Rinse and Repeat

Over the years, I have seen a number of parents who put their children in a Christian school to keep them away from temptation, in the belief they would learn to be strong Christians.  Sooner or later they graduate or are forced to leave than environment, and many times when they are thrust into the day to day world, those kids turn out to be completely unprepared to deal with the temptations around them despite the sincere, well intentioned teaching they have had.  Children need to be exposed to things that are wrong in a controlled environment so that they can develop and awareness of the danger and consequences of their actions, while under the guidance of mature parents or teachers so they learn to make proper decisions for themselves, because one day, they will not have anyone to guide them. 

God had left various other groups among the Israelites to prove them, literally to test their development and commitment to the Lord.  When they turned away and got into trouble, and turned back to God he bailed them out and gave a judge named Othniel to guide them for several years.  As long as Othniel was there to guide them, they did pretty well, but eventually Othniel died.  Judges 3:11-14 tells us what happened.  “And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.   And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.  And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.  So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.” 

The older people remembered what happened when they turned away from God, but forty eight years after they had been conquered by Cushanrishathaim, most of the older people had died, and the new generation repeated their parent’s mistakes.  As a result, they were conquered by the Moabites under Eglon.  While I am sure they had heard their parents talk about it, it didn’t seem to relate directly to them so the younger generation didn’t take it seriously.  This time it took them eighteen years before they finally decided something had to be done and turned back to God. 

Even though it fook them far longer to yield to God, God was still waiting to deliver then as Judges 3:15 tells us.  “But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded:…”   God would use Ehud to deliver them destroy the power of the Moabites for years to come, as Judges 3:29-30 tells us.  “And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.  So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.” 

This time made a greater impression on the people and they were more determined not to let down on their commitment to God, doing a better Job of teaching their children so that they had peace for eighty years.  Eventually, the younger generation began to go along with the other religious groups and God began to allow the Philistines to make raids on Israel.  There were enough of the people who wanted to serve God to call on the Lord before the Philistines were able to take over.  God sent a judge by the name of Shamgar, to stop the Philistine invasion before it really got started, in Judges 3:31.  “And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.”   We don’t know whether Shamgar judged during or after the eighty years, or how long they served the Lord after his victory, but we do know that the trend of turning away from the Lord continued despite his delivering them from the Philistines.    

Each generation has to make their own decision as to whether they will serve the Lord or not.  Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that doing the same thing and expecting different results is a sure sign of insanity.  If we want something to turn out differently, we must do things differently.  We can’t just polish it up and do the same thing again.