Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Remnant-Gideon
As Edith Schaeffer continues through the Bible, the theme remains the remnant, God’s revelation through them as they put every ounce of trust in the God in Israel. She picks up speed here so hold on. Starting with Gideon who was asked to shrink his mighty army of thirty-two thousand to three hundred men. Gideon had been fearful of even taking a leadership role. Notice, God didn’t begin with, “Hey Gideon, see those Midianites? I’d like you to pick out three hundred of your most humble warriors and go at em!” Isn’t that rich? God often gives us our role in increments. Gideon asked for signs because he was unsure it was supposed to be him, ill equipped and weak; the ‘who, me?’ routine. God didn’t scold him and He didn’t move on to another warrior. God gave him signs.
Maybe God is saying to you, “Here is the college major for you” or He’s putting home school moms in your path, or books are practically falling from heaven into your lap. I have a friend who has been given military addresses to write and send things to, another who keeps meeting people in financial need. Someone else sews beautiful banners for Him but her passion has grown from knowledge the Lord has given her. If He said right from the start, “You will have huge responsibilities as leader of such and such.”…Likely as a student just stepping into the world, you would freak! From personal experience, home schooling is not something you need to know the level of difficulty before you are led to do it! God fed me with bits of encouragement along the way so I knew, even in the unforeseen horrors (yes folks, we do fight!), God was in it. And I don’t know about you, but God gave me much knowledge and spiritual preparation before ‘writing a web page’ entered the picture. Ten years ago, if God had said, “Write me a blog!” I would’ve said, “Huh?” and like Gideon, asked Him, “Are you sure you mean me?” But God truly prepared Gideon by strengthening his trust first. Then, and only then, was Gideon asked to wholly trust by reducing his army to embarrassingly small numbers. At this point, Gideon still could have gone to the U.S. Legislature for advice and decided he couldn’t win! This is a quagmire! I must withdraw my troops. This is another Vietnam! What’s Vietnam?
Thank heaven; the choice was between Gideon and God. The story was always one of my sons’ favorites! The Midianites are faced with their own fears and turn on each other! “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” shouted the three hundred strong army of Israel, as the enemy fled in a fumble of utter chaos.
Maybe God is saying to you, “Here is the college major for you” or He’s putting home school moms in your path, or books are practically falling from heaven into your lap. I have a friend who has been given military addresses to write and send things to, another who keeps meeting people in financial need. Someone else sews beautiful banners for Him but her passion has grown from knowledge the Lord has given her. If He said right from the start, “You will have huge responsibilities as leader of such and such.”…Likely as a student just stepping into the world, you would freak! From personal experience, home schooling is not something you need to know the level of difficulty before you are led to do it! God fed me with bits of encouragement along the way so I knew, even in the unforeseen horrors (yes folks, we do fight!), God was in it. And I don’t know about you, but God gave me much knowledge and spiritual preparation before ‘writing a web page’ entered the picture. Ten years ago, if God had said, “Write me a blog!” I would’ve said, “Huh?” and like Gideon, asked Him, “Are you sure you mean me?” But God truly prepared Gideon by strengthening his trust first. Then, and only then, was Gideon asked to wholly trust by reducing his army to embarrassingly small numbers. At this point, Gideon still could have gone to the U.S. Legislature for advice and decided he couldn’t win! This is a quagmire! I must withdraw my troops. This is another Vietnam! What’s Vietnam?
Thank heaven; the choice was between Gideon and God. The story was always one of my sons’ favorites! The Midianites are faced with their own fears and turn on each other! “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” shouted the three hundred strong army of Israel, as the enemy fled in a fumble of utter chaos.
