Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really You talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before You."
And the Lord said, "I will wait until you return."
Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in His hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!"
But the Lord said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."
So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
That same night the Lord said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal's altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
They asked each other, "Who did this?" When they carefully investigated, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it." The men of the town demanded of Joash, "Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it."
But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, "Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar." So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.
Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew."
That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Judges 6:17-40
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 6 opened, Israel had done evil before God and found themselves under the oppressive rule of the Midianites for seven years as punishment for their actions. After becoming terribly impoverished, Israel did what they had done before when times got bad…they cried out to the Lord. And God did what he had done before…selected a deliverer. This time it was Gideon.
You’ll recall that Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress under an oak tree when an angel of the Lord came to him and told him he was to go and free Israel from Midian. You’ll also recall that Gideon couldn’t believe he was the one being chosen because of his clan’s low stature in the tribe and his low stature within his own family. The Lord assured him ahead of the task at hand by telling Gideon that He would be with him.
As we continue in Chapter 6 today, we see where Gideon is having difficulty believing he is actually talking to the Lord. And so he asks the Lord if he could have a sign that would validate that He was really there and the Lord obliges Gideon.
We read where Gideon went and “prepared a young goat” and “bread without yeast”, putting the “meat in a basket and its broth in a pot” before offering it to the Lord under the oak. After placing the meat and bread on a rock and pouring the broth out on the ground, the angel of the Lord touched the “tip of the staff…in His hand” to the “the meat and the unleavened bread”. At that moment, “fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread” and the “angel of the Lord disappeared”. Meanwhile, Gideon “realized that it was the angel of the Lord” that he had been talking to and scripture tells us he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!" Being that it was common knowledge that anyone who looked in the face of God would die, Gideon was naturally afraid for his life but the Lord puts him at ease saying, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." And so we’re told that “Gideon built an altar to the Lord at the place where the meat and bread were consumed by fire and “called it The Lord is Peace”.
This was God’s first sign to Gideon.
Next, God gave Gideon a task…a task that involved his own family. For we read where his father Joash had constructed an “altar to Baal” with an “Asherah pole beside it” and the Lord commanded Gideon to tear down the altar and cut down the pole. Gideon was then supposed to “build a proper kind of altar to the Lord” and then use “the wood of the Asherah pole” to offer “the second bull from (his) father's herd, the one seven years old” as a burnt offering. So “Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him”, carrying out the Lord’s orders at night “because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town”.
Well, what a surprise awaited the town in the morning! For “when the men of the town got up”, they awoke to see “Baal's altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!” Needless to say, they weren’t happy and wondered amongst themselves who would have done such a thing. An investigation was launched and the men of the town discovered that it was Gideon who had carried out the act. So we read where “the men of the town demanded of Joash, ‘Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.’ “ But Joash came to the defense of his son in the face of the hostile crowd saying, “Are you going to plead Baal's cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar."
Why did the men have to defend Baal indeed? After all, if Baal was the powerful god they worshipped, couldn’t he defend himself?
Well, nothing did happen to Gideon. Nothing. No lightning strike from the heavens. No terrible affliction struck him. In fact, there was no indication that Baal existed anywhere beyond the minds of those who worshipped him. There wasn’t because Baal didn’t exist and this was God’s second sign to Gideon.
Well, the Midianites began to grow even stronger, joining forces with the “Amalekites and other eastern peoples” before crossing over the Jordan and camping in the Valley of Jezreel.
And while the Midianites and their partner forces were gathering, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him”. He also “sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them”. So there was a battle brewing ahead but Gideon had one more request for God…a request for just one more sign.
For we read where Gideon says to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said."
Now, in my opinion, God shows incredible patience with Gideon. For He could have very well chastised him for asking for yet another sign. I mean…how many signs does God have to show His people before they will know He is alive and well? Was not the consumed meat and bread enough to convince Gideon? God could have asked Gideon these questions but He didn’t. Instead, He accepted Gideon’s request.
So “Gideon rose early the next day” and squeezed a piece of fleece, wringing out the dew which equaled a bowlful of water. Gideon then said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." And scripture tells us that “God did so” that night as “only the fleece was dry” while “all the ground was covered with dew”.
And this became God’s third sign to Gideon.
Question: How often do we overlook God’s signs in our lives? Or how often do we feel like we need a sign before we’ll believe God is with us? Further, how often are we like Gideon and continue to ask God to show us signs when He has already revealed His presence around us?
Friends, we serve a God who never stops giving His creation signs…signs that He is alive and well and with us…24/7…365 days a year. It’s time we came to just simply trust Him faithfully, praying for His will to be done in our lives and then patiently waiting for that will to be carried out while we serve Him each and every day. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment