Fri.’s Devo - Gideon’s Call to Action

Read: Judges 6:1-40; Luke 22:54-23:12; Psalm 95:1-96:13; Proverbs 14:5-6 The Israelites went back to worshipping other gods, so God turned them over to the Midianites for 7 years. The Midianites were so cruel, the Israelites had to hide in the caves. As soon as their harvest came in, the Midianites and Amalekites would come and devour their produce leaving them starving. They finally called out to the Lord for help. *** God raised up a prophet to come and rebuke them. Then he sent his angel to Gideon who was the son of Joash. Gideon was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel called Gideon a “mighty man of valor.” Gideon asked him where were all the miracles that God had done for his people in Egypt. The angel told Gideon, God was sending him to rescue Israel from the Midianites. Gideon tried to get out of it but the angel said God would be with him and he would destroy the Midianites as if they were only one man. *** Gideon asked the angel to wait till he could bring him an offering. He went and cooked a young goat and some unleavened bread and brought them back. The angel told him to place the meat and bread on a rock and pour the broth over it. When he obeyed, the angel touched the offering with the tip of his staff and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed it. Then the angel disappeared. *** Gideon realized that it was God’s angel who had been there and thought he would die; but the Lord spoke and told him he would not die. Gideon built an altar to the Lord and called it Yahweh-Shalom meaning, “the Lord is peace.” *** God told Gideon to take the seven year old bull from his father’s flock and tear down the altar of Baal and the Asherah pole standing beside it. Then build an altar to the Lord and sacrifice the bull on it using the wood from the Asherah pole as fuel. *** Gideon did this at night so the next morning the whole town was in an uproar and wanted to know who tore down their altar to Baal. They found out it was Gideon and had his father bring him out so they could kill him. *** Joash defended his son and told them people that Baal could defend himself. From then on they called Gideon, Jerub-baal, which means “Let Baal defend himself.” God defended Gideon. *** The next time the armies of Midian and Amalek crossed the Jordan to fight Israel, the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power and he sent messengers to the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali to come fight with him. *** Gideon asked God to prove his promise with a sign. He put a piece of wool on the floor and told the Lord that if it was wet and the ground around it was dry in the morning, he would know the Lord was going to rescue them from their enemies. The next morning it was so wet he could wring it out and the ground around it was dry. *** Gideon asked God again to do the opposite just so he was sure God was speaking. The next day the wool was dry and the ground was covered with dew. *** There is nothing wrong with asking God for confirmation. He will confirm his word. *** In Luke, Jesus was taken to the home of the high Priest. Peter followed and when he was asked if he was a follower of Jesus, three times he denied it. When the rooster crowed, Jesus looked at Peter. Peter was so ashamed he left. *** Jesus was then beaten and interrogated by the religious Jewish leaders. They had no law to kill him, so they took him to Pilate. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of causing riots and leading the people not to pay their taxes. *** Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. Jesus replied, “You have said it.” Pilot could find nothing wrong with him. *** When Pilate found out Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Jesus to Herod Antipas. Herod had heard of Jesus and was glad to finally get to meet him. He asked him question after question but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. He and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing him. They put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Pilate and Herod had been enemies up till then, but on that day they became accomplices in the biggest crime of the ages. *** Lord, thank you that you confirm your word in so many different ways. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that leads us in the way that we should go. Thank you, Jesus for all you went through for us to take our sin from us. Clothe us with your power today.