The Born Identity – Part 4
Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers [Judges 2:16-17].
The third generation of Israelites are under consideration in our study. Those guys and gals didn’t walk by faith in the word of King YHWH. They chased after the skirts of the heathen idols, the false gods of the previous inhabitants of the land. They didn’t follow their parents’ example. They returned to the ways of their grandparents.
“How could such a thing happen?” you incredulously wonder with mouth agape and befuddlement painting your face.
The Book of Judges answers your question. Let’s permit the Lord to teach us the answer:
Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan) [Judges 3:1].
Remember, the third generation of Israelites is under consideration in the verse. The words in parenthesis provide us the relevant information for our answer. The second generation Israelites, their parents, fought for the promises of the Lord. They conducted spiritual warfare to the death. Accordingly, they matured spiritually so as to understand how to live for the Lord and appreciate Him and His blessings.
But the third generation, their kids, didn’t experience any of this. Oh, they went to Sunday School because their parents made them. They read the Sunday School booklets and learned the facts about the Lord and His ways, about the wars to conquer the land and how they arrived at their contemporary state of affairs.
Sadly, but they experienced none of the reality. They learned some facts in their heads to be sure. They no doubt were sincere in believing the facts too. And I’ll bet you a boatload of money they had the best of intentions as well!
And that is the problem, dear friends. All of that put together means the third generation gave intellectual assent to the facts of the Lord’s dealings on Israel’s behalf. Trouble was, the facts never made their way into the hearts of those Israelites. In their heads the facts made them wise in their own eyes, puffed up, convinced they were the people of the Lord.
As the Apostle James explains it, even the devil knows the facts…and he has enough sense to shudder because of it, not have a fat head from it! Read his words for yourself in James 2:19.
So what is to be done to make the facts of the Bible effective in our lives? Spend some time with Jesus now and ponder this matter with Him. We will meet back here on the morrow to finish this study, same time, same station.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The third generation of Israelites are under consideration in our study. Those guys and gals didn’t walk by faith in the word of King YHWH. They chased after the skirts of the heathen idols, the false gods of the previous inhabitants of the land. They didn’t follow their parents’ example. They returned to the ways of their grandparents.
“How could such a thing happen?” you incredulously wonder with mouth agape and befuddlement painting your face.
The Book of Judges answers your question. Let’s permit the Lord to teach us the answer:
Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan) [Judges 3:1].
Remember, the third generation of Israelites is under consideration in the verse. The words in parenthesis provide us the relevant information for our answer. The second generation Israelites, their parents, fought for the promises of the Lord. They conducted spiritual warfare to the death. Accordingly, they matured spiritually so as to understand how to live for the Lord and appreciate Him and His blessings.
But the third generation, their kids, didn’t experience any of this. Oh, they went to Sunday School because their parents made them. They read the Sunday School booklets and learned the facts about the Lord and His ways, about the wars to conquer the land and how they arrived at their contemporary state of affairs.
Sadly, but they experienced none of the reality. They learned some facts in their heads to be sure. They no doubt were sincere in believing the facts too. And I’ll bet you a boatload of money they had the best of intentions as well!
And that is the problem, dear friends. All of that put together means the third generation gave intellectual assent to the facts of the Lord’s dealings on Israel’s behalf. Trouble was, the facts never made their way into the hearts of those Israelites. In their heads the facts made them wise in their own eyes, puffed up, convinced they were the people of the Lord.
As the Apostle James explains it, even the devil knows the facts…and he has enough sense to shudder because of it, not have a fat head from it! Read his words for yourself in James 2:19.
So what is to be done to make the facts of the Bible effective in our lives? Spend some time with Jesus now and ponder this matter with Him. We will meet back here on the morrow to finish this study, same time, same station.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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