the skipped generation

Joshua 5:1-8 (JDV)

Joshua 5:1 When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea heard that Yahveh had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their heart melted and their breath stopped continually because of the Israelites.
Joshua 5:2 At that time Yahveh said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again.”
Joshua 5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.
Joshua 5:4 This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males – all the men of war – had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt.
Joshua 5:5 Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the open country along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt.
Joshua 5:6 You see, the Israelites wandered in the open country forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey Yahveh. So Yahveh vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Joshua 5:7 He raised up their sons in their place; it was these Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.
Joshua 5:8 After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.

the skipped generation

The generation that wandered in the open country could have had the faith to trust God, but they didn’t. They were the skipped generation. This new generation would be circumcised because it was the sign of the covenant, a covenant they would have the chance to keep.

Our generation has all the chances for greatness and holiness that the last generation had. Will we be skipped, or prove ourselves faithful?

Lord, use this generation to reach the nations for Christ and his kingdom.