[10] After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. [11] Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. [12] They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.
Joshua was a very powerful leader. What Moses could not complete, entry into and conquest of the Promised Land, Joshua did. The people were kept in check during his lifetime. His powerful, and faithful, leadership was enough for the people to see that God was with them. They had been brought into a fruitful land.
When you consider the uncertainty of living in the wilderness for 40 years and that the current generation knew nothing but that impermanent life, it is easy to see how the entry into, and conquest, of Canaan was such a freeing time for them. Even in the midst of the battles of the conquest they could see the hand of God powerfully at work.
However when Joshua died and his memory had faded into the past somewhat, the people relaxed into a comfortable lifestyle and forgot about the God who had made all this possible for them through Joshua of blessed memory.
Comfort has a habit of doing this. You tend to relax your guard sufficiently for the worship of the true God to fade into the background. Religion becomes formal, if practiced at all. The “gods” all around take over: sport, leisure, work, money, even family and other relationships. God begins to seem irrelevant to a life of comfort and security.
No comments:
Post a Comment