Excuses

I love reading about stories of individuals in the Bible that have conflict and challenges. It’s those kinds of stories that spark my interest and have great memories of.  Gideon is one of those classic stories that have always been my favorite. Found in Judges 6 and 7 the scene begins with Gideon threshing his father’s wheat in order to keep it away from the Midianites. With boldness he declares to God it’s not right that the Israelites are being impoverished by Midian. How could the miraculous God that save his father out of the hands of Egypt allows this to happen. Then there is this classic answer by God, ok I will save them by sending you to defeat the Midianites. Put it in modern day terms; alright you are seeing this need, you do something about. Gideon, just like most of us, began to make excuses.

We all witness the serious issues around us and say why doesn’t God care? Why doesn’t He do something? But in reality God has given us everything we need to do something about it. For Gideon it was all about the (v27) fear of what others would think or react and (v17) being able to trust God, which sounds a lot like us today. One miracle, two fleeces and going into the enemies camp to listen to a dream latter, Gideon began to trust.  What would it take for us to do something out of our comfort zone? Would it take seeing the whole universe stopping for 24 hours or would we react to someone in need without God telling us to do so? We are good at seeing the issues at hand but not so good at following through with solutions. God gave us, not only His Holy Spirit, something Gideon did not have but many wonderful promises that say in a nutshell He is with us always. One of my favorite verses I go back to when I’m in a challenging situation is this; 2 Timothy 1:7-8 “God did not give us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind. Do not be ashamed to be an example before others,” Don’t be like the 2/3 of Gideon’s army who walked away because they trembled with fear? God has given us all the provisions to be successful doers. I want to end on this observation. After Gideon witnessed God’s provision toward removing the bondage of the enemy, Gideon fell on his knees to worship God. He acknowledges a bond relationship with God. You see love for God drives out fear.  It’s our time to pray, to listen, to trust and to worshiping Him becoming God’s hero to a lost world.