11-9-12. Judges 6:25-40. GIDEON SEEKS GOD’S ENCOURAGEMENT-my devotional

Key Verse: 6:36-37                                                                                  Kevin  Jesmer NIU UBF

“Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— ³⁷ 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.”

     Dear Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you for you abundant grace on our lives. You are the giver of peace and hope and blessing and fruitfulness. For this time in my life you have granted me security and peace in my heart. Thank you. But if you choose to guide me down a different path then that is OK. I only ask to give me grace and strength to stand. I pray that you bless the daily bread writer’s meeting. May we grow as writers of daily bread so that the word of God may be deeply planted in the hearts of your people. Please help me to also prepare a very revealing and edifying presentation about the First Nation People. Please grant me one word of God to hold onto. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Build A Proper Kind of Altar to The Lord (25-32).

      Verses 25-32, “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 polebeside it. ²⁶ Then build a proper kind ofaltar 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.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime. ²⁸ In the morning when the people 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! ²⁹ They asked each other, “Who did this?” When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” ³⁰ The people 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.” ³¹ 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.” ³² So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baalthat day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

Gideon’s family had corrupted their faith with the religions of the nations around them. God told Gideon to eradicate his father’s altar to Baal and then build a proper altar to God. Gideon was afraid, but he obeyed. He tore down the altar and sacrificed his father’s bull. It is amazing what God had called Gideon to do. He actually went against his family’s false religion. He actually tore down the place where his family was worshipping their false god. What kind of faith did that take? A whole lot of faith! It took courage. It took conviction from the Holy Spirit. Think of the people who convert many Islamic nations. They literally could be killed by the family member. A family member may actually hunt them down in another part of the world to take their life to perform an honor killing. Some orthodox Jewish families will actually have a mock funeral for a child who converts to Christianity and keep up the rejection that child for a life time. When I decided to give my life to Jesus it meant 5 years of fighting with those closest to me. It is not easy to convert and to challenge the long established family religion. But Gideon did it in a big way. He really had faith. He had courage. His life was a living witness to the rest of his family. Of course we need to have wisdom in ministering to our families. But there will come a time when we must make a stand at the crucial moment. And God will give us the strength to do what we need to do.

Gideon wouldn’t allow false religion to take over his family’s living environment. I don’t blame him. I would let the area under my authority be devoted to another religion either. I can not control the whole world. But I can control the environment in my house and make sure that it is devoted to Jesus Christ.

We can see how dangerous it was for Gideon. The townspeople wanted Gideon punished. They would have killed him. He had every reason to fear. But God gave him faith. There is much opposition when we choose to come to Jesus and devote our lives to serving him. Sometimes this opposition is dangerous to our lives. It may be dangerous to our peace of mind and heart. But that never means that we should shrink away from the call. It means that we must dig and take a stand as a person of faith, not matter what. May God grant us the love and the grace and the wisdom to make such a stand.

This father stood up for his son. The people reasoned that Baal would contend with Gideon and let him go. God protected Gideon through his dad. This is amazing. He father just had his family altar and bull killed. He should have been angry. But he stood by his child and used the truth to reason with the irrational crowds. What a good dad! I pray that I can be a good dad and stick up for my kids. I may not agree with them, but I should stand up for them and show them my support.

Part 2: Gideon Lays Out Fleece (33-40).

Verses 33-40, “³³ Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— ³⁷ 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.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. ³⁹ 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, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Gideon sought confirmation of the Lord’s presence for himself and for his people, so he proposed a fleece test. He placed fleece, which would absorb moisture readily, on the dry threshing floor. If the fleece was wet when the ground was dry, it would be a miracle. To make the confirmation sure, Gideon asked for the fleece to be dry when the ground was wet.

We need to find out the will of God, sincerely and obey it. But first we need to have confidence that what we found is actually the will of God. We just cannot not push forward with our own plans and call it the will of God. We need to confirm it. That is where we can discover the will of God through Bible study, prayer, reflection, and consultation, but God is not limited. He is willing to strengthen us in many ways, even through fleece. I am being led in a new way. I could not stand in the old paradigm. There was just no way and God made it so. He wants me and Julie to be one and for us to find out mission and our calling in life.

God seems to be leading me into the “art of marriage” seminars and also the mission as a strategist in the sending of missionaries to First Nations People. I am still involved with UBF conferences and staff education and daily bread writing. There is the hospital ministry and the being involved in the Network of Nations at NIU. I am pretty confident in these missions that I am involved in. But it would be nice to always obtain further confirmation from the Lord, further confidence that what I am doing is the will of God.

I am sure that Gideon was very encouraged by God’s fleece communication. I do thank God for his desire to encourage us in finding and doing his will. He wants to encourage us in so many ways and all of the time. No matter who we are, and how strong we may think we are humanly, we need God’s constant encouragement. I could not live without God’s encouragement. I want to be an encourager of others.

Prayer: Lord, there are times when I need your encouragement. Thank you for strengthening my faith time and time again.

One Word: God wants to encourage us