April 26, 2013

April 26, 2013. Day 116.
Greetings from Ohio! I am sitting in the back seat of our car on the way home from training.

Before we dive in, I just want to say that it has been a great journey through the Bible together so far. 116 days! It has been life-changing and transforming. The Lord has been at work in me. He has began to unfold before me what the plan is that He has for my life.

'Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" "Sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, 'The Lord brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites." Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!" "But Lord," Gideon replied, "how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" The Lord said to him, "I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man."' (Judges 6:11-16 NLT)

I love this encounter. Gideon is one of those heroes of the bible. He was a leader of men. But, like many of the leaders in the bible, Gideon was reluctant, and did not believe that he had it in him to be a leader. And the truth is...he was right. He was nothing without the Lord there to guide him. But what he became was something great! But that doesn't happen today. Today is about an encounter. Today is about the living God revealing himself to a man. The majority of the translations of the bible that I have looked at say that "the angel of the Lord" came to Gideon. I think, that just like Jacob's encounter in Genesis, where he wrestled with the Lord, I think that this encounter was similar. It doesn't say "an angel of the Lord." I think that the angel of the Lord is actually the person of God revealing himself to Gideon, just like he did to Paul on the road to Damascus. God came to Gideon to show him His plan for him.
I used to think that this no longer happens. But I am convinced that God reveals himself to us all the time, sometimes indirectly, which we call "God sightings." But more and more I am convinced that God reveals Himself to us directly as we grow closer to Him. God speaks to us. And it's not only through scripture. It could be through a minister, through a colleague, or even through nature. The question is, are we listening for His voice? Gideon was much like us, he needed proof. So he tested God, and God proved Himself, over and over. Gideon heard what the Lord was telling him, because he took the time to listen.
So, my challenge for us as a Church is that we set aside some time to get away from our Fairfield county "busyness" and listen for the voice of the Lord. To listen is to enable so to have an encounter with this same Living God. God that doesn't change. He is still the Living God, and He still reveals Himself to His people. He is revealing Himself to me!

Travis

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