Judges 6 -knut

So the cycle continues, we are introduced to the next prophet Gideon who will lead the Israelites out again from a dark period. Gideon appears to be a different leader than others in that he is less confident. He wants to serve the Lord yet needs signs that what he is hearing is real and not just something he made up in his own mind. So this feels like someone I can relate too, he's less confident or mature in his faith than he would probably like to be.

Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”. Yet Gideon in this chapter does test God and God answers the test--not even showing any frustration with the test. So why is it okay for Gideon to test God? One perspective I read was that Gideon was not testing God seeking blessing, but instead just trying to confirm that he heard him right before he goes on to do what he believes God commanded. So while it would probably be better if his faith and connection to God were so strong that he knew the moment he heard the command it was from God and not his own ideas, but maybe its okay to ask for some reassurance from God--but I think we should try not to make a habit of it as it demonstrates some weakness in our faith.

This reminds me of when we were trying to figure out if we should move to the QC back in 2008. We prayed about it asking for signs we should go or even better not to go! I wish I would have documented how many signs God gave us before we said okay we get it. In that case neither Gina or I wanted to go and we were ignoring the clear messages we were getting, eventually it was overwhelming. Hopefully we have grown and would listen better today, but I suspect I have a little Israelite in me--I might find myself wanting to do my own thing. I'm rambling now but its also interesting that God picked someone who considers himself weak to do great things.

Funny after my first read through this I got little, now as I type I feel like maybe I need to re-read again as I am seeing many lessons captured in this chapter. have a great day