Posts Tagged ‘God’

Focused on the Locust

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

” Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.” Judges 7:12

Yes I am still hanging out with Gideon.  Up to this point I was really focused on God’s commands to Gideon.  Then I caught the metaphor of the locusts.  We all have locusts in our lives.  For Gideon and the Israelites they were the Midianites and the eastern people.  If there were just a few of them it would not have been a big deal, but there were enough that they could keep coming and coming.  The author of Judges gives a picture that there were so many that even their camels could not be counted.  What are the locusts in our lives?  Perhaps the economy, unemployment, illness, bad relationships, poor working conditions, low pay, debt, or expenses are some of the things that come together to overwhelm us.

“Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.  Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.  They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.  They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.  It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land and ravaged it.”  Judges  6:2

It is all too easy to focus on the Locust.  We make the problems and issues of our lives the focus of our attention.  This takes our attention off of God.  When I lost my job in July of 2009, my attention was fully focused on the locust.  I blew the trumpet and gathered my army and marched off to get a new job.  When one job fell through after another I was crushed in my spirit.  I had not been unemployed since I was 16.  I looked over my army and felt ready to march against the locust again.  I felt that I gave God his due, asking him to bless my army and assuring him that when he blessed me with a new job I would serve him as never before.  BUT the whole time my eyes were not on GOD they were on the locust.  My focus was not on what God would have me do but on gathering my army and setting off to battle the locusts on MY terms with MY army….in God’s name of course….

So perhaps you have already read “What do you do when God says send your army home”.  So I sent my army home.  Don’t get me wrong I am still out there looking for a job but my focus is on GOD and the blessing have been incredible.  The opportunities for ministry have multiplied.  I don’t want you to get that unemployment is intrinsically a blessing from God or that we should just sit back and wait for God to do it all.  Gideon had to step way out of his comfort zone.  He had to tear his focus away from the Locust and move it onto God.

God anchored this focus by leading him directly into the middle of the locusts.  While he was hiding in the middle of perhaps 135,000 locusts God let him know that HE IS THE GOD OF THE LOCUSTS TOO.  And what happened to Gideon?

 ” When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hands.”  Judges 7:15

Gideon worshiped.  There in the middle of the locusts, Gideon’s focus shifted to God.  The fear was gone.  The contentment that Paul talks about settled in

 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity ; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:11-13

Gideon found the source of strength that Paul is talking about.  He was ready to go with God and the 300 men chosen to serve God in a unique and miraculous way.  He was ready to follow God to victory.  The locusts were defeated the moment Gideon took his eyes off of them and put them on God.  The Spiritual victory won that day far outstrips the footnote in history that the real defeat of the Midianites amounts to. 

Lord help me to truly keep my focus on you and thank you for the opportunities for Spiritual Victory that you provide for my family and I.  Amen

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I Serve an Outrageous God- Repost

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , on June 15, 2010| 4 Comments »

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So What do you do when God says, “Send your army home”?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , on June 11, 2010| 1 Comment »

I find the fact that God is laying Gideon on my heart a little concerning.  I don’t want to send my army home.  I want to rely on my talents, skills, intelligence and education to do the things that he has called me to do.  I am finding that there is a great but often unrecognized difference between using your God given gifts and relying on your own resources.

As I begin this summer of service to him I find myself staring at that dividing line.  Sometimes it seems precise and clear.  Other times it seems blurry and tenuous.  I find myself praying, “Lord help me send the army home and rely on YOU! AND help me use the GIFTS that you have given me to bring your KINGDOM to the very best of my ability.”  I am excited that even at this late time in my life and after years of relying on myself God has given me great opportunity to serve HIM.

OK ARMY, I guess it is time for you to go home….

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The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her,

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , on June 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I have been thinking about Gideon lately.  God has me running Judges 7:2 over in my mind. 

 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her,

I am ever amazed at the unity of a book written over a period of millenia. 

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about–but not before God.  Romans 4:2

 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the LORD.”  I Corinthians 1:27-31

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

God wanted to save Israel by faith.  So he reduced her to the point that there was NO salvation except by His grace.  Here lies the tension between faith and works.  Gideon could have all of the faith in the world but if he had not stepped out in obedience to God, it would have been dead faith.  This is what James is talking about in James 2.  When we accept our own absolute inability to contribute in the slightest bit to our own salvation and step out in faith because he said to, that is when God says ok, now I will do it because in this you will know that I am God.

  When we send the majority of our force home, when we stand facing the Red Sea with Pharaoh at our backs, when we step onto the stormy sea because He said to….then we say with David “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalms 18:2).  When God asks you to give up your advantage, take the risk, it is because he is preparing to do great things.

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The Blend

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , on May 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Life is such a blend.  The good, the bad, the indifferent all swirling together.  That has certainly been true for the past couple of weeks.  As we plan our missions trip for July to the Lewis House it has been joyful as the pieces fall into place.  We also are looking forward to a long trip that has come together by the grace of God (and many awesome christian family members and friends).  Enter the flu.  Enter family tensions.  Enter life milestones that we would just as soon forget.  Enter unexpected financial stress.  Enter allergy season.  As much as I try to keep my focus on the good and great things that God is doing in my life, sometimes I lose my balance in the swirl.

