The LORD shall rule over you…

Posted on February 13, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you.” (Jdg 8:23 NAS77)

We become so enamored by some guy that speaks well or looks good or is really smart or has money or power.  We ascribe to him god-like attributes and we willingly submit ourselves to him.  We abdicate our responsibilities and accept his judgements.

You don’t believe that?

Go to any college campus and talk about intelligent design and listen to a 20 year old kid parroting Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris or Dennet.  Go to any evangelical christian gathering and talk about the role of women in the church and see someone morph into Piper, Carson or Falwell.  Watch as folks suddenly buy out all the VonDutch apparel because Ashton Kutcher wore one of his hats.  Look at who we send to Washington.  The primary qualification seems to be how much money they can raise for their campaign.

We act as though if we give up our responsibility to think and act for ourselves, we aren’t responsible for the outcome.  We can escape all blame.  After all, we didn’t make the choice.  We were just following orders.  I mean, what are we gonna do.  We don’t make the decisions around here.

No man ever gets it right every time.  We all miss from time to time (sometimes it is the overwhelming majority of the time).  Even the guy we want to put in charge.

No, the best bet is to go with God.  I may not get it right and you may not get it right, but He always does.

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It Became A Snare…

Posted on February 12, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

And Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. (Jdg 8:27 NAS77)

After God’s great victory, Gideon makes a golden monument to commemorate the occasion.  We’ve seen this many times before.  God does something great and they set up a stone pillar or pile up some rocks or build an altar.  But this was different.

They began to worship the monument to the moment instead of the God of the victory.  It was exactly what God warned them about in 7:2.

And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’  (Jdg 7:2 NAS77)

It’s easy to believe our own PR.  To lose our humility.  To forget who is deserving of our gratitude.  We become enamored of our accomplishments and forget the author of our “win”.

It’s easy to be dependent in the face of adversity, but can we remain humble in the fact of our success.

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My Own Power . . .

Posted on February 12, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’ (Jdg 7:2 NAS77)

We are so good at rewriting history.  We make our selves the victor or the victim.  We elevate our status.  We take credit or excuse our failure.  We often take things that are not rightfully ours and that includes glory.

God knows we are like that.  Not only do we take credit, but we begin to believe that we have some form of control.  We can decide for ourselves what is best.

How’s that working for you?

Not so good for me . . .

Oh, I am learning and growing.  I get it right a little more often, but I’m still figuring out how to live as He has shown me.  I know when I get it right – it works.  I also discover when I get it wrong – it hurts.  But mostly, I have to keep remembering that I have many limitations.  I often don’t know what’s best.  I better keep checking back with my Dad in Heaven to make sure I’m gettin’ it.

Doing things in my own power has turned out to be pretty pointless time and time again.  My little drip of sweat adds nothing to God’s raging torrent.  Yet, when I am faithful, He allows me to be a part of what He is doing.

It’s really cool the way He does that.

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What’s Going On Here?

Posted on February 11, 2014 by jimtheyouthguy

For those of you who have noticed this flurry of activity on the blog . . .

I challenged the folks at my church to meditate on scripture “day and night” as Joshua is admonished in Joshua 1:8

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

To that end, I have been blogging my morning and evening meditations.  We are in the process of reading through the Bible together in a chronological plan.  Currently we have just finished Joshua and have moved into Judges.  I read several chapters from the current plan twice a day (usually 6-8).  Since it is only a 3 day a week plan, I read the same passages several times.

I look for what the passage tells me about God, mankind or myself and then I meditate on a passage that caught my attention, praying that God works wisdom and understanding into my life.

This is not in any sense a commentary or teaching.  These are just my musings and introspection and sometimes conviction as I let God’s Word work on me.

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