over and over again

After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him — those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 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 2:6-10)

It is a fact that cultural memories are short. Somebody once said that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.

That means that our children go through the same problems we went through and it really doesn’t matter many times how much advice we can offer. They are still going to do it again.

Like it or not, that is human nature.

The Israelites had seen the mighty power of God through Joshua. They knew he had God in his life. He had led them across the Jordan River on dry land just like Moses had led the Israelites across the Red Sea on dry land. He had brought them through the whole conquest of Canaan. Time and again, he had performed miracles by divine power. They knew he was the arm of God.

But then they died and Joshua died. And their kids came of age. To them, all of the stories of the power of God through Joshua were just that: stories. They were academic to the kids. They had not seen it themselves.

So what did they do? Turned from God and did all the stuff their parents had done in the first place. And God turned from them, just as he had turned from their parents.Then they cried out to God, just as their parents did, and God answered them just as he did their parents and delivered them from their problems.

After a while, they died and their kids came up. And the cycle began again, over and over. Through the book of Judges, it happened again and again. Problem after problem, sin after sin, people crying out once again to the God they suddenly realized they needed and he heard them.

And it began again. It is no wonder God got tired of them after a while.

It is the same with our kids. Of course, each generation thinks they have invented the world and that they are the first people ever to experience whatever it is they are experiencing. And their parents are these stupid, Neanderthal creatures who have never felt as they have felt. And everything comes around again.

It is a shame, but it is also human nature. It is why wars are fought over and over again, why the same things happen again and again. Each generation rebels against their parents and the cycle starts again.

Our generation was going to be so cool. We were the definitive generation of all mankind. Then we got old and our kids rebelled against us. Wait a minute. We were cool. We invented rock and roll, for goodness sake. We started wearing jeans and grew our hair out and tried drugs and stuff. We had free sex. How can you rebel against such cool people?

But the cycle begins again.

Just as it was, so shall it ever be.