimate knowledge of the LORD is the exact manner in which I did and do.  The generation above had to learn who the LORD was by experiencing hardship for disobedience.  They had to learn it over and over.  Their parents learned it by watching their parents suffer for disobedience and decided it wasn’t worth it.  The bottom line is this.  No matter what generation one lives in, God is not beyond reaching that generation.  It will simply have to be slightly different way.