QT 6 Feb 17, Judg 8:33-35, God repeats something for a reason! Especially when it is constantly repeated.

Judges 8:33–35 (ESV) — 33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. 34 And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, 35 and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

NOTE: Why does God beat a dead horse? By that I mean, why does God continue to make the same point over and over again? Someone recently asked me that question, although it was asked a little differently, but it is the same question. While I might regularly make mistakes in communication, God does not. And when God repeats something, it is not because he forgot or that he is developing dementia, or he is beating a dead horse--there is purpose in God's repetition. Once again, the land had peace, the people did not remember God (Or Gideon) and the people fall back into the pattern of sin all over again, the sin of the culture and the peoples whom they lived around. There is something important that needs to be beaten into our heads. We will continue to follow the same pattern unless we break the cycle. The placer to break the cycle is to not forget, to remember God. One cannot remember a person unless one is regularly meeting with that person, at least at a deep level, which is the level required to walk in obedience to God. The absolute most important thing we can do is to meet with God every day to maintain our walk and to keep from forgetting God. That's the start. The next step is to start saying no to the culture and the people who pulls us away from God. We are witnesses to the world, not clones of our sinful culture.