"But Lord," Gideon replied, "How can I resuce Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" Judges 6:15
I was reading my devotion for February 27th and I just happened to be in the book of Judges. I remember turning to the page and half yawning thinking "Gees! I really need something from God's Word today and here I am in Judges." I started reading at verse 1 of chapter 6 and found myself reading far past the required 8th chapter. I found myself riveted to the events of the story of Gideon. I have heard them a thousand times before but I guess this day they just seemed to hit home.
We are told so often that we should never question God. That we should just live our lives Pollyanna style and never ever question the events of our lives. Gideon started out his life as the least of his tribe and his family and ended it as one of the greatest warriors recorded in the Bible. The thing is this; he just followed God's instructions and never even had to raise a sword to fight the Mideonites. God fought on his behalf and they distroyed themselves. WOW!!!!
But that is not what struck me this day.
I had finished the reading and went back to read what the devotional had to say. What it said was that Gideon had the audacity to quesiton God. God told him that He was sending him to fight the Midianites. "Who, Me?" he asked. "Are you sure". "This is Gideon and I'm just here to hide this wheat so the Midianites won't steal it". God had other plan and we all know how the story ends. Gideon obeys, God shows up and the rest is history.
I have lots of questions these days. Patricia and I were both laid off from our jobs on February 12th. Here it is right in the middle of the toughest economic times in our lifetime and we get laid off. It's not like we can just walk right into new jobs right now. There are only about 6 million people out of work in this country. The numbers are staggering. I have lots of questions but I guess I never really thought to ask God the questions that were running around in my mind. I took Gideons approach. I decided to stop right there and then and ask God the hard questions. I really didn't expect an answer right away but before I could get the question out of my mouth I could already hear the voice of God saying, "This is for my glory".
Well I guess this is it. My whole life in a nutshell. Bring God glory no matter what. I remember sitting across the table from the Hubach's and hearing the news that both of us were being laid off. I had so many things I had planned to say. Even though they have taken a company that was built on the principles of honoring God first and made it into anything but that. Even though I have witnessed unfair and unethical business practices. Even though they both profess to be believers and see no wrong in the things they say or do. Even though I could shake my finger in their face and give them a dose of what was coming to them I wasn't permitted to do so. I could only hear the voice of God saying, "Honor me. Obey me and I will fight the battle for you". I did get an opportunity to tell them that I was not surprised and that I knew that God was not surprised. I told them that our church family had already been praying about our job situation and that we would be ok. Of course they looked at us like we were from Mars. They don't understand what it is to live a life of faith. To depend on God for everything. To charge into life unafraid and unashamed. To truly stand on the promises of God. God promises are true. Sure, we are about to live our lives with Unemployment as our only income. We are already blessed. We are not saddled down with debt. Our mortgage and car payments are not late and we have very little that we cannot live without. God knew all this in advance. We just moved into a new home in August and our first inclination was to buy furniture and spend a lot of money getting the things we wanted. We didn't feel a peace about that so we decided to keep the furniure we had. We love our car but it is just a car. If the time comes that we can't pay for it, we'll find something we can afford. There is nothing that we have that we cannot live without. They are just things. All across this country people are losing their homes and posessions due to the current economic state. In the vast numbers I'm sure that we are not the only believers that have found themselves in this situation. Unbelievers may say, "where is your God? If He cares so much about you then why are you sitting home looking for a job like the rest of us?
Where is He? He is right here. Walking beside us whispering to us, "It's going to be OK". "This is for my glory".
Just because we are believers does not make us immune to the things that happen in this world. It is all in our response to those situations. No matter what happens, we must honor God. We must bring Him glory. If we run around in cirlces and dress in sackcloth and ashes like the rest of the world then what difference will the world see between us and them?
We may lose it all. The repo man may come to our door and pull the car away. We may eventually get a letter from our mortgage company asking us to vacate our home. As much as I don't won't either of those to happen, I am content. I am content to live my life in accordance with God's Word. If we obey Him, He will fight for us.
Blessings
Allen
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