The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands. They did not do as their fathers did. Judges 2:16-17 HCSB
There are many documented stories of people who have been abused as children who then become abusers themselves as adults. Some have been sexually abused while others suffered at the hands of domestic violence in the home. The cycle seems to be: 1) Tensions build; 2) Abusive incident; 3) Remorse and reconciliation; followed by 4) Calm. But then the cycle starts over again with tensions building. There have been several advertising campaigns that encourage people to break the cycle and get out of abusive situations.
The Israelites were in a cycle: 1) Rebelling against God; 2) Being overthrown by enemies; 3) Being delivered and restored by God; 4) Forgetting what God had done and returning to their worship of false gods. It seems that they never learned the lesson to trust God and worship Him alone.
Challenge: We tend to be in the same type of cycle. We remain faithful to God as long as things are going well and we are around those whoare devoted to Him. But when things start going wrong and we trust in our own abilities, we stop going to church, we stop having a daily quiet time, and we hit rock bottom in our attitudes and abilities to face any life situation. We then realize our need for God and turn back to Him. Determine to be faithful to God despite the difficulties you encounter.
Read The Bible Through In Two Years: Genesis 21:1 – 22:24; Matthew 13:1-23