It’s Yours God
(Read Gideon 6:13-16)
By Guest Author
We can get volatile weather in this part of the world. Pretty much everything from ice to hurricanes and tornados. Two days ago, the weather forecasters were predicting a doomsday scenario. We were going to get a category 5 tornado. I’d been busy at work this week so I wasn’t paying much attention to the forecasts but I still prepared for the worst. I secured what I could outside, and brought everything else indoors. Upon waking, I noticed a cool, thick fog in the air. It certainly didn’t feel like thunderstorms. By dinner time, it was sunny and about 75 degrees.
Meteorologists are smart and educated people who know a heck of a lot more about weather systems than most. As a rule, I listen to them but I don’t trust their warnings as Gospel fact. I weigh the signs, my instincts, and meteorologists’ track record when I’m assessing natural disaster threats.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
King David’s son, Solomon has received credit for authorship of Proverbs 3. Many have claimed that he was the wisest man (other than Christ) to walk the earth. Why was he so wise? Because when God asked him what he wished for, rather than long life, riches, and good health, he asked for wisdom. God’s wisdom.
For trust in God to be true, it must also be complete. When we trust in God with all our heart, it means to put away our own understanding and to choose to trust the one who created it all. It means we trust God’s understanding first. The phrase “lean” in second line of the passage referred to relying on something with limitations. Too often, we look to our self-sufficiency and self-dependence for answers.
My example of the tornado forecast was not intended as a knock on meteorologists, nor to build myself up. It was intended to illustrate how we sometimes look to the wrong things to put our faith in. There was almost a frenzy surrounding the onslaught of this storm. Yet, it never lived up to the hype – or to the fear it generated. God doesn’t want us to be fearful, he wants our trust and faithfulness.
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. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
“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.”
Judges 6:11-13
Gideon was a ruling Judge of Israel sometime around 1179 – 1154 BC. While known as one of the greatest judges of Israel, he was most likely a timid ruler. Initially, he was found hiding from his enemies on a threshing floor. You’d think when the angel of the Lord tells you the “Lord is with you,” that would be good enough for us to conquer the world. Instead, he reminded God of history – like God needed the lesson. Gideon reminded God of his rescue of his people from Egypt and then accused God of abandoning them at the hands of the the Midianites. God knew what was in Gideon’s heart. Gideon didn’t. All Gideon could see was what was in front of him. He only knew what he could see, hear, feel, and taste. And it all fed his fear.
Just this week, I went through some scary trials with my health. A few numbers in my bloodwork from my annual physical raised alarms with my doctor. So I had additional testing and an ultrasound. Despite my best efforts, fear was abundantly present in my life during this time. I prayed more than I normally do. I was keenly aware of my faith and it’s intensity. I had many conversations with God, but the one recurring thing I asked him was for him to take this burden from me. I wasn’t asking him to make it go away, although that would’ve been fine, I was asking him to help me trust in him. When something big and frightening is in front of us, it’s so hard to let go of our fear. Sure, we know God is bigger than any problem we might have. We know that all things happen for his good and glory. But that digging, annoying, and persistent kernel of fear in our head just keeps burning.
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?”
“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.”
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Judges 6:14-16
I could write for weeks about the people in my life who faced struggles and adversity ten times greater than anything I’ve been through. There was the Mom of a boy I coached in baseball who while stricken with cancer, showed up at every single game; there were the parents of a teenage friend of my son’s who tragically died in a car crash; there was a childhood friend of my daughter who spent most of her youth enduring the agony of brain cancer; there was a family member who endured years of verbal and physical abuse from an alcoholic husband; there was a close friend who succumbed to an embolism overnight; and there is another friend who was an outcast to his family because of his Christian faith. Their stories and their backgrounds are all unique. What is not unique is their strength, character, and courage.
Earlier in Judges, we see that Gideon was called a “mighty warrior”. Was that to fill him with courage? Maybe. Gideon was correct, he couldn’t save Israel. But a great God could. Gideon equated Israel’s difficulties with the Midians meaning that God wasn’t with them. In the midst of the worst times of our lives we also wrestle with the idea that God isn’t with us. Gideon needed a personal encounter with God. So do we.
C.S. Lewis said that courage is one of the least talked about Christian virtues, but it is essential to all the others. God pared down Gideon’s 32,000 soldiers to 300. Gideon had to believe in God’s promise over the safety in numbers. Ultimately, Gideon’s army of 300 would defeat an overwhelming Midianite force in battle. In life, God will continue to reduce our numbers down to 300. When he does, we are urged to rely and trust him to do the impossible. It’s so easy to trust in what we think we know. It’s comfortable to trust in what we see in front of us. When we rely on things other than God, we’re taking him out of the equation. It’s his plan, let him play it out.
Late in the day yesterday, my phone lit up with a call from my doctor’s office. I thought, wait is this bad? Why wouldn’t they put a message in my client portal? As I grabbed my phone and clicked the answer button, I looked up, said it’s yours God, and breathed deeply. “Your tests were all negative,” the nurse reported. I wanted to get on my knees and pray right then, but I was still on the phone.
“The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you'”
Remember this. This is God’s one line mission statement to us. He tells us this fact over and over again. I’m not out of the woods with more testing ahead, but none of us are out of the woods. We will continue to face trials throughout our lives. We can’t rely on ourselves for truth or understanding. We can’t rely on ourselves for the courage to move mountains. In our greatest triumphs, God is with us. In the deepest, darkest valleys, God is with us. Trust in him.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Philippians 4:6
Key Applications:
- Have you given God a grain of faith? God can work the impossible with just a little bit. He can work through any of us. Let him in.
- Who do you turn to for your victories? Who do you turn to during your biggest disappointments? Measure your responses. Pray about this. With your mountaintop and valley experiences in life, know that our God is with you. Look to him and seek him.
- Do you hide in the safety of your comfort zones? I have. God won’t let us stay there for long. “Faith is about measuring your potential, not on the basis of gifts and experience, but in the surety of God’s presence and promises.” — Paul David Tripp
Read Judges 6-7. See the changes in Gideon. Do you see any of yourself in him?
Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.