I don’t often find myself drifting towards the book of Judges in my devotions. However, this sometimes depressing, yet surprisingly encouraging book has left me to ponder a nugget of truth that has reaffirmed my time spent at Bethany and has given an even clearer meaning to the work I do here.
If we think back to Gil’s Intro to the Bible class, we can all correctly answer the keyword for Judges...anybody...anybody? Yes, it is indeed cycles. Most of us are familiar with the cycle of sin that the Israelites encounter repeatedly. But there was something unfamiliar that struck me when I read Judges 2. It says in verse 10 that “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel”. Now I know that this was the next generation (and I’m not talking Star Trek), but I find it hard to believe that the Israelites did not know the Lord as I’ve often read it. That is, that they would have never heard Him being spoken of. The passing on of stories was in fact the custom of the early Israelite culture. So to the concordance I went (thank you Intro to Biblical Interpretation).
This word "knew" is Yada’ in Hebrew and is used throughout much of the Old Testament. It is in fact the same word that Pharaoh uses when talking to Moses and Aaron when he fails to acknowledge the God of Israel. You can be sure that Pharaoh has indeed heard of this God; many of his slaves were worshipping this God in his land. In the same way, in Judges 2, these Israelites were fully aware of who God was. The Hebrew Yada’ means to be acquainted with, to be revealed, to have the knowledge of, to know by experience. This new generation in verse 10 was fully aware of God via the oral stories passed on by their fathers. What they lacked was the experiential relationship with the living God. Unfortunately, the verses following verse 10 (which I encourage you to read) describe what happened when the Israelites failed to cultivate that relationship.
As I read this chapter in my devotions, it occurred to me that this was not a situation unique to the Israelites. I think all of us at some point have that decision to make whether we are going to acknowledge the God that we’ve heard about in church, or from our parents, or at camp. As we face challenges in our life, we realize that simply believing what our parents believed doesn’t quite work. We need that experience, that revealing, that acquaintance with God that can only come from a personal relationship with Him.
The Bethany community encouraged this opportunity for me. I didn’t always understand why I needed to invest all this time and money into four years at a school, but I am indeed grateful for it. No longer being surrounded 24/7 by Christian friends and facing new challenges outside the Bethany walls has forced me to not only rely on what I learned during my time but on the person of Jesus and my relationship with Him.
I’m not sure where you are at, but Judges 2 is a great reminder of what can happen when we become complacent and allow our hearts to harden towards God. Sometimes it isn’t even a conscious choice and is extremely hard to recognize while we’re in it. But let’s not take our relationship with God lightly. Find that place where you feel alive in Him, where you are growing, and where you can truly know Him.
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