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My Redeemer Lives!

Ruth 2 – 1 Samuel 1

The story of Ruth is a nice little interlude for us having just finished Judges.  We are still in the period of the Judges which doesn’t end until Saul is made king.  As you will recall the people of Israel have wandered far from God.  The “judges” of whom we have read over the past couple of weeks seemed almost as corrupt as the nation at large.  Things are going to get worse before they get better but for now God gives us a rest from bad behavior to show us some faithfulness.  The nation of Israel has been faithless, yet a Jew, Boaz, and a Gentile, Ruth demonstrate that one can remain faithful while the majority that surrounds you are not.

In the story of Ruth, God gives us another picture of the Christ to come.  Back in Leviticus God establishes the concept of a “kinsman-redeemer”.  This redeemer is intended to ensure that the Promised Land given to each family remains in the family.  So, for example, if a married man dies without leaving children, the nearest able male relative is to marry his widow and produce children as the deceased’s inheritors.  Similarly, if a relative, due to poverty, must sell his property, the kinsman-redeemer is to buy it back or redeem it.

Leviticus 25:25

“If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.”

Of course, Christ is the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer.  Before we knew Christ, we were slaves to sin; impoverished of spirit and true life.  In order that we might be returned to the free, spiritually prosperous life God intended for us from the start, He came down himself and redeemed us at a very high price.

Now the story of Boaz and Ruth is a small picture of this redemption theme.  Ruth and Naomi are so poor that Ruth must find sustenance for them by following after the harvesters and gleaning whatever they have left behind in the fields.  These gals are barley getting by.  Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s dead husband, has heard of Ruth’s faithfulness to her mother-in-law and is moved by it and her poverty.  When he meets her he ensures that she will be treated well, kept safe, and provided with sustenance.

Naomi informs Ruth that Boaz is a kinsman-redeemer and advises her to place herself at the feet of Boaz in hopes that he might redeem her.  By Ruth placing herself at the feet of Boaz, she is in effect offering herself to him as a bride.  Boaz loves Ruth and redeems her.  He buys back her dead husbands inheritance.  Together they have a child who will be the grandfather of David and from whom the Redeemer of all mankind will emerge.

This is the story of your salvation.  In your poverty Christ called you to him.  When you realized He was your Kinsman-Redeemer you fell at His feet and offered yourself to him as Ruth offered herself to Boaz as a bride.  Loving you, Christ redeemed you.  After marriage, Boaz went in to Ruth and she bore him a child.  After you were redeemed by Christ, His Holy Spirit went in to you and you are to bear Him fruit.  Have you?  Are you?

John 15:4-5

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Are you in Him?  Are you bearing fruit?

In studying, prior to writing this post, I read this little blurb from “Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee”:

“We have a Kinsman today, and that’s the most wonderful news we can have, friend. Look today at this poor, sin-stained world. It is puzzled, not knowing where to turn. And look at the faces. I’ve looked into the faces of literally thousands of people in downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere. If they are happy, their faces don’t reveal it. The children appear happy but not the older folk. Their lives seem almost aimless, without hope, without God in the world. They need a Kinsman. It’s tragic to see people celebrate Christmas or Easter or anything that relates to Christ without knowing He is their Kinsman and without having received Him as their Kinsman-Redeemer.”

Easter is a week away; the annual memorial of the Kinsman-Redeemer.  As you think about the price He paid to redeem you and how much He must have loved you to do so, ask yourself if you return that love by bearing fruit.  Have you seen the faces of those hopeless people J. Vernon saw?  I have.  Do you think Jesus loves them?  If He who redeemed you is willing to die for them, what do you think He expects of you?

I sometimes feel like a child who takes all that his father gives him without one meaningful expression of gratitude.  Oh, I was raised with manners so I say thank you, but that’s about it.  I’m growing up now, and I am starting to realize how blessed I am, and out of my thankfulness and love for my Father I now want to show my gratitude by sharing His bountiful blessings, His redemption, with others.  How about you?

Have a great day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

P.S. I’ll give you an outline for 1 Samuel tomorrow.

