Judges, Nephites, weaknesses, and changes

The book of Judges reminds me of the parts (and aren't there just a ton of them?) of the Book of Mormon when the Nephites cycle through generations of righteousness and prosperity followed by pride, wickedness, and bondage.  The beginning chapters of Judges, especially, are tales of Israel worshiping false gods, falling into bondage, being rescued by those the Lord raised up for the purpose, praising God, and then repeating the cycle.

The cycle that spans generations for the Children of Israel and for the Nephites also plays out in the generations of our own church and more frequently in our own lives.  Our prophet and leaders consistently call us to repentance, warn us against the same sins over and over.  Much like Alma and other prophets of the Book of Mormon did in their day.

It got me to thinking.  God gives men weakness that they may be humble, through which humility weak things are made strong (Ether 12:27).  But a side effect of having such weaknesses is that men are, um, weak.  Sort of a natural consequence.  We are subject to the same sins over and over because we each have weaknesses that beset us, and while on the way to perfection through the atonement will regularly deal with temptation and frailty that is a necessary part of God's plan to humble us and qualify us for the blessings of the Atonement.

Alma calls the people of the Nephite cities and villages--members of the church--to "remembrance" in Alma 5. "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?" (v 6).

We have these scriptures so that we can "remember" the captivity of others and be driven to avoid the captivity of the devil in our own lives.  But isn't the case that in addition to fail to remember the lessons they learned, that we also fail to remember the consequences of our own weakness?  We suffer for our sins and rejoice in repentance, yet still make choices that lead to suffering.

It makes me very grateful for the Atonement and the entire Plan of Salvation.  I know that in order to be more like my Father I have to learn from my own experience.  I know that having weakness is part of that experience.  I also know that if I, over time, (too much time, I frustratingly think sometimes) can learn to be humble and overcome those weaknesses, that experience will be a great strength to me for the rest of my Eternal Life.