Judges 8: 33-35 – An Attitude of Ingratitude

³³ And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.

³⁴ And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:

³⁵ Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.

You would think that after all God and Gideon had done for Israel that the people would remember that had happened. Here in America we have all kinds of holidays to remember people. We have Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, Presidents’ Day, you get the picture. The people if Israel, however, didn’t even remember what had happened. Once Gideon was gone, the people went right back to worshiping their false gods just like before God talked to Gideon. How sad! Clearly, these people were not thankful for what Gideon had done for them.

Once again, it is easy for us to look at the Israelites and see how we act. Sometimes it seems that no matter how much God gives us, or helps us with, we are very quick to question Him and turn our backs to Him. The same goes for people who influence us. Often we take people for granted and never think about how much people like our parents, pastors, friends, and mentors really help us.

At the root of all this is ingratitude. If are truly thankful for something, and realize that we are, we won’t take things for granted like we do.

Life Step: Think about it…

What kind of things has God given you?

How have people helped to influence your life?

In what ways do we show ingratitude?

How can we show more thankfulness?