God’s Jeep

Judges 20 – Ruth 1

Today we finish Judges and begin Ruth.  If you recall, we learned yesterday of Israel’s deterioration into anarchy due to their wandering far from God.  A Levite’s concubine had been gang raped and killed and he called all of Israel together for vengeance.  I get the sense here that the people of Israel are starting to realize their need for God.  The tribes decide that the crime of the men of Benjamin must be punished and they go to war.

The battles are bloody and Benjamin inflicts 40,000 casualties on Israel over the first two engagements.  The people of Israel are turning back to God for guidance and He is telling them to continue to fight Benjamin.  He gives them victory over the tribe of Benjamin after the third battle.  Wandering away from God comes at a price.  All of Israel had become a den of thieves and murderers and rapists but the majority of people had had enough.  They were finally outraged by the debauched behavior that comes when separated from God, and they began to turn back to God.

Sin always requires blood.  When Adam and Eve committed the original sin, animals were sacrificed that God might make a covering for them before He sent them out of the garden for good.  As sinners our shame and filthiness must be covered with blood.  We have Jesus Christ who died once for all.  It is all the covering we need.  The people of Israel in the time of the Judges did not have this covering.  I suspect as lapsed practitioners of God’s law they weren’t fulfilling the laws of sacrifice at the temple though I have no biblical evidence on which to base that assumption.

What I see in this civil war, however, is a bloodletting that comes because of the sinfulness of the people but also as they begin their turn toward God.  “The wages of sin is death”, Romans 6:23.  Please don’t get me wrong here.  I am not saying that God is requiring human sacrifice here.  What I’m saying is that the natural consequences of our departure from God are blood and death.  It is why God established the sacrificial system to begin with and why he sent His son to be the ultimate sacrifice.  It was not God’s desire for the people of Israel to stray from Him.  It was not His desire to sacrifice 65,000 Israelites.  Those deaths, and the many more that came from sinful living, were a result of wandering away from God.

Having purged themselves through this bloody confrontation, the Israelites are starting to return to God.  I say starting because they still do what is right in their own eyes but they are starting to inquire of the Lord and that is always the beginning of a changed life.  They still have a long way to go.  I wonder what it will take for America to return to God.  We Christians have just about had enough of the abject poverty of our sinful culture.  I sense a growing outrage at the wicked ways of our nation.  How will we respond?

Thankfully, we Christians have Jesus Christ.  A civil war like was seen in Israel is not necessary.  All that is necessary is repentance and turning toward God; an acceptance and following of Christ.  Of course, this will only take place if we Christians start living as we should.  This means we must repent of our own self-centered ways.  We must put the priorities of Christ above our own.  We must live like Christ and tell our lost and dying world about Jesus Christ.  He will fight the spiritual battle through His Holy Spirit.  We are simply the delivery vehicles.  We must be tuned up and gassed up and ready to roll so we can deliver the Holy Spirit where God directs.

You and I can’t change America.  We are as fallen as those that do not know Christ.  It is only in Christ that we are made right with God.  You and I can’t save people.  Only God can do that through His Holy Spirit and, of course, even if we are silent and do not do our part to allow His Spirit to speak through us, He would cause even the stones to speak, Luke 19:40 .  But brothers, as Christians, shouldn’t we want to do what Christ asks of us?  Should we not want, with all our hearts to obey Him?  Jesus said:

Luke 9:23

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

He also said:

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The verses from Matthew above are the last two verses of that book and they are the last words He speaks to us before ascending into heaven.  When I leave my child for a period of time, typically the last thing I tell her is the most important thing I want her to hear.  I do this to help her understand the importance of what I’ve told her in hopes of her compliance.  Children can be so easily distracted.  What is the last thing Jesus told us before his ascension?  Go make disciples.  Have you told anyone about Jesus lately?

We are in a spiritual battle here in America.  God is the general in this battle, His Holy Spirit is an unbeatable troop of soldiers, His Holy Word is the artillery.  You and I are simply the jeeps.  We have the easy part but we still must do our part.

Shifting gears, Ruth is the only Gentile that has a book of the Bible named after her.  Isn’t that amazing?  Do you realize that Jesus Christ is a descendant of a Jew and a Gentile?  This is a fabulous story of redemption and I’ excited to explore it with you in the days to come.  By the way, the entire Bible is a story of redemption.  Ruth is just another example and archetype of God’s redemption and His redemptive plan.  Below is an outline of Ruth.

OUTLINE OF RUTH

Part One: Ruth’s Love Is Demonstrated (1:1–2:23)

I.  Ruth’s Decision to Remain with Naomi                 1:1–18

A. Ruth’s Need to Remain with Naomi 1:1–5

B.  Ruth’s Opportunity to Leave Naomi                                1:6–15

C.  Ruth’s Choice to Remain with Naomi              1:16–18

II. Ruth’s Devotion to Care for Naomi 1:19–2:23

A. Ruth and Naomi Return to Bethlehem 1:19–22

B.  Ruth Gleans for Food                                             2:1–23

Part Two: Ruth’s Love Is Rewarded (3:1–4:22)

I.  Ruth’s Request for Redemption by Boaz               3:1–18

A. Naomi Seeks Redemption for Ruth 3:1–5

B.  Ruth Obeys Naomi                                                  3:6–9

C.  Boaz Desires to Redeem Ruth                            3:10–18

II. Ruth’s Reward of Redemption by Boaz 4:1–22

A. Boaz Marries Ruth 4:1–12

B.  Ruth Bears a Son, Obed                                        4:13–15

C.  Naomi Receives a New Family                            4:16

D.  Ruth Is the Great-Grandmother of David      4:17–22

Hey guys! Wake up and get to work!

Everyone Did What Was Right In His Own Eye

Judges 17-19

I could not help but see America in today’s reading.  The people of Israel wandered so far from God that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  Micah had stolen silver from his mother.  This violated God’s law.  Micah’s mother had put a curse on the thief, not knowing it was her son.  Witchcraft was also against God’s law.  Having returned the silver for fear of the curse, Micah made an idol from a portion of the silver which his mother had given back to him.  He did this because she said that she had dedicated it to the Lord.  Making an idol is against God’s law as was giving only a portion of what was dedicated.  When something is dedicated to the Lord all of it is to be taken to the tabernacle in Jerusalem.  Micah set up a shrine with “household gods” and an ephod and made his son his priest.  This is against God’s law as there is only one true God.  Worshiping other gods is against God’s law.  The only ephod prescribed by God was to be worn by the high priest in the tabernacle.  Only the sons of Aaron were to serve as priests.

Almost everything this guy did violated God’s law.  What is striking is his ignorance.  He seems to be mixing some remnants of Judaic faith with pagan notions of religion.  The witchcraft and the family shrine with family gods are all part of foreign religions.  While dedicating the silver to God was biblical, using only part of it to honor God, and making a carved image out of that portion was not.  Nor was making his own ephod and naming his son priest.  It seems to me that Micah is pretty ignorant of God’s Word.  I’m not sure he really understands that what he is doing is an abomination before the Lord.  He is simply doing what seemed right in his own eyes.

A Levite had come to Micah and Micah had made him his priest.  Evidently this priest didn’t have a solid understanding of God’s Word either as he was content with this hybrid of religion.  Of course, Micah thinks God is going to bless him now because he has his Levite priest.

Later, warriors from the tribe of Dan come and steal Micah’s little shrine with its idols and ephod because this setup seemed pretty good to them.  They offer the Levite priest a better arrangement so he gladly takes off with this new group of ignorant Israelites who have become pagans.  I call them pagans because mixing Hebraic religious practice with pagan religious practice results in a pagan faith.  When people start to do what is right in their own eyes they are attempting to be their own gods and that has nothing to do with the one true God.

What happens to a society when they wander from right relationship with God into a belief system that seems right in their own eye?  Well, we see a bit of the self serving thieving and back biting that occurred in the story of Micah but the Bible goes on to tell us the story of the Levite and his concubine.  This story reminds us of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Remember when the angels of the Lord had gone to Lot’s home in Sodom to remove him and his family before destroying Sodom?  The men of the town came and insisted that the strangers be brought out so they could be homosexually gang raped?  In today’s reading we read the same scenario.  Even the detail of offering the women of the house as substitute for the men is included in this story.

There is so much wrong doing going on in this story that we just don’t have the time to detail it all, but to cut to the chase, as they say, the Levite tosses his concubine out to the gang of rapists who rape and abuse her to the point of death.  In tomorrow’s reading we will discover that this act leads to a civil war.

Do you see how degraded Israel has become?  Remember my warnings back when Israel conquered the Promised Land that they were in for problems because they had not followed God’s direction to remove all the inhabitants of the land.  They did not follow God’s instructions so they eventually became corrupted by the pagan religions left within their midst.  The “lostness” of the Israelites didn’t happen overnight.  It was a “creeping” process by which the people slowly fell away.  They wandered so far that even when they thought they were being “religious” they were violating God’s law.

Now, in today’s reading we see a society that is a very dark and dangerous place.  No one can trust his neighbor in this society.  A society in which everyone does what is right in his own eyes is a dangerous and scary place.  I remember taking an ethics class a few years back.  I found the class rather useless as it pretty much depended on the ethical standards of the day.  During that class, however, a thought came to mind that I shared with the professor and the class.  “Morality is the parchment on which the social contract is written.”  What I meant by that is we human beings are an extremely selfish lot.  If we don’t have some moral standard to which we all voluntarily conform, life becomes “every man for himself”; a very dark and dangerous place to live.

The problem with a man-made moral standard is its changeability and inconsistency.  When we each chose to be our own god we get to decide our own moral standard.  If everyone has his own moral standard then by definition it is not a standard.  Everyone simply does what is right in his own eyes.  Is this not America today?  In our society we worship the creation; ourselves.  Each of us responds to those around us as we each feel appropriate.  I don’t find a lot of difference between today’s biblical stories and the stories in our evening news.

I also see similarities in Christian worship practices today.  So many denominations today are picking and choosing which portions of God’s Word they will agree with and follow.  They then mix it with what seems right in their own eyes based on pop culture and psychology and they call that Christianity.  I’m sorry gang but that kind of religion is like Micah’s; pagan.

The cure to this ailment in our society today is for Godly men to study, teach, and preach God’s Word to his family, friends, and the world at large.  As Paul says:

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

The cure starts with us.  We must equip ourselves for every good work by reading, studying and memorizing scripture.  Paul also says, however, that faith without works is dead.  We must take action as well.  We must be the spiritual leaders in our homes.  We must set a solid example in our society and we must tell a lost and dying world about Jesus Christ.  Do you want to live in a better America?  Then you’re going to have to stop lying down on the job and get to work.  Stop complaining and start doing your part.  God has, and is, equipping you for this work.  With Him, all things are possible!

Have a wonderfully blessed day my brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Our strength is nothing

What Is The Source Of Your Strength?

Judges 13-16

I was blown away by the story of Samson today.  God had chosen him from before birth to be a Judge of Israel.  The Lord appeared to Samson’s soon to be parents and told them he was to be a Nazirite.  Nazirite means one separated, or one consecrated.  Samson was to be separated or consecrated from birth.  Moses laid out the Nazirite vow in Numbers.

Numbers 6:1-8

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.  “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.  “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.  Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.  All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.”

The Nazirite vow was a vow of separation and contained three prohibitions.  A Nazirite was not to drink any fruit of the vine.  The vine was a symbol for joy and the Nazirite was to receive his joy from God alone.  A Nazirite was not to cut his hair and finally he could not come into contact with a dead body.

In reading of Samson’s exploits what stood out was the fact that when he manifested exceptional strength the text says “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him”.  We all remember this story from childhood and think of Samson’s strength as coming from his hair.  Of course, this is where Samson thinks his strength originates but that is incorrect.  His strength comes from the Lord.

