Mon.’s Devo - The Call to Be Courageous

Read: Judges 6:1-40; Luke 22:54-23:12; Psalms 95:1-96:13; Proverbs 14:5-6 The cycle continued and the Israelites went back into idolatry so they were under the rule of the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites had to hide out in caves and the mountains. The word “Midian” means “strife.” They would always attack them at harvest time and steal their harvest ,leaving them starving. The people cried out to the Lord and God sent a prophet to tell them they must stop worshipping the gods of the Amorites. God sent an angel to Gideon who was at the bottom of a winepress threshing wheat so the Midianites couldn’t see him. The angel addressed Gideon as a mighty hero, who the Lord was with. Gideon didn’t understand that greeting since nothing he could see agreed with it. The angel told him to go with the strength he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites. Gideon gave all his excuses and asked God for a sign. He went to cook the angel a meal and brought it to him. He told Gideon to place it on a rock and when Gideon did, the angel touched the food. Fire flamed up and consumed everything., then the angel disappeared. This got Gideon’s attention. He built an altar to the Lord and named it “the Lord is peace” (Yahweh-Shalom). That night God told him to take a second bull from his father’s flock that was seven years old and to pull down his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole and use them as fuel for the sacrifice. He took 10 servants and did it at night so no-one would see him. In the morning when the people saw the remains of their altar and the new altar they asked around until they knew that Gideon had done it. They wanted to kill him for destroying their Baal altar but Gideon called on Baal to defend himself. He never did. Soon after that, the armies of Midian and Amalek crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power and he blew the ram’s horn summoning Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali together to fight. Gideon needed a confirmation that God was going to give them victory so he put a wool fleece on the threshing floor that night. If the fleece was wet with dew in the morning but the ground was dry the he would know that God was with him. The next morning the fleece was so wet he could wring out a whole bowl of water yet the ground was dry. Just to make sure he asked for the opposite the next night and it happened. They ground was wet and the fleece was dry. God had asked Gideon to do a very daring deed so He was glad to confirm it as much as Gideon needed. I think this is such a great encouragement to us who need confirmations along the way. God is gracious to give us what we need to be courageous. In Luke, Peter denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had seen he would. The guards began mocking and beating Jesus. They tried to get him to admit he was the Messiah. Jesus refused to say he was the Messiah, but he did say that the Son of Man would be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and that was enough to get them really angry. Next, the religious leaders took Jesus to the Roman governor. Pilate. They stated their case to him. Pilate questioned him and could find nothing worthy of arrest. He pronounced him innocent. When they told him that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas who was over Galilee. Herod was delighted to see Jesus because he had heard so much about him and wanted to see him perform a miracle. He questioned Jesus but Jesus refused to answer. Herod and his men mocked him by putting a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Jesus was not afraid to offend people. He knew who he was and refused to be intimidated. Lord, may we learn from Gideon’s humility and Jesus’ tenaciousness that there is a time for both. But in the end, we must be clothed with your power.