What if the nation had fully conquered the Land? What might have been if they had been
faithful and persevered in all they were given to do? Because of their failure to conquer and their
failure to be faithful to the Lord, they were continually besieged by other
nations. Here the enemy is the
Midianites who have overrun them and are starving them out and forcing them to
hide in caves in the hills. In Egypt and
in the time of Moabite oppression the Lord heard their prayer and sent a
man. Here, He first responds and tells
them why they are suffering, they have not obeyed His voice to not fear the
gods of the Amorites. Then, He calls a man
secretly grinding his little bit of grain he has saved from the Midianites. The angel refers to Gideon as a mighty man of
valor and encourages him to go up in his might.
Gideon sets the record straight on that idea, stating that his family is
least of the least of the tribes. There
are some parallels between Abraham's visitation in Genesis 18 when Abraham
provides lavishly for the three men and also with Jacob's encounter with the
ladder on which angels were descending and ascending. Gideon knows that this is a sacred place, and
builds an altar. He had to wonder what
in the world it all meant.
Jesus' family came to seize Him because they believed He was
out of His mind? Didn't they know who He
was? Hadn't they heard the story of His
birth? It is truly confusing but if you
remember that somewhere around thirty years had passed since that time and
nothing had been seen that caused anyone to believe Jesus was
"special" then you can begin to imagine why they thought this. Time and again in the Gospels we hear people
from the area talk about knowing His parents and, therefore, being familiar
with Him and there being no predicate for what they were seeing and hearing
from Him. The scribes come from
Jerusalem to denounce Jesus as possessed by Beelzebub and that is a step too
far, attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Him to demons. He is willing to brook criticism of Himself
but not of the Holy Spirit. That is
blasphemy and will not be forgiven. Who
heals, who restores? The work of the
enemy is not to do these things.
Is Paul promising that if you give generously the Lord will
materially bless you in extravagant measure?
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were such a principle? I have known many generous people who had
little and even when they gave much proportionately they never were enriched
financially. The principle is not that
we will receive manifold financial blessings but we will reap a rich kingdom
harvest for our generosity. Sowing for
the kingdom's growth is to be our intent, not that God will give us more money. We need to determine where we invest what He
has given us and then expect it to produce a kingdom based return. If He blesses us it is always that we might
be a blessing. Our giving reveals both
that we know that all we have is from Him and that we have decided to invest in
His kingdom rather than our own.
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