How did we get here?

"After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals." Judges 2:10-11

The great theologian and pastor Chuck Swindoll notes that a certain historian stated that the average age of most world civilizations is a duration of about 200 years (The U.S. is a little over 200 so far). And almost without exception, every civilization passes through a similar sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith (For the U.S. this stage would be immigrants fleeing persecution in Europe)
2. From spiritual faith to great courage (colonials rising up against England)
3. From great courage to liberty (Revolutionary War)
4. From liberty to abundance (post-WW II)
5. From abundance to leisure (current status of the U.S. as a whole)
6. From leisure to selfishness (current)
7. From selfishness to complacency (current)
8. From complacency to apathy (current)
9. From apathy to dependency
10. From dependency to weakness
11. From weakness BACK TO BONDAGE

Now, I have obviously added where the U.S. stands in this cycle via parentheses. What does all this mean? Well, the current status of America is somewhere between stages 5-8. If we follow the path that almost every civilization has followed, I hope the latter stages come later rather than sooner. What does this have to do with the book of Judges? During this 300 year period of Jewish history, God bestowed His grace on His chosen people and took them into the promised land only to have them disobey Him time and time and time again. God always raised up a judge to raise the Israelites out of bondage, but "when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them." 2:19

What other gods do we as Americans risk serving? Of course we do not literally bow down and sacrifice food to other idols, but we do sacrifice other facets of our life: our time, our money, our priorities, even our families. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, God has given us a second chance at eternal life with Him. Jesus paid our ransom as well as our penalty for sin. If we have accepted this fact of life and Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are His and are no longer slaves to this world, but are slaves to Him. Let's not let the vicious cycle of the book of Judges affect our life, eventhough it is affecting the culture of our country which is clearly on the road to destruction, unless God bestows grace on our sinful nation. Let us not compromise our beliefs, but daily take up our cross and follow Jesus.