LEARNING DAILY

 

Judges 6:16, And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

 

Judges 6-8 is about Gideon and how God raised him up to lead 300 men against the Midianites. Read the three chapters and see what God did for Gideon and Israel. The notes in the LSSB give an excellent idea of Israel’s problem at this time, perhaps throughout the book of Judges. “The fundamental problem with the Israelites was that their faith in God was founded not on love for and gratitude to the Lord God, but on self-centered desires and ambitions; they sought God only in times of crisis when they felt they needed Him.” Remember the stages for Israel. They did evil in God’s sight and only when life became too hard did they cry out to Him for deliverance.

 

In reading through the book of Judges, it seems to me that the people of Israel were living their lives further and further from the Lord’s commands as I get deeper into the book. If that is so, the people are living further from Him and it becomes more difficult for leaders to bring the people back into His favor.  

 

“Anyone who earnestly seeks to serve God, like Gideon, can depend on the active presence of God with them” (LSSB). What a promise that was for Gideon and what a promise that is for you and me. What that tells me is that Gideon and you and I do not have to rely on our own abilities and resources. Instead, we can rely on the fact that the battle(s) we face have not taken God by surprise and we can be sure of His promise and His power. That is so necessary when facing the trials we are facing, or will face. To know that the God of Creation knows us personally and He cares for us is immense because we do not face the situation alone. The result, then, is in His hands. Our faith is so important when facing the trials of the unknown!

 

All of us need to be encouraged today. My attempt in studying verses of Scripture from Joshua and now Judges is to strengthen us to face not only today but tomorrow. Because you and I are under the new covenant (because of the faith we have placed in Jesus Christ), we need to examine our faith at times. You and I, as believers must follow the Lord because of who He is and because of what He has done. We cannot do as the Israelites who let their faith be based on what God could do for them. I do not need to tell you that we live in a day when the world and our own country wants nothing to do with Him. The decisions and lifestyles of too many are showing this. Just as the time of Gideon, people are doing evil in God’s sight and following their own gods. The faith and devotion of God’s people must be so genuine that we follow Him even if it means trouble, difficult times, even suffering.

 

Here is the promise -- “Surely I will be with you!” Matthew 28:19-20 affirms this. “Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” It does not matter what we face, what tomorrow holds when we know that God is with us and He has all things in His control.

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.