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

Partial Obedience

"Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, 'I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, "I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars." But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? Therefore I also said, "I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."'" -Judges 2.1-3

Judges 1.19-35 gives an account of the cities the tribes of Israel did not take and the peoples they allowed to live and remain in the land. Some of them became forced labor when the people became strong enough, but God's command was to destroy them completely. Israel has partially obeyed, they have destroyed the peoples that they were able to, and they have enslaved the rest, but God's command was never to take the people of the land as slaved.

At the beginning of Judges 2 an angel of the Lord comes and speaks to the people. He recalls God's promise and commands, tells how God has kept His promise, but not tells how Israel has not. Partial obedience is not sufficient. God told the people what would happen if they allowed the pagan nations of the land to remain among them. They would become thorns in their sides and a snare to the people. The influence that was allowed to remain would work its way into Israel's beliefs and practices and lead them away from God.

Men, partial obedience is not good enough. Doing part of what God said isn't enough. Partial obedience means that there is also partial disobedience. When God gives instructions we must be diligent to complete them. He says what He says for a reason, not just to hear Himself talk. Everything He says is for our good so that we can live in a better relationship with Him.

Israel's partial obedience left an influence that would work to pull them away from God. There is a cycle that unfolds in Judges:

The people rebel against God
The people are oppressed and cry out to God
God raises up a champion to deliver the people
The people are saved and follow God
Repeat.

This cycle was avoidable had they just completely obeyed God. Had Israel driven out all of the inhabitants of the land there would have been no one to lead them away from God. What cycles in our own lives are avoidable?

Let us be men who fully obey God. Let us be men who do all that He commands.

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

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor