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Joshua 24:31

³¹Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.

It has been said that God has no grandchildren. In other words, each generation must have individuals who choose to become a child of God. One cannot depend on the faith of his or her parents. The Israelites that saw the amazing hand of God in the wilderness and the conquest of Canaan remained faithful to their commitment to God throughout that generation. But as we will soon see, the next generation flirted with foreign gods, just as Moses and Joshua predicted.

It is important to note that God linked the faithfulness of Israel to the duration of the lives of the elders that had known what God did for Israel. We can see two things here. The first is the importance of the elders guiding and instructing the flock of God. They are constant reminders of the ways of God and the commitments that have been made.

The other important point is that the people personally experienced God at work in their lives. That is why God was so real to them. We need to recognize God's work in our lives if we are to remain faithful. He works in every life, but most people dismiss it as coincidences. Each generation needs to convey to the next how to watch for God at work and give Him credit and thanks.

The next generation of Israelites did what was right in their own eyes. It is the same in our day. Each one determined for himself or herself what truth should be and what was right. The people who comprised the next generation set aside the Rock, the eternal truth of God, and decided to play god. They forgot His great works in the past and neglected to credit Him for what He was doing in their lives. God was bound by His Word and their oath to discipline them to help them wake up and return to righteousness.

Consider: By taking time in God's Word, you are remembering His works of old. Are you also giving Him credit for what He is doing today in your life? Keeping these memories of God's work alive will help you stay faithful.