December 2: Gideon

Judges 6-8

Suffering is never easy, especially when it lasts for years with no relief in sight. For seven years, crippling poverty, oppression, and tyranny were the reality for the Israelites. Their rebellion against God had landed them in this spot, but in spite of their rebellion, God would once again rescue them. This time God would choose Gideon to lead the rescue of his people.

Gideon’s response when he learned of God’s plan? Disbelief and questioning if God’s so good and powerful, then why had God’s people experienced the hardships they were experiencing? And when God pushed back on Gideon, Gideon told God every reason Gideon was unqualified to do what God had called him to do, concluding with the fact that Gideon was an unimpressive person from an unimpressive family.

But God was undeterred. He used Gideon to bring about a decisive victory in battle. Gideon reminds us God’s not bound by our pedigrees and accolades, God’s not bothered by our questioning, and God’s able to accomplish more through us than we can ever imagine when we follow him in faith. The Israelites would need to be rescued again after Gideon, and that rescue would be needed by you and me as well, as we have all rebelled against the plan of God. The rescue would arrive in Bethlehem, where this time, God himself would be our rescue, when a Savior would enter the world in an unimpressive town and change the trajectory for all who would follow him in faith.

Pastor Brian Pursley
Lakeside Community – Algoma



Comments

  1. a studentDecember 2, 2021 at 7:23 AM

    Thanks for participating, Pastor Brian, in this Advent booklet. After reading your devotion, I was reminded of many other times in history of God using individuals of seeming insignificance and power to carry out His plan. Maybe this shouldn’t surprise us as we consider that God’s values and ways are not the same as the world’s, and it is indeed His strength and power which work through us to accomplish His will. He is worthy of our trust and faith.

    ReplyDelete
  2. a studentDecember 2, 2021 at 7:27 AM

    If I truly believe that God is worth of my trust and faith, how does that impact my day?

    ReplyDelete

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