This page will always be as the title suggests.  This section will be where I will publish thoughts and testimony, to share from the Bible and encourage.

The thought I wanted to share this month started out as:-

What Gideon said.  What God said

I had heard someone talking about this recently and I was just thinking about what happened when God called Gideon. I moved on from this and looked at other people and so the study this month is:-

'God will choose who He will choose'!!

 

I am going to start with Gideon.

Gideon - Judges 6 v 11-16

The angel of the Lord came and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite.  His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.  Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior”.  Gideon said to Him, “Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?  And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about?  They said, “Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?”  But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian, I am sending you!”  He said to Him, “Please Lord, how can I deliver Israel?  Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family” “But, I will be with you”, the Lord said to him.  “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man!

Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress: This was both difficult and humiliating. Wheat was threshed in open spaces, typically on a hill-top so the breeze could blow away the chaff. Wheat was not normally threshed in a sunken place like a winepress.

This was a place of privacy; he could not make a threshing-floor in open day as the custom was, and bring either the wheel over the grain, or tread it out with the feet of the oxen, for fear of the Midianites, who were accustomed to come and take it away as soon as threshed.”

Yes, Gideon was hiding, but there was a very practical reason why he was, to try and salvage some crops.  God will find us wherever we are!

Gideon gave quite a good reason not to be chosen.  He was from the smallest tribe and he was youngest in his family.

Why do you think God chose Gideon, a seemingly ordinary man, to lead the Israelites?

How does Gideon's doubt reflect his human nature? How does God respond to this doubt?

God responded by reminding Gideon He was with him and He was sending him.  It is good we can ask questions, it is alright to doubt.  God will choose who He will chose and our part is to trust Him.  God will not ask us to do something and then leave us all on our own.

 

David Called to be King.

1 Sam 16 v 1-13

As Jesse brought all his sons before Samuel one by one, they were rejected as King.   Jesse was going by how his sons looked and David who he did not even consider was left out in the field tending the flock.

In v 7, the Lord said, “do not look at his appearance or his stature……..”

 

Moses called to bring Israel out of Egypt.

In Exodus 3 & 4 we read the account of how Moses was called by God to go and free His people.

Perhaps the last point Moses made, "Please Lord, send someone else", was where he was trying to get to all along.  Having someone who could speak well to approach a leader was actually sensible.  However, Moses would who God has chosen.  Probably most of us would feel he same in the same situation.  If a group of people want someone to represent them, they chose someone who can speak well and clearly.  It is a natural reaction to ask the best possible person.   In the case, Moses was the best person, he was the person God has chosen.  God told him He would be with him, help him and show him and Aaron what to do.  Like Gideon, God was not asking Moses to do something and then leave him to it.

 

Joshua – taking over leading Israel from Moses.

In Joshua Chapter 1 we read God’s encouragement to Joshua as he takes over leading Israel from Moses. 

We do not read Joshua give reasons and excuse why it should it should not be him, but must have been great none the less to be told in:

V 5 just as I was with Moses I will be with you.

V 6 be strong and courageous

V 9 be strong and courageous, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.

Perhaps a key to why God chose Joshua is found in Number 13, 14 and when Joshua and Caleb scouted out the land.  Despite bringing a good report and encouraging the people they could take the land, they refused put off by reports of Amalekites there.

Numb 14 v 30  only Caleb and Joshua would see the promised land.

It was Joshua’s faith and faithfulness that caused God to choose him.

• Joshua had led the army of Israel against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16).

• Joshua was an assistant to Moses (Exodus 24:13).

• Joshua helped Moses at the tabernacle after the golden calf disaster (Exodus 33:7-11).

• Joshua was zealous to preserve the authority and leadership of Moses (Numbers 11:28).

• Joshua was one of the two faith-filled spies among the total of twelve who spied out the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:30-14:38).

• Joshua was a “man in whom is the Spirit” (Numbers 27:18), the most important qualification of all. The Holy Spirit would empower and enable him to fulfil the challenging role of leading the nation into Canaan.

God used the consistent, demonstrated faithfulness of Joshua in many small things to prepare him for this essential role of leading Israel into Canaan; land with strong enemies reluctant to leave their land.

I was actually having this study with a few friends this week and one friend pointed something out which I had not linked before.  If you look at when the 12 spies went into the land of Canaan and brought back their report to the people we read something very interesting.

The people were afraid because of the report of the Amalekites.  In v 30, Caleb tried to quiet the people and urge them to take possession of the land because we can can certainly conquer it.  

In 6-9 Joshua also tries to reassure the people.  He tells them:

• the land is extremely good land

• if the Lord is please with us, he will bring us  into this land

• don't be afraid of the people of the land, we will devour them

• their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us.

• don't be afraid of them

You can almost see this being reflected in Joshua 1 when God appoints Joshua when He is telling him to be strong and courageous, that He will be with them, that they will take the land.  It is almost like God is confirming, "Yes, you're right, you will take the land"

 

In summary, in all of the above  people, we can perhaps see in human eyes maybe they were not the strongest, most eloquent people to be chosen.  God ways are not our ways and He does not chose as we would.  We can be assured that If God is asking us to do something He will be with us.  I have heard many testimonies from people over the years of being asked to do something and feeling totally inadequate for the task.  As they have moved in obedience, a strength is found in relying on God.   I think most of the time God does chose people who feel least able because then we rely on Him and all the glory goes to Him too.