History repeats

“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” Judges 2:18-19
The book of Judges presents us with a recurring cycle of the nation Israel being oppressed, repenting, being delivered by God through a judge, living in prosperity for a time, then forsaking the Lord and falling back into oppression again. These verses tell us that the people served the Lord only for as long as the judge was alive. When he died, that ‘revival’ came to an abrupt end.
People have very short memories of tragic events. In some cases this is good – women would never have more than one child if they remembered every detail of the pain of childbirth. But with regards to spiritual things, it is something we need to be very aware of. The heart of the natural man is inherently wicked (Jer. 17:9). When the Israelites became prosperous, they forgot the reasons they were following the Lord. Let us not be guilty of the same thing. Don’t let their history repeat in your life.