OK today I want to tell you the story of Gideon.
This story takes place after Israel has entered the land that God told them he would give them. They acted badly and God allowed other countries to treat them pretty bad. But after a while, the Israelites would say they were sorry and stop acting so bad. When that happened, God would send someone to help them stop the other countries from being mean. You have probably heard of Sampson. He was one of those people. I will tell that story later.
Today let's talk about Gideon. This dude was a just a simple farm hand. He worked refining wheat and he helped make wine. He wasn't a leader by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact, he was a wimp. He was from the weakest tribe of Israel. Not only that but his family was the weakest family in the tribe of Manasseh. On top of that, he was the weakest dude in his whole family. To put it in Texas terms, he was the runt of the litter. He was the guy that always got beat up at school and the one that everyone picked on. When a bully wanted to look good, they picked on him because he was an easy target. I want you to picture a scrawny, wimpy, kid who is always whining.
One day, he is working doing the jobs that no one wants. As he is working, an angel of the Lord, sat under this tree and said to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior." The angel was calling him a man like the Rock or Brock Lesner. Can you imagine that. Surely the angel was mistaken. This was just a wimped dude from a dirty poor family in a real small tribe and here this angel was calling him Arnold Schwartzenegger. That sounds crazy.
But understand this, God uses his words to build things. He called this man a mighty warrior because that is what he was going to become. Also, God never looks at us where we are today. He always sees where we could be with his help. Maybe today you don't think you will ever amount to anything. Well if you ask God about your situation, you will find that he always has a good plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). So for us, we can't look at ourselves through our own eyes, we have to look at ourselves through God's eyes. When we do that, we will see that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
OK, let's get back to the story before I start preaching. Now Gideon isn't convinced that he is a Navy Seal by any stretch and he points out to the angel that he is dirt poor. He is the lowest person in the lowest family in the lowest tribe. He tells the angel that he is the lowest on the totem pole. Gideon starts telling God that he doesn't understand how this other country has been so successful at beating up on his country and God tells him to go and deliver his people from the bad country. Gideon still doesn't believe God really wants to send him so he decides to test God.
He says to God, "Lord if you really like me, let me give you a test to make sure you are God and you want me to lead an army." The first thing he does is make some food for the angel. When he puts the food on a rock, the angel touched the food and fire came up from out of the rock and destroyed it. This is when Gideon figures out he has really been talking to an angel and it scares him silly. But God chose him and tells him it's OK. So Gideon is still not sure that God wants him to go to war against that bad country and asks to test the lord again. He says, "God, if this is really you, I'm going to put this jacket on the floor. Please make the jacket wet in the morning and keep everything else around it dry." That's exactly what happened. Then he decides to test God one more time and says, "This time Lord, please make the ground around the jacket wet and keep the jacket dry." That's exactly what the Lord did. The next morning the jacket was dry and the ground was wet.
I will finish the story of Gideon in my next post. What I want you to take from this is that sometimes it's OK to ask God to confirm himself. You have to do it in the right heart. If you really are seeking God and you feel like he is telling you to do something, it's OK to ask him to do something to confirm that he wants you to do something. That's exactly what Gideon did. But understand this. If you just want to see some miracle for the sake of seeing one, it won't work. God is not a circus act. But if in your heart, you truly desire to follow God and are not sure that he is leading you in a certain direction, it's OK to ask him to confirm his plan for you.
That's another of the Minion's Bible Stories.
This story takes place after Israel has entered the land that God told them he would give them. They acted badly and God allowed other countries to treat them pretty bad. But after a while, the Israelites would say they were sorry and stop acting so bad. When that happened, God would send someone to help them stop the other countries from being mean. You have probably heard of Sampson. He was one of those people. I will tell that story later.
Today let's talk about Gideon. This dude was a just a simple farm hand. He worked refining wheat and he helped make wine. He wasn't a leader by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact, he was a wimp. He was from the weakest tribe of Israel. Not only that but his family was the weakest family in the tribe of Manasseh. On top of that, he was the weakest dude in his whole family. To put it in Texas terms, he was the runt of the litter. He was the guy that always got beat up at school and the one that everyone picked on. When a bully wanted to look good, they picked on him because he was an easy target. I want you to picture a scrawny, wimpy, kid who is always whining.
One day, he is working doing the jobs that no one wants. As he is working, an angel of the Lord, sat under this tree and said to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior." The angel was calling him a man like the Rock or Brock Lesner. Can you imagine that. Surely the angel was mistaken. This was just a wimped dude from a dirty poor family in a real small tribe and here this angel was calling him Arnold Schwartzenegger. That sounds crazy.
But understand this, God uses his words to build things. He called this man a mighty warrior because that is what he was going to become. Also, God never looks at us where we are today. He always sees where we could be with his help. Maybe today you don't think you will ever amount to anything. Well if you ask God about your situation, you will find that he always has a good plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). So for us, we can't look at ourselves through our own eyes, we have to look at ourselves through God's eyes. When we do that, we will see that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
OK, let's get back to the story before I start preaching. Now Gideon isn't convinced that he is a Navy Seal by any stretch and he points out to the angel that he is dirt poor. He is the lowest person in the lowest family in the lowest tribe. He tells the angel that he is the lowest on the totem pole. Gideon starts telling God that he doesn't understand how this other country has been so successful at beating up on his country and God tells him to go and deliver his people from the bad country. Gideon still doesn't believe God really wants to send him so he decides to test God.
He says to God, "Lord if you really like me, let me give you a test to make sure you are God and you want me to lead an army." The first thing he does is make some food for the angel. When he puts the food on a rock, the angel touched the food and fire came up from out of the rock and destroyed it. This is when Gideon figures out he has really been talking to an angel and it scares him silly. But God chose him and tells him it's OK. So Gideon is still not sure that God wants him to go to war against that bad country and asks to test the lord again. He says, "God, if this is really you, I'm going to put this jacket on the floor. Please make the jacket wet in the morning and keep everything else around it dry." That's exactly what happened. Then he decides to test God one more time and says, "This time Lord, please make the ground around the jacket wet and keep the jacket dry." That's exactly what the Lord did. The next morning the jacket was dry and the ground was wet.
I will finish the story of Gideon in my next post. What I want you to take from this is that sometimes it's OK to ask God to confirm himself. You have to do it in the right heart. If you really are seeking God and you feel like he is telling you to do something, it's OK to ask him to do something to confirm that he wants you to do something. That's exactly what Gideon did. But understand this. If you just want to see some miracle for the sake of seeing one, it won't work. God is not a circus act. But if in your heart, you truly desire to follow God and are not sure that he is leading you in a certain direction, it's OK to ask him to confirm his plan for you.
That's another of the Minion's Bible Stories.
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