Blogging through the #B90Days: Day 18, Reflections on Gideon (Judges 6:36)

Reading through the Bible 90 Days as part of the Challenge hosted at Mom's Toolbox.

Reading:  Judges 3: 28 - 15: 12

Scripture:  Judges 6: 36 - 40

36 So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— 37 look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.

Reflections: 


I cannot fault Gideon.
On paper, and in my head,  I know that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
But when the foolish thing He wants to use is you, and the wise that need confounding are a really big army, or dark city that needs hope?

Questions are normal.
Questions are expected.

Now.... Gideon probably should have accepted that God really and truly was intending to use him, the smallest member of the weakest clan in all of Manasseh, after the FIRST test of the fleece...  But God is gracious, and was patient with him.

I adore the story of Gideon, because my husband and I are in the waiting stage.  We are testing every thing that sounds like it could  be the Lord's will, so that we do not make a move outside of His timing.
Gideon's story reassures me that He will not be upset with us being careful to obey HIM, and not acting out of our own ambition, and ascribing it to Him.

And, God's patience with Gideon during the fleece tests just makes my heart sing.
The God who created the World, who could smite the enemies of His chosen people with one thought, chose to reveal Himself to the weakest of them all, and use an unlikely vessel to bring about HIS GLORY.

If I can wrap my head around the God assesses character, it changes the way I see people.

What is He looking for?

1. Usability.
A heart not filled with pride that trusts Him.

2. Humility.
Accurately seeing ourselves compared to His greatness.

3. Obedience.
He needs people that are going to do what He asks, even if it does not make sense.


My most sincere prayer is that we would find all three, in me.

Blogging through the Bible in 90 Days: Day 17. Faith by osmosis....

#B90Days, Day 17.  Judges 2:10.

Reading:  Joshua 15: 1 - Judges 3 : 27

Scripture:  Judges 2 : 10

 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

Observations:


Joshua died, and when everyone who was alive at the time of the crossing of the Jordan passed away, they remembered the Lord no more.

All of a sudden the repetition in Deuteronomy urging them to love and serve God with all their mind, soul, heart and strength, and to diligently teach their children all the time, make sense.

Deuteronomy 6:7 says:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Something went wrong.

Maybe the glory of the Lord was so obvious to that generation that they took it for granted that the children would understand the magnitude of what He had done for them.   The adults at the time reveled in the Glory of God, and the young children watched as their parents served.  Perhaps the instruction, and talking about the laws never happened, because the adults didn't need the reminders.

When the adults passed on, and the children were grown, all of a sudden there is a generation of people that had been riding on the faith of their parents.  If they had heard, and learned, they would have made it their own.  But faith by osmosis cannot stand in the day of trials.  Faith by osmosis is not faith at all.

So the grandchildren of the ones that crossed the Jordan grew up barely hearing mention of God.

And God knew it would happen.  That's why He warned them over, and over again.... Don't forget.  Don't become complacent.  Remember all that I have done, and pass it along to your children.

But as it happened, a generation was raised that "knew neither the LORD, nor what He had done for Israel."


Application: 


Faith is a personal journey.  I could not bring my mother to the kingdom through my prayers for her.  She had to find it on her own. And she did.  And the faith of all of us cannot pray my sister into heaven. She has to find it on her own.  She can pick up the details by osmosis.... and learn a little Christianese... but the bottom line is a relationship with our Creator and Savior.

My faith in God has to be lived out, every single day.  It has to be in my words, and my actions.
My sons cannot hear my internal praying.   I have to bring it all out in the open, for them, so that they can see faith in action.

We need to talk about the God that loves us, all the time.  At the dinner table.  When we are walking down the road.  When we are driving in the car.

They need to see that trusting in the Lord is normal.
They need to see that making time to get up early to be in the WORD, to hear from Him is normal.

But more than seeing it....
They have to understand it, and choose it for themselves.
It needs to become their own.

Prayer:


 Father God,
What a wake up call.

Thank you so much for my sweet son, who every morning comes down and asks me, "Mommy?  Is your pray time with Jesus done?"  Thank you for helping me to establish the pattern of getting up early to meet with you during the school year, and then providing the discipline and motivation to continue it on through the summer time!

Help us, as parents, to live our faith out loud to our children.  Discussing You with them, all the time.
And help us to handle the boundary testing that is happening now with grace, and love...
Amen.