Descending into Distress...

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
(Judges 2:6-15 ESV)
The days after Joshua dies were very dark indeed.  People turned their back on God and all He had done for them.  The "did evil" in His sight, and "abandoned" Him.  Sound familiar? They gave God grief, so to draw them back, He gave them grief through their enemies. They were in distress. Often, when we find ourselves in distressing situations, if we are honest, we realize we got ourselves there. We find ourselves frustrated, hopeless and grabbing the air for help, because we have messed up. We are sliding down the slippery slope because of our sin.  Let's tell it like it is. That's where we need to start.