Gideon

Okay, the holidays are over. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day. I've had a lot of fun with family and friends. There was a lot of food, football and hockey...but now it's time to get back to other things.

Deliverance and duty. What a can of worms this can be. For the lesson series, this took us to Gideon (Judges 6-7). In his day, all of Israel had been brought into the bondage of Baal worship. They also lived in fear of outsiders who constantly raided their villages and fields, leaving nothing for the the people to eat.

As we looked at this man, we discovered that he was actually quite fearful. Several times in the narrative about his first battle, God had to reassure him with signs and dreams. In the end, though, Gideon pursued the enemy without mercy. This was his duty as a judge in Israel. He was called, supernaturally empowered and given victory by the hand of God.

Today, most of this applies to us. While we are not judges, we do have duties. We are to live godly and call the unsaved to repentence.

This begins much like it did with Gideon. We turn to God and accept His promise by faith. At that moment, we are freed from the rules of this world. Does that mean I can defy its laws? Not unless they are in conflict with His written word. In Gideon's case, they were.

As we examine this moment in history, we see a relationship between faith and action, which results a balance of deliverance and duty.

The first thing God told Gideon to do was to destroy the idols and set up a new altar in their place. Metaphorically, that's what we have to do. When we begin to trust God, He expects to stand alone in our affections. There can be no other objects of devotion or worship. This goes for alcohol, drug use, religious practices, rituals, etc. The very first thing we must do is to place Him first in our hearts.

Wow. That's legalism! No, it's a reflection of the deliverance that's already taken place. In my own life, I was able to lay those things down because they no longer had any hold on me. The drugs I'd enjoyed became a burden. In fact, my whole lifestyle became a burden. I didnt enjoy the things I was doing and things very quickly changed.

At the time, I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Within a month, God impressed me to stop. I tried and cut back to about a pack and a half. One night I had to admit to him that I couldnt quit. I simply told Him that, if He wanted me to quit, He'd have to take the addiction away from me. Sometime in the middle of the next day, my dad mentioned that I hadnt smoked a cigarette all day. It's the first I'd noticed. The difference: I tried on my own and failed. When God did the work, it was immediate and noticeable.

Lesson: If you are a believer and have been frustrated because your life, or that of another believer, isnt what you think it ought to be, stop trying to do it. Let God work.