“I said to you, ‘“I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’” But you have not listened to me.””
~ Judges 6:10
Hi James and Ellen,
What kinds of life lesson tests has God tested you? Do you know how God gives life lesson tests? Before He created planet Earth, God prepared just for you a lifetime of life lesson tests. The personalized lifetime of life lesson tests that God prepared just for you before He created planet Earth includes times of being sick, selecting a college, choosing an employment, meeting guys, gals and kids – some who you will not like, wrestling with and determining life values and reconciling with God a personal relationship. Do you think that God predestined guys, gals and kids to test Him? Have you ever tried to test God? Gideon tested God. The guy who edited the Judges Book recounts in Judges 6 how Gideon tested God. Gideon was from the Israelite people group – which meant that Gideon was one of God’s specially chosen guys. Gideon’s dad and ma were from the Manasseh tribal clan. Gideon thought of himself to be a nonentity. Gideon considered himself as being at ‘the bottom of the barrel’ in the weakest of all the Israelite tribal clans. Gideon saw himself as being the least respected guy in his tribal clan. The Israelite people group’s guys and gals tested God through their choices of what or who to worship. God chose the Israelite people group’s guys and gals to worship Him. God’s specially chosen guys and gals worshipped instead idol gods made of wood, rock and metal. When the Israelite guys and gals – instead of worshipping the one true God, opted for worshipping idol gods made of wood, rock and metal, God sent the Israelite people group’s guys and gals a life lesson test in the land that He had given them to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . God used Midianite people group guys to do His life lesson testing. The Midianite people group had a lot of livestock. The Midianite people group lived a nomadic lifestyle – traveling from one grazing area to another. God had permitted Midianite guys for seven years to go into the land that He had given to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids. God did not stop the Midianite guys from indiscriminately destroying or taking whatever – from crops to livestock, which His specially chosen guys and gals had. After seven years of enduing this, God’s special chosen guys and gals had had enough – leading them to cry to God for help. God now had the attention of His specially chosen guys and gals. God now could get through to His specially chosen guys and gals to get it as to why bad things were happening to them. God through an unnamed prophet tells His specially chosen guys, gals and kids in verse 10 “I said to you, ‘“I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’” But you have not listened to me.””
Gideon was busy threshing wheat one day in a winepress – a site where Midianite guys could not see what he was doing, when Gideon got a visitor. Gideon did not recognize his visitor as being the angel of the Lord. When the angel of the Lord saw Gideon, the angel of the Lord told Gideon that he – Gideon, was a mighty soldier and that the Lord was going to be with him. Gideon response was to vent on the angel of the Lord – telling the angel of the Lord that God had abandoned His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, who He had leave Egypt. Gideon was told again by the angel of the Lord that he was the guy who would save God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids from the marauding Midianite guys. Gideon was not convinced. Gideon told the angel of the Lord to prove it by giving him a sign that would attest that he really was who he said who he was. The angel of the Lord waited while Gideon prepared some goat meat and some bread to eat. After Gideon had finished preparing the goat meat and bread for the angel of the Lord to eat, the angel of the Lord told Gideon that he wanted Gideon to put the goat meat and the bread on a rock and to cover the goat meat and the bread with some broth. The angel of the Lord touched the goat meat and the bread with the tip of his staff. The goat meat and the bread – which were covered with a broth, broke into flames. Gideon recognized then who the angel of the Lord was and . . . even though Gideon now knew who God was, Gideon still was unsure about God having chosen him to be the one who He wanted to do a number on the Midianite guys. Gideon – after God told him to do so, tore down his dad’s altar to Baal and his dad’s Asherah pole. Gideon used the wood from the Asherah pole to build an alter on which to sacrifice to God his dad’s second bull. When some of the other Manasseh tribal clan guys found out that it was Gideon who tore down his dad’s altar to Baal and his dad’s Asherah pole, these guys were determined to kill Gideon. Gideon’s dad told these guys that if Baal really was a god that they should instead of killing Gideon let Baal kill Gideon.
Even though Gideon was now ready to be the man, Gideon still wanted God to affirm to him that he really was God’s man to save the Israelite guys and gals from the Midianite guys. Gideon told God that he would know that he was the man if God would do something special for him. Gideon told God that if God had dew fall on a wool fleece that he would lay out on the threshing floor that night and if there was no dew anywhere on the floor that he would then know for sure that God had picked him to be the guy to save the Israelite guys and gals. When Gideon woke up the next morning, only the wool fleece was covered with dew. Instead of being happy with God for doing what he had asked God to do, Gideon asked God to cover the threshing floor with dew the next night and to not have dew fall on the wool fleece. Do you think that God was upset with Gideon for testing Him again? God’s life lesson tests are ways for God to get guys, gals and kids to focus only on Him. Your grandpaa thinks that God has preordained guys, gals and kids to try to test Him – like Gideon did, but . . . do you know personally God as the one true God?
Judges 6 (236)