BELIEVING IS SEEING
DAY 109: As the mom of four young adults (20-24yrs) I spend a good deal of time talking to them about the future. While our three sons and one daughter are all very different, they have one big thing in common - they don't know what they want to be when they grow up. Well, that is not entirely true; they all have some ideas, and they are starting to test the waters; but all of them wonder if they could really be what they hope.
It takes a certain confidence to believe you can become something before you actually have the ability to achieve it. College is one way to gain that confidence. And all of our kids have gone that route in the hopes it will prepare them for.... something that will find worthwhile and fulfilling. That, however is not the only way to gain the kind of confidence needed. After reading today's scripture passages it seems there is another.
Continuing in the book of Judges, Israel took another turn away from God, "So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years." This enemy was so cruel that many fled to the mountains to hide. They not only lived in fear, they also lived in near starvation. The Midianites destroyed their crops and took all their livestock. "They stayed until the land was stripped bare . . Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help."
God, in mercy and in His timing, intervened in response to their cries by raising up a man to be their leader - He just had to tell the unsuspecting guy about it.
Judges 6:11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Warrior? He was no warrior. He was just a guy trying to feed his family in a land stripped bare. Perhaps the most heroic thing he had ever done was thresh that wheat in secret. Yet God greets him with the title "mighty warrior." Far from feeling like a warrior, Gideon admitted to being thoroughly confused by the whole situation.
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon wasn't the first person to be confused by God, and he wasn't the last. (I can personally attest to that.) First God announced he was a warrior (uh, excuse me, I'm just threshing here...) then God said he was "with" him (are you sure God because we sure are suffering here ...). Hold on, Gideon, there is more!
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Whoa! Go? Me, a wheat thresher? Did I hear you right?
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ”
Good point. Gideon had no experience fighting. He didn't have the backing of a mighty army. At that moment in time, he was the least of the weakest in the entire land. How could God declare him a warrior?
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
God didn't ask Gideon what he wanted to be. God declared what he was in the sight of the Lord. The next step would be up to Gideon to believe God. He would have to trust that if he did "go in the strength that you have" and God was "with you" then he could indeed become what God declared him to be.
It took Gideon a few baby steps of walking toward God, and confirming God's will, but then he was firmly on the path to allowing God to prove that Gideon was indeed the warrior God declared him to be.
I won't spoil the whole story, but Judges 7 starts with "So Gideon and his army got up early and went..." (7:1) While he was still a thresher, he believed what God declared to be true - he was a warrior.
God did not ask Gideon to do anymore than to "go in the strength you have" and trust that God would "be there with" him. The most important attribute Gideon had was his availability to God.
If God declares His will, it is a done deal because He literally see the end from the beginning. He could see the end where Gideon was a warrior from the beginning when he was "the least of the weakest."
Gideon's part, and our part, is to be available and move forward with faith in what God declares to be true.
God may declare a weak unfaithful man to be a loyal husband. He may declare an angry woman is a gentle mother. A timid believer is a bold evangelist. A uncertain college student is a an inspirational business success, a compassionate nurse, or a community leader. God may declare a liar to be His spokesman, a prisoner to give words of freedom, a welder to be a minister, a diseased person to be well, a fearful person to be courageous.
We may be uncertain how God will bring such things to pass, but we don't have to be uncertain that he can bring it to pass. If he says it, it is already true because He is already there at the end.
THE HEADLINE HERE IS: What we are now is irrelevant... God declared a shepherd to be a king (David), a killer to be a redeemer (Moses), a liar to be the father of 12 tribes (Jacob), a dreamer to be a great leader (Joseph), a lady judge to be a warrior (Deborah), a young virgin girl to be the mother of Messiah (Mary), a cheating tax collector to be a generous follower (Matthew), a violent legalist to be a messenger of peace (Paul).... and on and on....
I hope my kids will ask God what He declares them to be... then I hope they believe it, go in the strength they have (no matter how weak or least they might be at the momement) and then trust God to be with them. I get up everyday hoping the same for myself because I want to be what God declares I can and should be.
It takes a certain confidence to believe you can become something before you actually have the ability to achieve it. College is one way to gain that confidence. And all of our kids have gone that route in the hopes it will prepare them for.... something that will find worthwhile and fulfilling. That, however is not the only way to gain the kind of confidence needed. After reading today's scripture passages it seems there is another.