What we have here in Samson is another story about a flawed human being who is used by God to God’s purposes.  What is God’s purpose here?  As always I find God’s purpose multi-dimensional.  One aspect of His purpose was to draw the Israelites back to right relationship with Him.  Another purpose was to demonstrate that He can and does work through flawed human beings.  Why does God show us time and again this kind of story; a person through whom God works, who is less than holy?

Again the purpose is multi-dimensional.  The Bible from book one, chapter one, is the story of redemption.  The only people God has available to work through are fallen people yet work through us He does.  By showing us the failures of these human beings He is showing us the problem.  He is also showing us the solution; He is the solution.  The Bible story covers thousands of years, and what we see, time and again, are flawed human beings struggling to be the men and women God created them to be.  We will see them consistently fail because they are fallen.  We will also see that God doesn’t give up on humanity and that it is only through His strength that we can be those men and women.

Samson was all about Samson.  It is only at the end where he calls upon the Lord to strengthen him one last time that I hear of Samson inquiring of the Lord.  Every bit of his behavior that we know of is self-centered.  To be set apart was to be holy, yet while Samson apparently followed the Nazirite vow, he didn’t seem very “set apart” or holy.  He seemed rather worldly.

Samson claimed God’s favor through his vow.  He believed that it was the vow that gave him power.  In other words, he believed that he controlled this power; that God was bound to give him this strength as long as he didn’t cut his hair.  Samson was wrong.  God gave strength to Samson for God’s purpose.  Samson misused it.  Samson’s heart was in the wrong place; focused on himself and using God’s gift to his own purpose.

God allowed Samson to be taken because he believed his strength was in his hair instead of in God.  Finally, with eyes gouged out, Samson starts to gets it and he turns to God in prayer.  His prayer, however, is yet again self-centered.  He prays for strength so as to take revenge.  God allows it for this was His purpose to free His people from oppression.  The death of the leaders of the Philistines would have weakened this oppression.  More importantly God has shown us what happens when we take what He gave us for His purpose and use it for our own.

God has blessed you in many ways.  He has given you  your intelligence, talents, skills, abilities, and experiences, as well as your physical, mental, and emotional attributes.  As a Christian, He has also blessed you with spiritual gifts.  Are you using all that God has given you for His purpose or for your own?  Are you like Samson?  How’s that working for you?

Friends, don’t just take the vow of a Christian only to use it for your own personal gain.  God can and will work through you for His purpose whether or not you place all He has given you in His service.  The issue is what kind of life you want to have.  Is the life of Samson something you want for yourself?  If not, place yourself at His disposal and watch your life change dramatically.

Have a blessed day men!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

What are you praying for?

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

Judges 10-12

Just before verse 29 in chapter 11 of Judges the editors of my Bible have included a subtitle “Jephthah’s Tragic Vow”.  In the verses that follow, we read of Jephthah making a vow to God that if He would give him victory over his enemies he would offer, as a burnt offering, whatever came out of his house to meet him when he returned.  I don’t know what he was thinking here.  I’m wondering if he had a wife of whom he was hoping to be rid.  Whatever the reason it doesn’t appear that he thought this thing through.  His only child, his daughter whom he loved, came out to meet him and thus had to be sacrificed to fulfill his vow.

Numbers 30:2

“If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

Jephthah did not come before the Lord to seek His guidance.  God did not require of him a sacrifice; let alone such a reckless vow.  We don’t even hear of God demanding that the vow be fulfilled.  Jephthah did all of this on his own, in his own power as part of his attempt to control God.  Tragedy always follows our attempts to control God since we are left to the consequences of trying to be the god of God.

Have you ever been in a place in your life where things seemed pretty dark and in great distress you fall to your knees and say to God something like “God, if you will just do X for me I’ll do Y”?  I’m afraid I have done that.  I know a man who publicly claims that there is no such thing as God, and yet he has confessed that in moments of despair he has been known to pray.  I wonder how that prayer goes.