As it would happen through this time I have been reading Acts.  Talk about the swirl!  Pentecost and Healing/Threats and Persecution – Fellowship and Unity/Deception and Death – Salvation/Martyrdom – they all swirl through the story.  I think that it is all summed up in Paul’s defense before Agrippa:

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.  First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.  That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.  But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.  I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen- that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.  At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”    “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied, “What I am saying is true and reasonable.  The King is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him.  I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.  King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?  I know you do.  Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”  Paul replied, “Short time or long- I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  Acts 26:19-29

Acts is full of these speeches (I think that several of them may make their way here).  Peter, Paul, Stephen, all preaching their hearts and souls through the Spirit of God.  Paul here actually begins his defense in his past and follows the swirls through the sorrow of being on the wrong side of things, to the joy a relationship with Jesus to obedience in the midst of persecution.  He doesn’t give the detail of the beatings and imprisonments but they lie just under the surface of his words.  Then comes the big BUT…. “But I have had God’s help to this very day…”  Sometimes when I am caught in a swirl it seems that God’s help is far away but I can always look back and say “I have had God’s help to this very day.”   The response is to be expected.  “You are insane!”.  It hurts when it comes from the lost, but it really hurts when it comes from those that you think should understand.  Yet we see Paul’s heart and what should be ours, “Short time or long- I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  And there is the kicker, as Paul is speaking he is standing before these two great men….in chains.   

Lord help me keep my eyes on the goal, on you, no matter how violent the swirls become!

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Who hears, Who listens? II

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , on May 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This message came to me several days ago.  I heard it but I wasn’t really listening.  As I often do when God lays a message on my heart I immediately wanted to get the message out.  I sat down I tried to compose this very blog.  Much to my frustration it just wouldn’t come together.  So I pushed it to the side and almost relegated to indigestion.    I had moved my eyes from the source to the message.  I had heard God, but I had not listened.  Several days later during a Bible Study when my body, soul and spirit was focused on Him, I received the clear “OK now” and shared this message with the group.  There was an immediate feeling of peace and fulfillment. It is in this process of hearing and listening that maturity comes.  One without the other leads to frustration, fear and even despair.  For me it has opened the door to a new season of growth in my walk with Him.  This is going to be a season of positioning myself to hear Him and focusing on His face to Listen.  It is going to be a season of speaking His word and reflecting His face.

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Who Hears, Who Listens

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , on May 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We hear the voice of God when We remain close to Him.  When we daily position our body, soul and spirit to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).  This is a discipline.  This is abiding.  This is foolishness to the World and Life to the Children of God.

We listen to Him  when we fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).  I think of the song “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and cares of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”  Too often even when I have heard the voice of God, I did not listen.  The static of our lives and the world around us garbles the message.  I think of my children and how when I really want them got GET a set of instructions I make sure they are looking directly at my face.  Hearing is a matter of position, listening is a matter of focus.

Others will hear God’s voice when we have heard and listened AND spoken;  in words, in deeds and in LOVE!

They will listen when by the power of the Holy Spirit we reflect the face of Jesus in our Lives.

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What Now?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I am reading the Pentateuch.  I started Deuteronomy last night.  As I read, I have noticed a few things.  The first one is that God has not changed!  His methods have not changed.  His requirements have not changed.  I never realized how many Old Testament characters believed in and served God outside of Israel and God’s covenant with Abraham.  Melchizidek, Job, even Balaam who fell prey to his own sinful desires.  As I recognize a separation between God’s dealings with mankind and God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and their descendants, I recognize a great harmony between the Old and New Testaments.  As I read Genesis, Exodus, (OK Leviticus creeped me out just a little, skin diseases, hair falling out, discharges….), Numbers and Deuteronomy I sensed the same God, the same message as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts or any of the epistles. 

One of the other, and more pertinent things to my current life was God’s dealings with Israel in the wilderness.  They were given the end of the story, but the path to get there was a moment by moment thing.  When the cloud/fire lifted they went.  When the cloud/fire settled they stayed put.  God was “a lamp unto their feet”.  He only provided enough information to get them to the next stop on the journey to the promised land.  It was enough to fray even Moses staunch faith in The Lord, just enough to cause him to strike a rock instead of speaking to it, just enough to keep him out of the promised land.  For the people it was too much.  They couldn’t wrap their minds around Hebrews 11:1

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Of course they didn’t have that scripture but it was certainly what God was calling them to.  So every step of the way, they whined, they cried and when push came to shove and they faced the giants they failed.  Then they tried to fix it themselves and they failed again.  I can’t avoid the “Just In Time” information flow of the Holy Spirit but I pray that I can avoid the outcome that Israel experienced.  I have already spent enough time in the wilderness!  I have already felt the sting when I have stepped out of God’s timing.  I stand at the base of Mt. Horeb.  He has given me a vision of the promised land but the landscape between Horeb and Canaan is cluttered.  There are too many paths.  I am in a hurry.  I want the Trip-Tik or to have the Map Quest  page that gives me the route, ETA and potential tie ups along the way.  With each new development my mind races to figure out all the possible scenarios.  Sometimes it seems like the way gets foggier and foggier, until that moment when he parts the Red Sea or the walls of Jericho fall.  So here I wait for the cloud to lift and lead.  The camp is uncomfortable.  The enviroment stressful.  I am ready for the promised land but..

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6

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