The Lord said, “You have the strength”

The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!” Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” Then the Lord himself turned to him and said, “You have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! Have I not sent you?” Gideon said to him, “But Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” The Lord said to him, “Ah, but I will be with you! Judges 6:12-16

Many of us are familiar with the story of Gideon and how he destroyed the Midianites. We recall his constant misgivings and repeated testing of the Lord...to ensure the Lord was with him. Gideon was an anxious man. It didn’t prevent him from accomplishing God’s purpose. 

Life was hard under the Midianites. Gideon, was threshing wheat by hand in the bottom of a grape press—a pit where grapes were pressed to make wine—because he was hiding from the Midianites. He couldn’t even farm his land openly for fear his harvest would be stolen. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty soldier, the Lord is with you!” 

In an inauspicious start, Gideon misunderstood...or misinterpreted...the angel’s words. The angel said “Mighty soldier, the Lord is with you!”. Gideon didn’t take this personally. He took it collectively, meaning he heard “the Lord is with Israel”. So right away, Gideon had difficulty reconciling the words with reality. He replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? The Lord has thrown us away and has let the Midianites completely ruin us.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “I will make you strong! I am sending you!” Go and save Israel from the Midianites! 

Once Gideon understood, he went on to great victory but...this initial misstep taught him a lesson: Listen carefully! If we don’t hear, precisely, what the Lord is telling us we increase the likelihood that things will go wrong. So, Gideon developed the habit of testing God to ensure he heard correctly.

• How can I save Israel? And...Lord said “I will be with you”! 
• If it is really true prove it is really Jehovah who is talking to me!
• Prove it to me in this way: I’ll put some wool on the threshing floor and in the morning, make the fleece wet and the ground dry.
• Let me make one more test: this time let the fleece remain dry.

That was enough for Gideon but God wasn’t done proving Himself...He looked at 30,000 men and said to Gideon, 

• “There are too many of you!  Send home any of your men who are timid and frightened..
• “There are still too many! I’ll show you which ones shall go with you and which ones shall not.”

Out of 30,000...only 300 remained. But...by this point, Gideon was certain God was with him and went on to a mighty victory over the Midianites. This should encourage us. God is still God and He intends to address the problems that plague us today. If God wants to use us...and He does...He will prove Himself and will give us the tools we need to be successful. Our biggest problem is, we are so busy saying “somebody should do something!” that we miss the Angel sitting beside us calling our name

And we don’t get to participate in God’s mighty plans...

Do you hear the Angel? Listen...carefully!

Live boldly out there today...

The Lord said “I will no longer drive out the nations which Joshua left when he died”.

“But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died”. (Judges 2:19-21)

After the conquest of Canaan, Joshua dismissed the People and they went off to claim their allotted territories. The people worshiped God throughout the lifetime of Joshua. 

Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn’t know anything of God or the work he had done for Israel.

How could they forget so quickly? 

They deserted the God of their parents and worshipped the gods of the peoples around them. Remember how God told them to destroy, or drive out, all the nations living in their promised land? Well, they failed to do so...with dire consequences. God’s anger was hot against Israel: He handed them off to plunderers who sold them cheap to enemies on all sides. They were helpless before their enemies. 

Then God, in His grace, raised up judges who saved them from their plunderers. When God raised up a judge, he would be right there with the judge as long as the judge was alive. But when the judge died, the people went right back to their old ways...even worse...stubborn as mules.

And God said, “Because these people have thrown out my covenant that I commanded their parents and haven’t listened to me, I’m not driving out one more person from the nations that Joshua left behind when he died. I’ll use them to test Israel and see whether they stay on God’s road and walk down it as their parents did.”

Which, of course, brings us to...us.

I can’t count the number of times my life has been plundered by my own sin. The joy of the Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God’s Word all fail me. I weep. I plead. I promise. I get no relief. I feel abandoned...like the Israelites of old. It’s as though there is not a God in heaven.

And then I look around at the corners of my life and I’m not surprised. I have allowed false god’s and sinful temptations to accumulate in my life. Not necessarily from wicked intent, but often from laziness or compromise.

I’m reminded of what God told Haggai... “Ask the priests about the law. If someone carries holy meat in a fold of his garment and that fold touches bread, a boiled dish, wine, olive oil, or any other food, will that item become holy?’” The priests answered, “It will not.” 


We are Holy vessels...cleansed by the eternal blood of our savior. That does not mean the things we touch become holy. it means...when we touch things that are unclean, we become unclean (not “unsaved”) and God will no longer March before us to make our way straight. It tells me that if I want to remain clean I must remove the unclean things from my life. After all, the only reason I sin is because I let unclean things close enough to tempt me.

But...until I demonstrate obedience and start cleaning house, God will not clean house for me. By His grace He will surely come alongside me and point out the things that need to go. He may even send Judges, in the form of friends or spiritual elders. Just remember, when God puts something in the”to go” pile, leave it there!

And then...the joy, the power and the wisdom return.

Live boldly out there today...

God said, “There are things under the ban in your midst"

God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.” Joshua 7:13

On the heels of a great victory over Jericho, the Israelites planned to conquer Ai.

But Israel had acted unfaithfully, for Achan took some things from Jericho (as plunder) God had banned. Therefore the Lord was angry against all of Israel. So, when Joshua sent about 3,000 men from Jericho to destroy Ai, the men of Ai killed thirty-six of Johua’s men, and chased the rest of them from their gates and struck them down

Joshua tore his clothes and fell on his face (along with the elders) before the ark of the Lord. Joshua asked, “O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?” So the Lord said to Joshua, “Israel has sinned, and taken things under the ban and have also put them among their own things. Therefore I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban.”

Two important lessons...
1. When we sin against the Lord we cannot expect Him to bless our endeavors and make them fruitful and, 2. When we sin against the Lord there are consequences for those around us even if they have not sinned.

When things go wrong for us we are not generally inclined to ask God where we have gone wrong. We are more inclined to make a logical assessment and take corrective action. After all, asking God implies the possibility of moral failure and...who really wants to admit that? I’d far prefer admitting  to a failure in knowledge or skill. They don’t make me a “bad person”...only a dumb person. And, I can fix that!

Well, we can fix moral failure as well. It begins with admitting we are sinners (saved by grace) who need constant forgiveness. It continues with a devotion to obeying God’s directions in our lives. But...admitting we have profound existential flaws based on the judgement of another (even if it is God) is a blow to our pride so, we try to avoid doing so.

And...we can continue in denial if we choose. The real question is...how long do we want to ruin our lives as well as the lives of people we love?

Live boldly out there today...