Reading: Judges 2:6-3:6

When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Judges 2:10

When Joshua and the leaders around him died (2:7), a depressing cycle in Israel’s history began (2:10-19). They turned away from God, worshiped idols and experienced disaster.

In this account, we see a silent and powerful enemy at work in the children of Israel;  The enemy of “forgetfulness.”  The children of Israel became forgetful with the passing of time.  Their forgetfulness caused them to drift away from the “Word and Ways of God,” resulting in a cycle of behavior that brought destruction.  They no longer were living as a people who were brought out of bondage, but they allowed the old nature and ways to resurface leading them astray once again.

Being “forgetful” is an enemy to our faith as forgetfulness causes us to wander aimlessly in our own reasoning, no longer governed by truth, but by our flesh and its selfish ways.

To forget means:

• to lose the remembrance of
• to be unable to think of or recall
• to cause something to become obsolete  
• to cease from doing;
• to treat with inattention or disregard  
• to disregard intentionally
• to overlook
• to fail to become mindful at the proper time
• to lose one’s dignity, temper, or self-control

We see by the definition of forget, that it’s not just a lack of recall, but it is a powerful enemy that can cause us to make obsolete that which was once true and of great value and importance. 

Forgetfulness, can lead us to a place of inattention, resulting in a disregard of what is good or right.  The progressive path of forgetfulness leads us to fail to be mindful of the times and seasons in our life resulting in a loss of dignity which will always lead us to a lack of self control and therefore sin.

The Lord instructed the children of Israel to continually speak of the goodness of God and the things He had done for them so that they would not fall prey to the enemy of forgetfulness. 

Only take heed, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your [mind and] heart all the days of your life. Teach them to your children and your children’s children…
Deuteronomy 4:9

Have you allowed the passing of time to cause you to forget the goodness of God? Has your forgetfulness been leading you astray? Then cry out to the Lord and draw close to Him and you will overcome and in doing so you will influence others to overcome.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Revelation 12:11