(Judges 6:1-40) Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord handed them over to Midian for seven years. 2 The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the people of the east and march against them. 4 So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, nor a sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts in number, and both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to ruin it. 6 So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.
7 Now it came about, when the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of Midian, 8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians, and from the hands of all your oppressors, and I drove them out from you and gave you their land, 10 and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live.” But you have not obeyed Me.’”
11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 And the Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 But he said to Him, “O Lord, how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 Yet the Lord said to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will defeat Midian as one man.” 17 So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then perform for me a sign that it is You speaking with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 When Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not be afraid; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly way, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27 Then Gideon took ten men from his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
28 When the people of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, and the Asherah which had been beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built. 29 So they said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, since someone has torn down his altar!” 32 Therefore on that day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.
33 Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 So the Spirit of the Lord covered Gideon like clothing; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.” 38 And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one more time; please let me put You to the test only one more time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” 40 And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
It's funny but typical how Gideon asked the Lord to stay there so he could give Him an offering. And the Lord (pre-incarnate Jesus) says, "I'm not going anywhere!" Plus, God already knows what we are about to do. But we cannot buy favors from God. That is not how it works. Our tithes, gifts and offerings are to be an outpouring of thankfulness toward God and His goodness, who is 100% faithful.
I suppose when someone grows up around idols and false gods, a lot of time, money and energy is put towards trying to appease and earn favor. Consider our gods, whether fame, fortune, power, material things, leisure, entertainment, sports, drugs, alcohol, gambling (whatever is more important to us than the Lord God) - these things will take up an amazing amount of time, money and energy! And they will do nothing to save us, heal us, help us or fulfill us.
Now, at the time one becomes a believer, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. No matter what we do or say, we cannot lose our salvation, because He promises to hold us fast for all eternity! But if we "drift away" from the Lord in disobedience (quenching the Holy Spirit), we will stop seeing and hearing the Lord. We will then struggle to recognize God when He does talk to us or when He does do things in our lives.
Like with any relationship, we can get to know someone very well, but if many years go by without seeing them or hearing their voice, we might not recognize them. It is also very possible, that when we hear gossip about someone we do know very well, and even though the information doesn't sound right, we can start to doubt our friend's integrity. And if we choose to believe the gossip and the opinions of others, we begin to vilify that friend and avoid them. Instead, we should be going to them and asking them about it, giving them a chance to speak from their heart.
Well... God is perfect. But we can still treat Him the same way, listening to bad reports and wrong information and sullied opinions from others, until we start to doubt the Lord. By choosing to vilify Him, and allowing sin to creep into our lives, we will not only become oblivious to our own sin, but oblivious to God. Then as we begin to struggle with consequences, the typical reaction is to blame God or wonder why God is so far away from us. We will fail to recognize who He actual is and what He is actually saying and doing!
I've seen far too many people say that they don't feel God's presence anymore, so they just continue walking away. Instead, we need to go to Him! Not just to relearn and hear from the Lord's heart, but for Him to heal our wayward hearts!
We should not have to ask for a sign or a miracle in order to know what is of God. We have the Bible (God's word) telling us everything we need to know. We also have the indwelling Holy Spirit convicting and guiding our heart. And if something comes comes up and we wonder, "Is this from the Lord?" - this is when we should be praying and searching the scriptures in order to know with certainty! When we can recognize the Lord and His truth, we can trust Him with absolute confidence. In opening our spiritual eyes and desiring to seek after the Lord, we will experience His peace, joy, healing, fulfillment and help!
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