Your Response

How do you respond to God’s plan?  I think if God clearly speaks to a person about something there would be different responses.  I also believe we can miss God and it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup plan.

I know a guy that was so sure that he heard from God about what he was supposed to do a few years ago that he put his house up for sale and was getting ready to move.  I asked him if he had a backup plan because I had some doubt about what he thought he was going to do, to which he replied emphatically, “I don’t need a backup plan.”  My instinct was to tell him I thought he did need a backup plan but I just went on without saying anything, but in the end what he thought so dogmatically about didn’t happen, in his case he needed a backup plan.  He did end up moving but some of the circumstances changed and also the location.  Some people can react so dogmatically sure of themselves when they think they hear from God, while others will react with doubt.

Read what happened to Gideon in Judges 6:11-16, “Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’

Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’

Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’

So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’

And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’”

You would think that would have been a no brainer and Gideon would have been obedient but not so.  Read what it says in verses 17-23, “Then he said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.’

And He said, ‘I will wait until you come back.’

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. The Angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so.

Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.’

Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.’”

It seems like after this Gideon would have been satisfied and ready, but he still seemed to lack faith and trust in God, so he used a fleece.  Read what it says in verses 33-40, “Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”

To shorten this ‘Tidbit,’ Gideon finally defeats the Midianites but you should read the rest of the story which goes on in chapters 7 and 8.  What can we learn from this?  Sometimes we can be mistaken, thinking we heard from God and be discouraged when what we thought we heard doesn’t happen and other times we can be sure we heard from God and lack faith to do His will but either way God still loves us and He will always be faithful.  We need to put our hope and trust in Him!!  Something to think about, may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!  I wish you a merry and blessed Christmas and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!