Continuing in the book of Judges, Israel took another turn away from God, "So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years." This enemy was so cruel that many fled to the mountains to hide. They not only lived in fear, they also lived in near starvation. The Midianites destroyed their crops and took all their livestock. "They stayed until the land was stripped bare . . Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help."
God, in mercy and in His timing, intervened in response to their cries by raising up a man to be their leader - He just had to tell the unsuspecting guy about it.
Judges 6:11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Warrior? He was no warrior. He was just a guy trying to feed his family in a land stripped bare. Perhaps the most heroic thing he had ever done was thresh that wheat in secret. Yet God greets him with the title "mighty warrior." Far from feeling like a warrior, Gideon admitted to being thoroughly confused by the whole situation.
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon wasn't the first person to be confused by God, and he wasn't the last. (I can personally attest to that.) First God announced he was a warrior (uh, excuse me, I'm just threshing here...) then God said he was "with" him (are you sure God because we sure are suffering here ...). Hold on, Gideon, there is more!
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Whoa! Go? Me, a wheat thresher? Did I hear you right?
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ”
Good point. Gideon had no experience fighting. He didn't have the backing of a mighty army. At that moment in time, he was the least of the weakest in the entire land. How could God declare him a warrior?
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
God didn't ask Gideon what he wanted to be. God declared what he was in the sight of the Lord. The next step would be up to Gideon to believe God. He would have to trust that if he did "go in the strength that you have" and God was "with you" then he could indeed become what God declared him to be.
It took Gideon a few baby steps of walking toward God, and confirming God's will, but then he was firmly on the path to allowing God to prove that Gideon was indeed the warrior God declared him to be.
I won't spoil the whole story, but Judges 7 starts with "So Gideon and his army got up early and went..." (7:1) While he was still a thresher, he believed what God declared to be true - he was a warrior.
God did not ask Gideon to do anymore than to "go in the strength you have" and trust that God would "be there with" him. The most important attribute Gideon had was his availability to God.
If God declares His will, it is a done deal because He literally see the end from the beginning. He could see the end where Gideon was a warrior from the beginning when he was "the least of the weakest."
Gideon's part, and our part, is to be available and move forward with faith in what God declares to be true.
God may declare a weak unfaithful man to be a loyal husband. He may declare an angry woman is a gentle mother. A timid believer is a bold evangelist. A uncertain college student is a an inspirational business success, a compassionate nurse, or a community leader. God may declare a liar to be His spokesman, a prisoner to give words of freedom, a welder to be a minister, a diseased person to be well, a fearful person to be courageous. We may be uncertain how God will bring such things to pass, but we don't have to be uncertain that he can bring it to pass. If he says it, it is already true because He is already there at the end.
THE HEADLINE HERE IS: What we are now is irrelevant... God declared a shepherd to be a king (David), a killer to be a redeemer (Moses), a liar to be the father of 12 tribes (Jacob), a dreamer to be a great leader (Joseph), a lady judge to be a warrior (Deborah), a young virgin girl to be the mother of Messiah (Mary), a cheating tax collector to be a generous follower (Matthew), a violent legalist to be a messenger of peace (Paul).... and on and on....
I hope my kids will ask God what He declares them to be... then I hope they believe it, go in the strength they have (no matter how weak or least they might be at the momement) and then trust God to be with them. I get up everyday hoping the same for myself because I want to be what God declares I can and should be.
When it comes to being all that God declares us to be, seeing is not believing.... BELIEVING is the first step to seeing.
Day 109 of 365
Judges 6
Luke 22:54-71
Luke 23:1-12
Psalm 95
Psalm 96:1-13
Judges 6
Luke 22:54-71
Luke 23:1-12
Psalm 95
Psalm 96:1-13
Proverbs 14:5-6
Day 116 of 365
Judges 7
Judges 8:1-17
Luke 23:13-43
Psalm 97
Psalm 98:1-9
Proverbs 14:7-8
Judges 7
Judges 8:1-17
Luke 23:13-43
Psalm 97
Psalm 98:1-9
Proverbs 14:7-8
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