Verse of the day: Judges 8:22-23, Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” 23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you.”
Christians beware! Successful missions accomplished in God’s service can lead to pride. From the beginning, Gideon was a man who was humble and did not think more of himself than he should. In fact, when called by the Lord, he did not think that God could effectively use him to defeat the Midianites (Judges 6). Nonetheless, Gideon was obedient and saw great victory because he followed God’s lead and faced the enemies of Israel by faith (as small as it might have been). Here, after such a great victory, the people seek him to be their king. Gideon gave a humble answer, which was the right answer to give, but his actions, as we read on, were far from humble. It is always right to point to the Lord and give Him the glory for our victories, but we must also be careful that this is truly what is in our hearts. If we give God the glory only by way of lip service, it will show up in our attitude and actions thereafter. John the Baptist had it right when he said this in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Outside of the Lord, we are nothing to brag about, in and of ourselves. The Apostle Paul wrote this about being humble in Philippians 2:5-8, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Although we see Gideon try to direct the glory to God, and we see his attempt to remind Israel that God was already their King, his lifestyle and actions were that which imitated a king. In verse 24, he makes a request that results in great wealth. There is nothing wrong with a Christian having riches, if God chooses to bless him/her with it. What makes it wrong is when we use that wealth selfishly to exalt ourselves and indulge in worldly things that draw us, and others, away from the One who blessed us in the first place. Gideon takes some of his wealth and makes a golden ephod, which he should not have made, essentially making himself a religious leader amongst the people. This one action resulted in Israel turning to idol worship. What we see in Gideon’s life is that while he was in the heat of battle, probably facing one of the greatest and most difficult challenges in serving the Lord, he was truly humble and faithful. However, once that great challenge had passed, and life became ordinary, Gideon fell into the trap of “everyday life”. As God’s children and Christ followers, there is a danger of straying in our walk, when life becomes “ho hum” in its every day routine. When our Christian life consists of doing the ordinary things, such as going to work, doing chores at home, and just living life one day at a time, we can easily begin to think that the Christian life is boring. May I say something here? The Christian life, for those of us who are truly seeking the Lord and trying to live for Him, is not boring at all! When we pray, read and study God’s Word, and then ask God to show us how to live out what we read (James 1:22-25)…HOLD ON! As we begin to see God use His Word in our lives, and as we make real efforts to tell others about Jesus and show our faith by our works (James 2:18), we will get excited even by the smallest piece of evidence that God is working in our “everyday lives”; and believe me, the challenges will be great. This will also keep us humble in our attitude and service to Him when we see how undeservingly good God is toward us and how much we truly cannot accomplish without Him. The bottom line is that we must be careful to take heed when we have had great victories in Christ, and think we stand, because we will only set ourselves up for a fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). If we are going to speak humble words that give God the glory and point others to Him, let us follow those words with actions and a lifestyle that demonstrate true humility.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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