Devotion:
Read Judges 6:11-16.
Gideon is one of my favorite Bible characters -- not because of his might or power, but rather because of his common, ordinary nature among his people and his cautiousness in making sure that God’s call for him is really coming from God. In other words, I can identify with Gideon! The Midianites were powerful neighbors of Israel, and in Gideon’s time, they frequently destroyed Israel’s crops and grazed their own animals on Israel’s pastures. When the angel of God appeared to Gideon, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress! Threshing wheat was normally done on a flat threshing floor on an elevated place to allow the wind to blow away the chaff, leaving the kernels of grain to be gathered. As a pit, dug into the earth or soft stone, a winepress would be a poor place to thresh wheat, as it would be sheltered from the wind. But Gideon was using the winepress because it sheltered his precious wheat from the marauding Midianites, underscoring the weakness of both Gideon and his people.
The angel’s greeting to Gideon as “mighty warrior” is both humorous and prophetic! God often comes to us common and ordinary people, seeing in us the mighty things God can do through us.
Personal Worship Option:
In the “rest of the story,” God uses Gideon to utterly defeat the Midianites and restore Israel. What is God calling you to do now? We often see our weaknesses and limitations, while God sees us as God’s mighty warriors. Give thanks today that God uses all of us and gives us gifts, strength, and wisdom to respond to God’s call.
No comments:
Post a Comment