I have been reading in Judges the passed couple of days. First of all, the patience of the Almighty absolutely astounds me. Over and over and over and over people disobey. They--we--see His miraculous work of healing, restoration, and victory, and in the next paragraph we worship something made by the hands of man. He is so patient.
There are days--many days--that I question the hearing of my children or whether I actually have a voice. I say something, they disobey, I instill the consequence, then 10 minutes later we do it again--over the very same issue. God, for generations, has done this same thing. We humans are forgetful and proud, selfish and numb, yet He does not flick us right off the edge of the earth. He is faithful to His promise of redeeming love. Amazing.
Second, the story of Gideon gives such insight into the ways of God. I just want to focus on one. The Lord says to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'" (Judges 7:2)
Gideon was preparing to lead 32,000 Israelites into battle against their oppressors--the Midianites. But God said that there were too many willing fighters. Why? Because if they defeated the enemy with that many soldiers then they may be tempted to trust in themselves--and that is what got them into this mess in the first place. So the Lord whittled the army down to three hundred. 300! And they won.
God uses the weak to show Himself strong. He takes circumstances that seem absolutely hopeless, full of impossibility, to show Himself mighty. He is worthy of our praise, and He can be fully trusted to fight on behalf of His own.
I am not sure what you may be facing these days, but our God does not change and He is not taken off-guard.
No comments:
Post a Comment