We know that for those who love God all things work together for good. – Romans 8:28
Gideon is first introduced in Scripture as threshing wheat in a wine press in order to hide from the Midianites. Then an angel appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12). Gideon was called by Yahweh to become the deliverer to his nation. In fact, his name means “the one who hacks or cuts down,” a fitting name for the man whose first task in the Lord’s service would be to cut down his father’s Baal’s altar and the Asherah pole.
Not confident that he would really save Israel, Gideon immediately asked God for reassurance. He was patient and granted that to Gideon, who led 10 men to take down Baal’s altar. Then Gideon asked for another sign, this time in the form of the wet and dry fleece. The Lord once again answered Gideon’s request. Then he took an army of 300 valiant men to subdue and eventually overthrow Israel’s foes. Once he saved Israel from the Midianites, as God told him initially, the people of Israel wanted Gideon to be king. But Gideon insisted that the Creator of the universe should be the sole king in Israel, and that resulted in 40 years of no foreign nation oppressing Israel.
Perhaps you, like Gideon, are unwilling to respond to God’s Word without a sign. Yet when you trust Him with all your heart, He will empower you through the Holy Spirit to accomplish great things for Him. So, ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you in a special way today. Pray also that America’s leaders will surrender to His calling on their lives.
Today’s Verse: Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Judges 6:11-24
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
