Today’s QT is Judges 6:11-24. An angel of the Lord comes to Gideon while he’s threshing wheat and says he’s sending Gideon to rescue Israel from the Midianites. Gideon asks for a sign of assurance. Then he prepares a sacrifice. The angel burns it up as the sign. Gideon builds an altar at the place and calls it the Lord is Peace.
Why does God call Gideon while he’s hiding wheat from the Midianites? Why does Gideon prepare a sacrifice before he receives the sign from the Lord?
There are two conclusions to “If the Lord is with us …”
One is what Gideon says to the angel.
If God is with us, why are we living in such oppression?
Where are the wonders we’ve heard stories about? (13).
The other conclusion is what Paul says in Romans. If God is with us, who can be against us? (8:31).
My life was once a big mess of loss, rejection and pain, just like Gideon in the winepress threshing wheat to hide if from the Midianites.
Where was God, I asked, when I had to sell my blood to buy food for my children?
What I didn’t see then, what I couldn’t see when I was in my angry suffering, was that God allowed my painful situation so that I could turn to the Lord.
When I lived in worldly comfort, I didn’t turn to God.
I turned to my own selfish comfort and pleasure.
When I was in deepest need, when I could not sustain myself or provide for my family, then I turned to God.
Without eyes of humility I could not see God.
When God calls, he hopes for obedience but mostly he gets disobedience and rejection.
That’s been my story.
He called me to faith and I refused. So he gave me a sign.
I needed to go somewhere but my car wouldn’t go into gear.
I recognized that I could only get on with my life if I obeyed God’s call to submission, to saying out loud that he was my Lord.
When I did my car went into gear and I went to my worldly appointment, which I don’t even remember now.
I only remember committing myself to Jesus Christ.
Today I interviewed a brother in Christ for a job in my school.
Unlike other candidates, I know this man intimately because of his testimonies over many years.
What I don’t know is God’s will.
Why is God letting him apply to my school?
Why go all the way to an interview?
I don’t know whether he is the right man any more than I know if any of the other candidates are.
I am in the midst of prayer. I need to know God’s will, not my feelings or my brother’s feelings.
At this point all I know is that this brother showed a peace and quiet confidence that I never saw in him before.
Is this God’s hand on him, holding him up?
Is the Lord with him?
Is the Lord sending him to my school for purposes I cannot see? How can I know?
Is his peace in the interview God’s sign to me, God burning up my previous perception of him?
I have one week to learn God’s will and obey it.
I have one week to pray and wait and focus on the Lord.
Then I must deliver a decision that I pray is God’s decision.
Help me put myself and my Christian brother aside so that we can focus on your holy will and live in your peace.
