Scripture Read: Chapter 7:9-14 Now the same night it came
about that the Lord said to him,
“Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. “But if you are
afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will
hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may
go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to
the outposts of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites and the
Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as
locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the
seashore. When Gideon
came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I
had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and
it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so
that the tent lay flat.” His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the
sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all
the camp into his hand.”
Application: When we
read passages like this we should really be challenged to stop making excuses
for our own struggle in Faith. Please note I said "struggle" - that
does not mean "no" faith. No faith means we doubt God, struggle means
we are tempted to doubt and that we do doubt ourselves. Also, I am not be
judgmental…we all struggle in our faith, but we should stop making excuses.
Just admit our weak flesh and deal with it. What we see God do here should encourage us to have the
courage to take that first step because God will do more than we can imagine to
enable our faith to grow.
That’s the key! We see an issue and try to
envision how we can get to the end, which is anywhere between 7 to 50 steps
down the road. How foolish! Faith does not work that way. When Jesus started
with His disciples it was in Matthew 10 not in Acts 28! He began on step one,
and that is where we need to begin. We need to stop trying to believe God that
we can conquer the world for Him when we can’t even stop that silly sin that has been
hounding us for years! We should
approach our life one step at a time. Leaps only land us off balance and in
danger of falling. No, my friends, we were made to take life one-step at a time
and allow God to determine the length of the stride and the speed. Gideon was
struggling and God gave him 2 choices. One would have caused more growth - yet
due to the grace and love of our Lord, He offered Gideon a smaller step of
faith. Yes this would cause a smaller growth in his maturity, but God is more
patient than we are. Usually we want immediate and maximum results. God will
accept a little instead of failure and no growth. Just like the man in Mark. He
did believe in Jesus, but he knew his flesh was weak. He took the step to ask
and made it clear that he did have faith in Jesus.
Mark 9:20–24 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him,
immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground,
he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How
long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. “It has
often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if
You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If
You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s
father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
The Lord saw his step and honored it! Perhaps we need to stop
making excuses for not taking a step, instead just be honest with the Lord and
ourselves; step out asking God to confirm! We might be surprised how patient
and gracious He is!
Meditation Questions: What
does it take for you to take one step in faith? Why? Have you believed God for
big things before? What happened? What does that show you? When you asked God
to do something big, what step did you try and start on? What has that taught
you? Is there anything that God has asked that you still have not given in on?
Should He give you more if you cannot handle that? Why? Will you ask God to
show you just one step He wants you to take in your life right now? If so, what
do you expect? If not, why?
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