The Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. I told you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.” [Judges 6:8-10 (NLT)]

God made it quite clear: the Israelites were not to worship the Amorite gods, yet they fell into a life of disobedience and idolatry. With such a concise and simple prohibition, why did the Israelites fail to obey God? Had they forgotten who freed them and fed them, gave them victory in battle and led them to a “land of milk and honey”? Perhaps they had and they began to think they had accomplished everything on their own. Lack of gratitude can be a dangerous thing. For the Israelites, it meant that they suffered for seven years at the hands of the Midianites; homes, crops and livestock were destroyed and Israel was on the brink of starvation. Let us never make the mistake of worshiping the false gods of self, fame, or fortune. While we enjoy the blessings of this life, we must never forget who made them all possible.

However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them. I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you! [Leviticus 26:14-17 (NLT)]