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Judges 2:10-16, After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, 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. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.  In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 

God's people seem to have a short memory.  It doesn't take long before a new generation of Israelites grew up without knowing the one true God.  Possibly because there was so much pagan influence left in the land, this new generation was thoroughly Canaanized.  They worshiped other gods, they failed to remember the God who gave them the land, and as a result, God no longer stood with them in battle.  God's people, if we can still call them that, are a total and complete mess.  God decides to lift his hand of protection and the Israelites become highly vulnerable to attacks from the pagan nations around them.

And despite of all the sin, God extends grace. God raises up judges.  The purpose of the judges was to deliver Israel from a series of military attacks by foreign enemies. We will begin to see a definite cycle: the people fall into sin and idolatry, God becomes angry, the people are oppressed by their enemies, the people cry out, the people receive salvation through a particular judge, there is a period of peace, and then the judge dies.  And it all begins again. 

Let's pray...God, Your grace is amazing.  We mess up over and over again and you make a way to save us.  You MADE a way to save us through the person of Jesus.  We are nothing without you.  In Your Name, Amen.