Bible League: Living His Word Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"— Judges 6:14 NKJV The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon while he was secretly threshing wheat where the Midianites couldn't find it and take it by force. The Lord said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (Judges 6:12). Gideon responded to this by questioning the Lord's declaration. How could he be a mighty man of valor if he, like the rest of the Israelites, was being oppressed by the Midianites? How could the Lord be with him if he, like the rest of the Israelites, seemed to have been forsaken by the Lord (Judges 6:13)? The Lord did not try to defend Himself. He did not try to explain why He said Gideon was a mighty man of valor, and He didn't try to explain why it seemed like He had forsaken Israel. Instead, He spoke the words of our verse for today: "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" He also said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." The Lord, in other words, did not feel any need to justify His sovereign decisions. He just told Gideon the way it was going to be. God has a plan for you just like He had a plan for Gideon. It may not be as dramatic as Gideon's plan, but it's a plan from God nonetheless. After all, God has a plan for every one of His children. He said this to the people of Judah: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). Like Gideon, you may look weak, you may look abandoned, but you can be a mighty man or woman of valor just like Gideon. You have what it takes because God has given it to you. So be bold! Do what is before you in the strength of the Lord. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Samuel 17, 18 1 Samuel 17 -- David and Goliath NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Samuel 18 -- Jonathan's Friendship with David; Saul's Jealousy NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 15:1-10 Luke 15 -- Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Prodigal Son NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Rumors are dainty morselsthat sink deep into one's heart. Insight It is as hard to refuse to listen to gossip as it is to turn down a delicious dessert. Taking just one morsel of either one creates a taste for more. Challenge You can resist rumors the same way a determined dieter resists candy—never even open the box. If you don't nibble on the first bite of gossip, you can't take the second and the third. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?We here behold the Saviour in the depth of his sorrows. No other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which his cry rends the air--"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" At this moment physical weakness was united with acute mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which he had to pass; and to make his grief culminate with emphasis, he suffered spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting from the departure of his Father's presence. This was the black midnight of his horror; then it was that he descended the abyss of suffering. No man can enter into the full meaning of these words. Some of us think at times that we could cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There are seasons when the brightness of our Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ's case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father's love; but the real turning away of God's face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused him? In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in his case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God's face, but art now in darkness, remember that he has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when he shines forth in all the lustre of his grace; but since even the thought that he has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when he exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Daily Light on the Daily Path Jeremiah 50:34 "Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is His name; He will vigorously plead their case So that He may bring rest to the earth, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.Amos 5:12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate. Psalm 89:19 Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. Isaiah 49:26 "I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isaiah 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Jude 1:24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, Romans 5:20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Isaiah 50:2 "Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst. Romans 8:35,38,39 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? • For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, • nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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