Knowing God and All His Works

"Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel."

Joshua 24:31

Whenever I read passages like this, I am not left with a feeling of satisfaction and gladness.  It is great Israel served the LORD during the life of Joshua and the elders who outlived Joshua, but the verses imply that after their passing the people stopped serving the LORD.  As the book of Judges tells us, that period of history was marked by people "doing what was right in their own eyes" and their negligence to obey what God had commanded in His covenant.  The people who knew the works of the LORD He had done for Israel feared and served Him, and it seems this knowledge died with them.

Judges 2:10-12 affirms, "When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; ¹² and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger."  God delivered His people who forsook them into the hands of their enemies, and it was only when they found themselves in trouble they called out to the LORD who delivered them.  The book of Judges is a continual cycle of idolatry, oppression by enemies, crying out to God in repentance, God raising up a judge and delivering them, and then after the death of the judge the people returned to idols.

The knowledge of the LORD was more than memorising facts:  it was being convinced personally of His reality, power and goodness to save His people.  Interestingly, the first generation that came out of Egypt saw miracle after miracle, even walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, yet they did not believe God to obediently enter the land of promise.  It was the second generation who crossed over the Jordan on dry ground led by God and Joshua who saw His mighty works.  It was not an easy time for the Hebrews:  God's victory at Jericho was tempered by the defeat at Ai because of sin in the camp.  Joshua and the elders were tricked by the Gibeonites and made a covenant with them when God told them not to make a covenant with people of the land.  Many tribes became complacent and did not care to labour to possess all the land God gave them.  But God was faithful to do His wonders, and the people knew He was God in heaven and earth and served Him.

The generation raised in the promised land free from the hardship of battle or separation from family and friends did not know the LORD nor the work He did for them.  There was a sense of entitlement to a peaceful, prosperous life--not realising they inherited from the LORD houses they did not build, ate from fig and olive trees they did not plant, drank from wells they had not dug and made wine from vineyards they did not tend.  The older generation in Canaan, having lived as nomads and warriors looking to God for their daily bread, were glad to offer a life to their children they did not have.  Though they raised they children to know God they did not truly know Him without having to trust Him in adversity.  They did not need saving; all the provision they could want was provided in a land flowing with milk and honey.  It was not until they realised they needed help from God and humbled themselves in faith they began to know Him and His works like Joshua, the elders and the generation before them.

I believe this supplies an insightful parallel to children with Christian parents who have been raised in the church.  Children brought up by parents who know God and His works for them do not always know God themselves.  I am not suggesting parents ought to intentionally make life difficult for their children, for trials in this world are bound to come.  Our gracious God will allow them for His good purposes as He did for the children of Israel, Job and Jesus.  We can be guilty of trying to make life too easy for children:  by speaking for them, not being willing to ask probing questions when appropriate that may displease them(1 Kings 1:5-6), interfering with allowing reality to be the teacher, and sheltering them from the consequences of bad decisions.  The book of Judges shows the experiences, especially negative ones, have great capacity to aid us to grow spiritually as we draw near to God in faith.

It is amazing how God wants to work in the lives of adults as much as children, by challenging both parents and kids at the same time to learn to walk by faith in Him, obeying His Word and trusting Him in all things.  I believe parents have as much a need as children to grow and mature spiritually, and knowing God and all His works done for Israel (and us!) are critical during our journey of faith in following Jesus.