A Generation That Did Not Know the Lord Judges 2:10

I. A Generation that Did Not Know the Lord v. 10

We have come to a pivotal moment in the life of God’s people Israel:

Joshua and his generation have passed on and a new generation rises to take their place

One generation entered the land of promise and began to conquer it

Now another has risen with an opportunity to finish the task

The problem for this generation is simple:

They do not know the Lord or the work that He has done for His people

What does this mean?

I don’t believe that the primary issue here is informational

Instead, they have no experience with God or trust in Him

However, ignorance is a problem!

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 329: Ignorance

According to Peter Kendall in the Chicago Tribune, Ruben Brown, age sixty-one, was known on the south and west sides of Chicago, as the friendly neighborhood cockroach exterminator with “the Mississippi stuff.” The Mississippi stuff was a pesticide Brown had bought hundreds of gallons of in the South, and it really did the trick on roaches. Brown went from door to door with his hand sprayer, and his business grew as satisfied customers recommended the remarkably effective exterminator to others.

In the process, however, Brown is alleged to have single-handedly created an environmental catastrophe. The can-do pesticide—methyl parathion—is outlawed by the EPA for use in homes. Southern farmers use it on boll weevils in their cotton fields, and within days the pesticide chemically breaks down into harmless elements. Not so in the home. There the pesticide persists as a toxic chemical that can harm the human neurological system with effects similar to lead poisoning.

The EPA was called into Chicago for the cleanup. Drywall, carpeting, and furniture sprayed with the pesticide had to be torn out and hauled to a hazardous-materials dump. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the total cost of the cleanup would be some $20 million, ranking this as one of the worst environmental nightmares in Illinois history.

Brown was charged with two misdemeanors. He apparently didn’t know much about the pesticide he sprayed so liberally. Brown’s attorney said, “It’s a tragedy. It is one of those situations where he did a lot of harm, but his intention in no way matches the damage he has done. He is a family man and handled it with his own hands. Do you think he knew how toxic it was?”

What you don’t know can hurt you. That is true both of pesticides and of false teaching.

II. How Can You Know the Lord?

First, be sure that He wants to be known!

He makes His power known through the glory of His Creation

He reveals His abundant love through the many joys and blessings of life

He reveals His tender mercy to us in suffering

Some of this will be seemingly senseless and chaotic, built into the fabric of existence

Some of this will come in the form of injustice, as you endure things that are quite unfair

Some of this will come as a self-inflicted wound, either from

Foolishness

Sinfulness

Do not be afraid to know the Lord in suffering!

But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world… -CS Lewis

If God is doing His part in being known, what is your part?

Remember- remember the things that you have already learned and experienced of God; do not despise the deposit entrusted to you!

2 Timothy 1:5

[5] I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. (ESV)

Seek- make an honest pursuit of God if you intend to know Him

Through Scripture

Through Prayer

Through Participation with His people

Jeremiah 29:11–13

[11] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. [12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. [13] You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (ESV)

Follow- press forward into following Jesus. All of God’s commands are summed up in this one thing: “Follow me”

When Pam and I lived in Ohio, our neighbors’ young son was named Charlie. One day, I heard a knock on the door, followed by Charlie’s voice asking Pam, “Can Mr. Chuck come out and play?” I had some time, so I agreed to spend some time with this little guy.

Charlie was pumped because he had just received a new whiffle ball and bat. “Here’s what we do, Mr. Chuck. I’ll stand back here,” he said, “you throw the ball, and I’ll hit it.” I threw the first pitch, Charlie swung, and he missed the ball by a foot. I then threw the second pitch, and Charlie missed again. The third pitch was no better – Charlie missed worse than ever.

By this point, he was exasperated – at me! He picked up the ball, fired it back to me, and yelled in his young voice, “Mr. Chuck, you’re doin’ it wrong!”

“What do you mean that I’m doing it wrong, Charlie?”

His answer: “Mr. Chuck, you’re supposed to be throwing the ball where I’m swinging the bat!”

-Chuck Lawless