The problem with this approach to God is that we are in wrong relationship with God.  If we are in right relationship with God we pray in the mind of Christ.  How do you do that?  Good question.  I think the best answer can be found by looking at how Christ prayed.  Remember Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Matthew 26:38-40

“Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Notice that Christ is “very sorrowful, even to death” and while He prays that He might be spared the ordeal to come, He surrenders His will to the will of the Father.  There is nothing wrong with coming before the Father and sharing your hurt, fear, and pain.  There is nothing wrong with asking the Father to spare you from some difficulty.  There is something wrong with coming before God only when times are tough and attempting to bargain with Him for what you want.

God is not some great vending machine in the sky; just put the right amount in and you get what you pay for.  Nor is He the great loan-shark in the sky; “give me what I want today and I’ll pay you back with absurd interest latter.”  Our attempts to bargain with God are simply attempts to control God.  “I’ll come to you God on my terms.”  This means we view God as a tool to be used by us.  That has the relationship upside down.  We are to be tools used by Him.  To the secular mind this must sound outrageous.  To the mind of one submitted to Christ this sounds reassuring.

Why reassuring?  Because once I give up control of myself and surrender it to Christ, things are going to go a whole lot better for me.  I’ve turned things over to one infinitely more able to bless me than I am able to bless myself.  Having let go of myself I am now free; a great burden has been lifted.  I now trust that God will give me what is best, rather than what I want.  Christ died on the cross even though He prayed that He be spared if possible.  It was not possible.  God glorified His son through a very painful process that led to the salvation of millions.  As the scriptures say:

Romans 8:26-29

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

“All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  I don’t know what His purpose is for you, but I know He has one.  He may allow you to suffer certain ordeals as part of that purpose.  He may also allow difficulties in your life to grow you up and to teach you to depend on Him.  Whatever the case, come before God in right relationship, with a heart like Christ’s; submitted to God’s will.  He will work all things together for good, if you love God and are called according to His purpose.

Do you love God?  Are you called according to His purpose?  I hope so!

Have a wonderful day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Never Forget

Judges 8-9

What a flawed man Gideon was; hesitant to follow God’s call, telling his young son to kill a defeated king, making his own little idol in the form of an ephod, and having “many wives”.  I don’t know about you, but I find one wife more than enough challenge thank you very much!  Gideon rightly said that he and his children would not rule over Israel, that God would rule over them (Judges 8:23).  Unfortunately he also made an ephod of gold from the earrings taken as spoils of war.  An ephod is an outer, vest-like, garment typically associated with religious worship.  The Bible tells us that “all Israel” whored after that ephod and that it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Isn’t it amazing that God can call such flawed human beings to His service?  Isn’t it sad that one so called, and who achieved so much, could go so horribly astray?  Having many wives meant he had many children.  We are only told of the sons, who numbered 70.  Gideon did not do right in marriage.  He did not do right in parenting.  He did not do right in his relationship with God.  How many ways can a man mess things up?

A son of one of his concubines, Abimelech, conspired to have all of his male siblings murdered so he could claim kingship.  The fly in the ointment of this plan was his brother Jotham who escaped and survived the plot.  Jotham called on God to provide justice and after a number of years justice came in that Abimelech, and those that assisted him in his evil plot, are destroyed in war against each other.

Here, brothers, is yet another example of how we can walk with God one moment and then wander off the next.  God can work through us and bless us and then we start to think we are worthy of blessings.  We start to think that we are responsible for our little successes.  Our focus devolves back down to self-centeredness and away from God.  Self-focus, self-centeredness is the heart of all sin and Gideon fell into this trap.  He thought he had won the battles.  He thought he had brought the Israelites back to God.  Gideon did nothing in his own power.  God did all the work and Gideon took the credit.

Fellas, we have to be careful here as well.  When we think we are doing things just right and really have it “goin’ on” is the exact moment we need to stop and start directing our focus God-ward.  You and I are sinners.  Everything we have become, every blessing we have received, came to us from God because of His grace and His mercy.  Let us never forget that but for the grace of God go we straight to hell.  Never forget!

Have a blessed day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!