Personal Experience

"All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel." -Judges 2.10

Judges 2.11-23 describes the cycle I mentioned in the previous post. The generation mentioned in verse 10 had left Egypt. They had seen God deliver them, provide for them in the wilderness, and bring them into the Promised Land. This new generation saw none of that. They were born in the Promised Land, knowing only the fulfillment of the promise, not the journey that brought the people to that. They didn't witness God at work, or see Him on the mountain and fall down in terror. They didn't experience God, and so they were led astray after Baal and Ashtaroth.

No doubt they had heard the stories of what God had done, but they didn't experience the power of God for themselves. Stories only take you so far, and you might get to the point where you feel like the story is simply that, a story. Maybe you fall into the line of thinking, "That's what God did a long time ago, but He doesn't do that still." When God is reduced to fairytales, or a has been, what motivation is there to follow Him?

Here we find a crucial element that we must incorporate into raising the next generation. We must challenge, and encourage, them to experience God personally. Christianity is not a religion, a system of habitual rituals done to please God; it is a relationship, something deeply intimate and personal, that everyone is meant to pursue. Who is to say that one religion is better than another? That certain rituals are right and others are wrong? But relationships change your life, they have meaning and significance.

We'll see in the Psalms that God is not after the ritual but the relationship. Rituals don't transform you, but relationships due. Rituals don't require much, but relationships require everything. Rituals are done the same way for centuries, but every relationship is uniquely personal.

Men, there are two things, first, we must come to personally experience God for ourselves. Hearing stories about Him from the Bible, or history, is good, but God is not done working. The same God who did the great things of the Bible is still at work doing great things today. Your parent's faith is their faith. Your pastor's faith is His faith. The stories of the glory days from the 1950's are good, but they aren't the end. What is your faith? What has God done in your life for His glory? How are you experiencing God?

Second, once we have experienced God we must challenge the next generation to do the same. Your faith is your's, not your childrens. Teach them to pray. Teach them to study the Bible. Teach them to seek God. Share the stories of how you have seen God at work, how He has brought restoration, and tell them that God is not done. Help them know that He wants to, and can, do the great things of Scripture in their lives. Help them to find and develop their own relationship with God, encourage it, and you can help to avoid the cycle that is found in Judges. And it is crucial to note, that not every cycle involves turning back to God.

Let us be men who have experienced God in deeply personal ways. Let us know Him and serve Him because of what He has done both past and present. And let us be men who challenge others to experience God in deeply personal ways.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor