Day 116

Judges 6:1-40; Luke 22:54–23:12; Psalm 95:1–96:13; Proverbs 14:5-6

IN OUR READING today, we met Gideon and began one of the most counterintuitive stories in the Old Testament. Things had once again gotten very hard for the children of Israel. Their abandonment of God had delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, who severely oppressed them. Every year, crops were sowed throughout the land, but as the harvest approached, the Midianites and Amalekites would come in caravans to pillage, feast, and then destroy what was left. They were a yearly plague that left the people of Israel starving. The Israelites were forced to grab what they could and hide in caves and strongholds to survive.

That is the environment in which we met Gideon. He was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to stay hidden from the Midianites when an angel appeared and told him that God was with him.

Although it occurred thousands of years ago, Gideon’s response sounds quite contemporary: “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?” (Judges 6:13).

The issues that surface in the Bible are often the same issues we face today simply wearing different clothing. God’s initial response to Gideon’s lack of conviction was what He is still saying today: “Go with the strength you have. . . . I am sending you!” (Judges 6:14).

Remarkably, Gideon proceeded to do precisely as we often do —he began a list of excuses. God simply replied, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16).

Over the next few days, we’ll see the story of Gideon unfold, but this initial exchange informs everything that comes next. It is the same for us. When God sends us, we must begin with what we have —even if we feel like we’re hiding in a winepress. And when we obey, we must never waver from the fact that God is with us.

WORSHIP:

Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.