Monday, January 18, 2016

I’ve been reading and reflecting on the life of Gideon in Judges 6-8 and would like to share with you some of my thoughts. I didn’t use a particular study approach, but I started with considering what the angel of the Lord said and did and then what Gideon said and did. The Midianites had wreaked havoc on the nation of Israel. God responded to the cry of the Israelites by sending a prophet to tell them how they had disregarded all that God did for them and on top of that, they had worshiped Baal. They were reaping the discipline of the Lord. Then, without fanfare, the angel of the Lord came to where Gideon was “threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.” It appears that at first the angel of the Lord just sat under the oak tree in Ophrah watching Gideon work. Gideon was threshing wheat in an unorthodox way, in a winepress. This made the work a lot harder, but he did it this way, probably at night, so he could stealthily keep the wheat hidden from the Midianites. That took determination and creativity, and it was fraught with danger. It was his way of helping care for himself and his family. This is a picture of how God often relates to us in the midst of our circumstances, especially when we are experiencing difficult times. We might be wondering where He is or if He cares about us. All the while He is present, watching us trying to cope against the odds. We’re preoccupied and don’t notice how close He is. If this is what you are experiencing let me encourage you to read Judges 6-8 and join us in this daily study.