It is easy to forget. It isn’t just a problem for the elderly. It is a problem we all share. From car keys to birthdays, we all forget things from time to time. In fact, this very moment I have missplaced my favourite fountain pen, because I have forgotten where I placed it. However, none of these are as significant as forgetting the Lord.

Throughout the Scriptures there is a perpetual refrain to “remember the Lord”. Sadly, however, the people of God constantly forgot to remember their Lord. This is highlighted poignantly in Judges 2. The people had entered the promised land. God had led them by a strong hand through the wilderness. And then we are told, “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel.“¹ That’s a wonderful thing to hear! However, it was sadly short lived, for, “there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.”² They forgot the Lord and his works.

What was the problem? Forgetfulness was not really the problem. The next generation didn’t have a bad memory and forget that the Lord exists. The problem lies with the generation that knew the Lord. They knew the Lord, but they did not labour to ensure the next generation joined them. The root problem was the failure of the community to instruct the children in the fear of the Lord. Moses had commanded them, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.“³ The people of Israel failed to raise up the next generation in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Thus, the next generation did not know the Lord or his works.

Regardless of how you view the covenant, baptism, and the place of children in the Church. This command is relevant to every Christian believer. The Lord commands us to instill in the next generation the knowledge of the Lord. It requires the grand-parents, parents, siblings, and the whole church to live and speak in such a way that the next generation sees and knows the Lord and his works.

Ask yourself, what can you do to contribute to the next generation around you?

1. Judges 2:7 ↩︎
2. Judges 2:10 ↩︎
3. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 ↩︎