Lessons from Gideon's Story

It is such an encouragement that the records of Gideon shows that God is faithful and powerful.

From an army of 32001 (including Gideon) to deliver Israel, He decided to choose 301 instead. The reason is found in Judges 7:2 (NASB) whereby ²the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me.'

It is interesting to note that among those people who were about to fight the battle, 22000 were fearful and were sent back. Yet God said that the number is still too many. After another test, 9700 were sent back home and the final number for the battle is 301.

What can we learn from this episode?

1)      Many response to the call (Judges 6:33-35) but not all response with faith.

Those who did not response with faith and in faith, they were eventually sent back.

22000 of Gideon’s initial army were sent back because they were fearful. They could have had the greatest adventure in their lives and telling their story to their descendants.

It is a reality in life that often when we response to a call of God, we may not response in faith. Faith is necessary for this journey and great adventure with God.

2)      301 chosen because of certain good qualities God requires

In the test to separate the 10000, 300 were chosen because of the way they drank the water. These 300 were watchful and alert, qualities needed for warfare. They were chosen for this adventure and eventually they were able to tell this great deliverance to others: God has used them mightily.

It is encouraging to know that in terms of God’s agenda and events, He does not need a huge number because it is all about His Glory and His Name. Yet He needs people of faith and those who are of good qualities.

Conclusion:

As we are preparing ourselves for His great move in our lives and in history, we need not focus on the number which can sometimes discourage us. Instead we focus on God who is able. We focus on our preparation: our Faith and our quality or our characters. We focus on building up others for God’s use.  

God our Lord, who demonstrated His Power and Faithfulness in this episode in the Book of Judges, will surely be able to do the same thing in our lives. 

On Prayer matters...

I remember that I had an old 'dying' blog and found out I wrote something on Prayer. I think it must be from someone (Maybe E.M. Bounds or Ravenhill)  because I don't think I could write this in 2003 :)

This is what was written in that blog:

Since God is sovereign and therefore free to do what He pleases and chooses, why pray? 

Since God is immutable and does not change His mind, is prayer effective? 

Does our prayers matter? 

Jesus encouraged us to pray and He became our model in effective prayer. He indicated that proper motivated prayer should glorify the Father, it is offered in the name of the Son, it relies on the Holy Spirit's power and assistance, it meets scriptural conditions and harmonizes the will of man with that of God... 

...And prayers draw us closer to Him, because the dependency on God in prayer brings us to Him. 


My Re-Visitation of these questions will be: 
Yes Prayer matters because God wants us to know He loves us by answering our prayers (with a Yes or No or Wait or I give you a better solution). 
Yes Prayer matters because in the process of seeking God, we get closer to Him and stronger in Him by our reliance on Him.
Yes Prayer matters because even our specific prayers are not answered in our ways, His Ways of answering our requests are always better than our ways. 

Reflection through the Gospel of Mark - Obedience

Mark 1:16-20 (NASB)
¹⁶ As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
¹⁹ Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. ²⁰ Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

 

After Jesus started preaching the gospel, Mark recorded for us the names of the 4 disciples who followed Jesus’ call. There was no mention of any person repenting and believing in the gospel before these 4 persons. If there was, Mark did not find it worthwhile to mention. However, Mark pointed out for us that these 4 disciples would be given the privilege to follow Jesus and live with Him while He was on earth. They took that opportunity given to them and Mark wrote some of them ‘immediately’ left their nets and followed Him (v18). That was instant obedience.

Jesus must have known some qualities in these men and give out that invitation. The challenge for us today is: when God call us, maybe to take a position or even to give someone a call, or to be a blessing to somebody, or to spend some extra time with Him, or stop doing certain things…are we going to do that?

 Mark wrote about these men who were worth mentioning, I pray that we will also be person worth mentioning in His Presence. Obedience is one of the qualities God treasures.  

Reflection through the Gospel of Mark (2)

Mark 1:9-15 (NASB)
⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
¹⁰ Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹ and a voice came out of the heavens: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." ¹² Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.¹³ And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.¹⁴ Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

This is like a movie setting. After Mark had John the Baptist come out of the scene, he had him exit in the next scene. Jesus, the main character, takes over the rest of the story. Remember, this is the good news of Jesus Christ. It is His Story.

In this scene, it seemed to me that Jesus was playing a role whereby He was the receiver: He was baptized by John. After that, He was endorsed by the Father and then He was impelled by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness after which He was tempted by Satan. He was also ministered by the angels.

It reminds me that sometimes, we need to take a ‘receiving’ role. For some of us, we find it hard to receive but we have to learn to receive. Whether we are receiving from a person of a ‘lesser’ level or a ‘higher’ level, we receive. However, we need to understand that while Jesus was being tempted by Satan, He did not give into the temptations. In the same way, we must discern what is of God’s and what is of the Devil’s.

In this context, I would like to suggest that what is of God’s will always lead to the furthering of the gospel while Satan will always try to frustrate and hinder God’s plan and gospel.

After this scene is passed, we see in verse 14 that John is out of the scene and Jesus takes the active role preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

There are times that we need to be like John, fading away the spotlight so that Jesus has all the glory.

There are times that we need to receive because after receiving, we are to take the active role of giving and contributing.

There are times that we need to resist because we understand that not all things are from God.    

Reflection through the Gospel of Mark (1)

Mark 1:1-8 (NASB) 

¹ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: "BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; ³ THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'"

⁴ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
⁵ And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
⁶ John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.
⁸ "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Here, we have an interesting picture of John’s appearance or fashion-sense. His diet was also out of the ordinary. His message was strong, unpleasant (v4) and direct to the point (v7-8): “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

As we read the story in the Bible, we are often surprised by some of the details given by the narrator. It is true that some details are interesting and we can draw lessons from those details. However, we must not miss the main points. The main point is that John is fulfilling a prophecy in Isaiah (v2) and although he stands out in the whole picture (v3-8), he is pointing to a very important Person, “The One who is mightier will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And this is the beginning of the gospel according to Mark (v1). This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

As we read the Bible and draw out different principles of our lives, we must not be distracted to understand the main point is regarding this Person Jesus Christ. It is the Son of God coming to tell us and demonstrate to us His peace and love for us. It is the Son of God coming to tell us His Plan for mankind.

Christmas, an event that we are going to celebrate, can take place because there is a beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ to us.

Mark tells us this story in this gospel.

May the Lord help us tell His Story to others who need the good news.