I won’t be posting any more devotional reflections. I have decided to stop reading the Bible.
April fools! Can’t. Stop. Laughing.
Certainly Gideon is a favorite read for most of us. This account is told to all ages to illustrate the power of God or the “hanging of a fleece”. Whenever someone says “I put out a fleece” this is where that idea comes from. It was a way that God helped Gideon realize that He was doing what he was supposed to do. God was confirming that Gideon had heard from Him.
God puts up with our occasional requests for confirmation, but we shouldn’t have to ask. As disciples we should know when it’s God speaking. In Gideon’s case, there could be no doubt that God had confronted him when the meal he brought the angel disappeared in a column of flame. Even with that confirmation, he only does God’s will at night, when no one would confront him. Perhaps this was just one way that God was increasing Gideon’s faith…to make him ready for serious battle.
Do you think that God sometimes asks you to do small things to test your obedience, and to give you a “small victory”? Maybe they are simply steps to prepare you for a larger objective. The leader must be prepared for battle. Small victories lead to increased faith, which in turn permits larger victories. Are you asking God for something big? Don’t forget to be obedient in the small things, then. That where big victories begin.
It seems to me that Gideon, as bold as he was in obeying God, had some self doubt issues. (threshing in a winepress, destroying the altar at night, two confirmations with the fleece, and then He had to hear the enemies dreams of defeat) He didn’t want to confront the enemy, and yet God told him “go in the strength that you have”. What strength did Gideon have? For that matter, what strength do any of us have? Our only real strength is in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In that strength we can move mountains and conquer any enemy!
It’s only fair as we close this thought to tip our hat to the eventual faith and boldness of Gideon. Once he fully believed, nothing could stop him from obedience. He sent home an army of 33,000 keeping only 300 warriors to rout an enemy who had some many camels they couldn’t be counted! When Gideon went into battle, their swords weren’t even drawn. They carried torches and rams horns…and the Lord fought for them. So, when Gideon called for the nation to pursue the Midianites and finish their defeat…you’d better believe the nation responded. By this late date they realized that the power of God was working in and through Gideon.
And God who works in the same way today can do the same sort of thing through you, if you are willing to allow Him!
Faithfully,
PR