Remembering God’s goodness and His greatness protects us from all forms of deception. Today, the Lord is testing the Church, calling us to remember and not forget how He worked in us in the past so we will continue to hold true to Him in the future.

After Joshua died, something happened to Israel: “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). 

As a result of abandoning the Lord and forgetting their past, the “Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth” (vs. 12-13). Israel suffered because it allowed itself to be assimilated into the surrounding culture and not hold true to God’s commands.  

Because of their sin, Israel would suffer the consequences of their choices.  The Lord handed Israel over to those who invaded their country and allowed them to live unchallenged in the Promised Land. As a result of their assimilation, “He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them” (vs. 14). The Lord did this to protect His covenant with them and the future of Israel. The Lord would raise up judges who would expose Israel’s sins as a first step in their restoration.

As the consequences of Israel’s sin were taking place, “The Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering” (vs. 18).  This was a burden of their own making. The Lord did this to see “whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did” (vs. 22).

A failure to remember and obey the Lord has been present in each generation of faith, including ours. We are living in a time of testing to see whether we will continue to follow the Lord and obey his voice, and not succumb to the surrounding voices and practices that will lead us away from God. 

This exposure is the loving judgment of God upon His people. It’s a test to determine the depth and quality of their faith. “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel – to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did” (vs. 20-22). 

Our hope comes from our faith in Christ and from not forgetting what the Lord did in the past and what He promises to do in the future. Our restoration is a manifestation of God’s love that pities us as we suffer from the consequences of our foolish decisions.

When our foolishness is exposed, we should never dismiss that exposure. An unchallenged sin in one part of the Body of Christ will affect the whole. 

Walking with integrity as those exposures are brought to the surface is the beginning of our healing and restoration. Without that exposure, we will remain trapped in our disobedience. We should embrace those times of exposure and not dismiss them. It will strengthen the Church and make her ready to embrace the future.