Judges 6:36-7:14. \u00a0Pretty interesting story. \u00a0So all the guys have come out to help Gideon fight the Midianites and their allies. \u00a0But Gideon is not done being afraid. \u00a0Everyone is waiting and Gideon asks God for a sign, just to be sure. \u00a0This echos back to the very beginning of of the story in Judges 6:17. \u00a0So God gives Gideon a sign. \u00a0Gideon lays out a sheep skin with all it’s hair on it on the ground. \u00a0It sits our all night and in the morning it’s loaded with water but the ground around is dry. \u00a0Gideon obviously doesn’t want to go to battle so he does it again, this time in reverse and God does the reverse sign. \u00a0It’s totally obvious that God wants Gideon to go, there’s no getting out of it. \u00a0But wait there’s more. \u00a0God tells Gideon to send everyone home that’s afraid. \u00a0I wonder if Gideon thought, “Does that include me? \u00a0Do I get to go home too?” \u00a0Out of 32,000 soldiers 22,000 leave. \u00a0I’m sure that didn’t make Gideon feel more secure. \u00a0Still too many remained so God tells Gideon to give every body a water break. \u00a0This time the people are divided based on how they get a drink. \u00a0Gideon winds up with 300 soldiers. \u00a0A lot of people make a big deal about how they drink. \u00a0They say that the ones who knelt down were not showing that they were ready for battle and that the ones who scooped water up to their mouths were. \u00a0But verse 2 shows that the God is not making the army smaller but stronger, He is making it smaller and weaker. \u00a0God wants the odds to be truly impossible. \u00a0God wants it to be clear that there was no way Gideon could win this on his own. \u00a0I’m sure that made Gideon feel all warm and fuzzy about this battle especially when he saw that the opposing troops were “like locusts”. \u00a0This echos back even further in the story to the original description of the Midianites and their allies in Judges 6:5.<\/p>\n
It’s clear that Gideon is still afraid because God tells him to go eavesdrop on the Midianites and if he is afraid to take his servant with him. \u00a0So Gideon takes his servant. \u00a0Gideon goes down and listens to a conversation between two of the opposing soldiers. \u00a0It’s about a dream one of them had where their army is beaten by a loaf of bread. \u00a0The other soldier identifies Gideon as the loaf of bread. Wow, how would you like to be compared to a loaf of bread. \u00a0The story started out with Gideon hiding in a wine press beating out grain to make bread now the bread is going to beat the invaders, kind of funny. \u00a0God not only is powerful but he can be funny too. \u00a0Tomorrow we will see what Gideon thought of being compared to a loaf of bread. \u00a0I’m sure at first I would not like it but you know bread was pretty important in those days, it was the main thing to eat, it was provision. \u00a0Gideon was what God was providing to feed His people spiritually. \u00a0But Gideon was just a scared little lump of dough with a few soldiers. \u00a0Remember Judges 7:2 though, this is about God’s power not Gideon’s. \u00a0And God clearly has the power. \u00a0Look at the signs so far, the fire and the two skins. \u00a0But Gideon still had to believe and respond. \u00a0Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that it is by faith that we have hope in what God has promised and are convinced He will do what He has said. \u00a0That chapter lists several Old Testament people who were examples of faith. \u00a0Hebrews 11:32-35 lists Gideon as one of those examples of faith and it also lists what those people of faith did. \u00a0Tomorrow we will see what Gideon and God did in this story.<\/p>\n
God, thank you that you include us in your story. \u00a0Thank you for using us even though we are weak and afraid. \u00a0It’s not really about us it’s about you. \u00a0God show me your plan for me. \u00a0Help me be faithful today. \u00a0Let me do whatever it is you want me to do even if it seems impossible. \u00a0Help me remember the signs you have given me because I too, like Gideon, am weak and need to see. \u00a0Thank you for your love and patience. \u00a0Lord I am weak but you are strong. \u00a0Help me Jesus carry on. \u00a0Daily walking by your side. \u00a0Let it be dear Lord, let it be.<\/p>\n
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Judges 6:36-7:14. \u00a0Pretty interesting story. \u00a0So all the guys have come out to help Gideon fight the Midianites and their allies. \u00a0But Gideon is not done being afraid. \u00a0Everyone is waiting and Gideon asks God for a sign, just to be sure. \u00a0This echos back to the very beginning of of the story in Judges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}