“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” -Hosea 13:6 (NIV)
Reading the Old Testament makes me think God’s people must have had spiritual amnesia from time to time. No matter how many amazing, undeniable, life-changing miracles God performs for Israel in the Old Testament, it seems as though they’re always one generation away from forgetting about him entirely.
That must be why God was always sending his prophets to tell his people talk about spiritual amnesia:
“But they forgot the Lord their God…” (1 Samuel 12:19, NIV)
“You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.” (Isaiah 17:10, NIV)
“Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols” (Jeremiah 18:15, NIV)
How can anyone, let alone an entire generation, forget about the one true God? And what can we do to make sure that doesn’t happen today?
I think we can find some good answers to those questions by looking at the end of Joshua’s story.
Joshua’s Farewell Address (Joshua 23-24)
In Joshua chapters 23-24, Joshua knew he was at the end of his life, so he gathered the people of Israel together one final time. Joshua’s goal was to make sure that the people wouldn’t forget their God and walk away from their faith. This was especially heavy on Joshua’s heart because of how hard he and Moses worked and how much they sacrificed to lead Israel out of their slavery and into the Promised Land.
So Joshua gathered everyone together and reminded them of all of the powerful ways God had been at work in their lives and the lives of their ancestors, going back hundreds of years to the time of Abraham. I can imagine telling himself as he planned out his speech, “If I can make sure they remember how God was there for them in the past, they’ll be sure to trust him in the future.”
Here’s the key points that Joshua made in his final address:
You’ve seen God’s mighty deeds for yourselves (Joshua 23:3).
Every time we faced an insurmountable obstacle or imminent danger, God came through for us in miraculous ways (Joshua 24:1-13).
We can place our faith in God moving forward because all of his promises have come true in the past (Joshua 23:14).
It’s time to make a decision about whether or not we will continue to trust in the Lord (Joshua 24:14-15).
So then the people of Israel, after hearing Joshua’s call to reaffirm their covenant with God, made a unanimous decision to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. They renewed their covenant and promised to be faithful.
What Joshua Did to Protect Against Amnesia
I think Joshua must have known that those people would be prone to spiritual amnesia, because right after they made their commitment to God, he did two things to make sure they wouldn’t easily forget their commitments.
First, he created a written record of their commitment in the Book of the Law (Joshua 24:26). Future generations wouldn’t be able to read the Law of the Lord without seeing the written declaration that they had reaffirmed their covenant commitments during the time of Joshua.
Second, he built an altar that would be an ongoing reminder of their promise to stay faithful (Joshua 24:27). The people of God would see this often and be reminded of their promise to stay faithful.
Joshua seemed to know that God’s people were always one generation away from losing the faith. So he took proactive steps to make sure God’s people stayed faithful. He not only embraced God’s call on his life and served him faithfully, he was also focused on leaving a legacy of faith for future generations. He wasn’t content to simply run his race (and let everyone else fend for himself); he did everything he could to pass the baton from one generation to the next.
Joshua’s Legacy of Faith
Joshua’s passion for keeping the faith personally and passing the faith to others paid off. Here’s what the Bible says about the result of Joshua’s devotion:
“The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.” Judges 2:7 (NIV)
What a great legacy to leave! This gives me hope about the impact that one generation of faith can have on the next. It reminds me that when God’s people are intentional about keeping the faith and passing the faith, our kids and grandkids will inherit far more than a monetary or physical inheritance from us. They will inherit a robust faith and a personal commitment to God that is based on the truth of the Bible and a confidence that God’s promises will come true.
“Another Generation Grew Up"
Unfortunately, even though Joshua’s generation stayed faithful to God, it didn’t take long for subsequent generations to forget all about him. Actually, it only took two verses! The Bible records the death of Joshua in Judges 2:8. Let’s read what happened just two verses later:
"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.” -Judges 2:10 (NIV)
When I read that verse, I have a lot of questions.
What went wrong?
How could this happen?
More specifically, how is it possible that a generation that was completely committed to the Law of the Lord could raise a generation that was entirely unaware of everything God had done for them?
In other words, how is it possible that God’s people could develop spiritual amnesia so quickly?
The simplest and most likely explanation is that Joshua’s generation might have been good at keeping the faith, but they didn’t do a good job of passing the faith to their children. Their lack of commitment to talking with their kids about who God is and what he has done for them contributed to the spiritual amnesia of future generations.
What About Us?
If we want our kids to inherit a spiritual legacy from us, we need to make sure they’re hearing about God’s faithfulness. We need to be in the Word with them. We need to talk to them about who God is, what he’s like, and how he’s been there for us. And maybe we need to follow Joshua’s example of creating tangible reminders of God’s character and what he’s done to bless our lives.
Kids learn a lot by watching what we do, but we need to be intentional about helping them understand the Gospel story and how our lives are connected to it. We can’t expect to make lifelong, committed disciples of Jesus by osmosis. We need to be intentional.
So don’t just keep the faith — pass it on to others!