Day 21: Gideon
Judges 6-8
- After Deborah leaves, Israel turns back to their evil ways. So God allows them to be oppressed by the Midianites and sure enough, Israel cries out to God when the going gets rough.
- so God sends a prophet to them saying, "Look, I brought you out of Egypt, I gave you victory over your enemies and then I found you a nice piece of land over here in Canaan. The only thing I asked you to do was to obey the commands I gave to you through Moses and don't worship any other gods. But you didn't listen. So that's why you're getting pwned by the Midianites."
- but God is love so that's where Gideon comes into the picture.
- an angel pays Gideon a visit and tells him, "God is with you...you're a mighty warrior...I'm sending you now...don't worry I will be with you" and still he doesn't believe. So he wants to test the angel to see if really it's God talking to him and he prepares a sacrifice. Sure enough, it's God.
- Gideon's first task was to destroy the idols and evil altars of his father and build one for God. So he does this but did it when no one was watching at night because he was afraid of what his family might do to him.
- family is upset, wants to kill him, but spares his life because Gideon's father cleverly states that Baal should have defended his own altar.
- Gideon's second test was with the wool fleece. He leaves it on the ground and asks God to make the ground dry around it but the fleece wet. Then when it happens he figures that he had made a mistake with his test since one would expect the ground to dry quicker than the fleece. So he reverses the conditions on the test and God then makes the ground around it wet and the fleece dry.
- So Gideon gathers up about 32,000 men in preparation for battle but God says there's too many. So eventually, by seeing how the men drank from a river, Gideon's army was trimmed down to 300 men. Reason? God wanted them to be sure that it was by His grace and His power that they were able to defeat Midian. Without God, there was no way 300 men could accomplish this and they knew it. It would have been suicide.
- so they go in, blowing trumpets and breaking jars. God throws the enemy into mass confusion and they end up killing each other and fleeing. Gideon and his men pursue and kill everyone.
- skipping ahead a bit, one of Gideon's flaws was the ephod he made from the gold earrings. I think his intentions were good to make one out of remembrance for the victory God gave them but it backfired and the people of Israel began to worship the ephod.
- so for 40 years there was peace as long as Gideon was around. But as soon as he died they went back to worshipping Baal-Berith and failed to show kindness to Gideon's family (punishment for making the ephod perhaps?).
It's interesting how patient God was with Gideon. He put God to many tests and I could see God getting a bit angry with Gideon's lack of faith. But once Gideon was assured that this was God's will, he made no mistake of carrying it out. I think I'm like that so often. I fail to account for God's awesome power and instead see my own weakness and shortcomings. At times I've put out my own wool fleece to see if this is really what God wants me to do. But often is seems He has not given me that clear-cut answer. Maybe I'm not listening carefully enough or maybe God is withdrawing from me temporarily as a test of His own. I
I have to admit though, almost everything that has happened to me could have been attributed to my own abilities. Very rarely will I step out of my comfort zone and in faith. I hear about people who have given up all of their savings, even though they know they need that money to pay for school or just to survive, trusting that God will provide. And he has through just random people giving them money and support. If I never strive for something well beyond my reach then I'll never fully experience the power of Christ in me.
- After Deborah leaves, Israel turns back to their evil ways. So God allows them to be oppressed by the Midianites and sure enough, Israel cries out to God when the going gets rough.
- so God sends a prophet to them saying, "Look, I brought you out of Egypt, I gave you victory over your enemies and then I found you a nice piece of land over here in Canaan. The only thing I asked you to do was to obey the commands I gave to you through Moses and don't worship any other gods. But you didn't listen. So that's why you're getting pwned by the Midianites."
- but God is love so that's where Gideon comes into the picture.
- an angel pays Gideon a visit and tells him, "God is with you...you're a mighty warrior...I'm sending you now...don't worry I will be with you" and still he doesn't believe. So he wants to test the angel to see if really it's God talking to him and he prepares a sacrifice. Sure enough, it's God.
- Gideon's first task was to destroy the idols and evil altars of his father and build one for God. So he does this but did it when no one was watching at night because he was afraid of what his family might do to him.
- family is upset, wants to kill him, but spares his life because Gideon's father cleverly states that Baal should have defended his own altar.
- Gideon's second test was with the wool fleece. He leaves it on the ground and asks God to make the ground dry around it but the fleece wet. Then when it happens he figures that he had made a mistake with his test since one would expect the ground to dry quicker than the fleece. So he reverses the conditions on the test and God then makes the ground around it wet and the fleece dry.
- So Gideon gathers up about 32,000 men in preparation for battle but God says there's too many. So eventually, by seeing how the men drank from a river, Gideon's army was trimmed down to 300 men. Reason? God wanted them to be sure that it was by His grace and His power that they were able to defeat Midian. Without God, there was no way 300 men could accomplish this and they knew it. It would have been suicide.
- so they go in, blowing trumpets and breaking jars. God throws the enemy into mass confusion and they end up killing each other and fleeing. Gideon and his men pursue and kill everyone.
- skipping ahead a bit, one of Gideon's flaws was the ephod he made from the gold earrings. I think his intentions were good to make one out of remembrance for the victory God gave them but it backfired and the people of Israel began to worship the ephod.
- so for 40 years there was peace as long as Gideon was around. But as soon as he died they went back to worshipping Baal-Berith and failed to show kindness to Gideon's family (punishment for making the ephod perhaps?).
It's interesting how patient God was with Gideon. He put God to many tests and I could see God getting a bit angry with Gideon's lack of faith. But once Gideon was assured that this was God's will, he made no mistake of carrying it out. I think I'm like that so often. I fail to account for God's awesome power and instead see my own weakness and shortcomings. At times I've put out my own wool fleece to see if this is really what God wants me to do. But often is seems He has not given me that clear-cut answer. Maybe I'm not listening carefully enough or maybe God is withdrawing from me temporarily as a test of His own. I
I have to admit though, almost everything that has happened to me could have been attributed to my own abilities. Very rarely will I step out of my comfort zone and in faith. I hear about people who have given up all of their savings, even though they know they need that money to pay for school or just to survive, trusting that God will provide. And he has through just random people giving them money and support. If I never strive for something well beyond my reach then I'll never fully experience the power of Christ in me.
Labels: Bible Characters
posted by Matt at 5:02 PM
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