God's Goodness

Having just finished reading the book of Judges, my thoughts go primarily to chapters 6-8 which cover about seven years in the life of the Israelites and the account of Gideon. Unfortunately I find myself relating to Gideon and far too often hesitant to quickly move ahead as God leads, even after careful confirmation through His Word, prayer and good Christian counsel. Missing in that equation is the wonderful “sounding board” of my greatly missed wife, Carol.

Here in Judges we find the Israelites again doing “evil in the LORD’S sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years” (6:1) which ultimately reduced them to starvation. (6:6) As is so often the case, the Lord selects one of the weakest persons from one of the weakest clans and a most reluctant candidate to lead them out of their oppression…Gideon! Even with the assurance of His “I will be with you and destroy the Midianites…” (6/16) Gideon required a confirmation sign which was provided by the Lord as he “responded” with the fleece incident (6/36-40). In the end, after many challenges, the Israelites say “Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson…” (8:22) After such great success, I love the humble response of Gideon; “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD will rule over you.” (8:23)

I found those chapters to be a great encouragement as well as a challenge for me as they pointed out the result of disobedience to the Lord from both the standpoint of a nation and an individual. But then we see the contrasting blessings and wonderful results from humble obedience to the Lord, as He is given the leadership of both my daily life and the life of a nation. I believe that is especially needed today!

I enjoyed spending this past weekend with friend Keith, celebrating his 40th birthday with his family in Wake Forest. This coming weekend will be filled with a trip to the mountains for a southern bar-b-que with friends on Saturday, a special group brunch after church on Sunday and the arrival of long-time friends from Michigan later in the day. God is so good!

I trust that God's goodness is permeating your thoughts today.

Love to all,

Chuck