I wouldn't pick me, either

When you were a kid and teams were being picked, were you ever the kid who was picked last?  Nobody wants to be in that position.  If you’re picked last, you’re essentially being told that if you weren’t there, you wouldn’t have been missed.  And if you’ve ever been picked last more than once…you start to expect it. 

When you are repeatedly at the bottom, you even begin to embrace it as “your lot in life”.  You see yourself as unworthy or even useless.  In retaliation to these feelings, you may even take on the mentality once stated by Groucho Marx: “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.”  So when someone actually chooses you…you reflexively don’t believe them, because bottom-level people don’t get picked for important jobs.

This is where Gideon’s story begins in Judges 6.  The nation of Israel was being kicked around by the neighboring land of Midian.  The Midianites stole Israel’s crops, destroyed the land, and took all the livestock.  This happened year after year, for seven long years, to the point that Israel was completely poverty-stricken.  Finally, the people of Israel called out to the Lord.

Judges 6:11-14
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!”

While God doesn’t choose individuals for salvation, He does choose people, places, and things for specific service.  That’s what we’re seeing here.  At this point in the account, we might expect Gideon to get excited and finally feel validated to be chosen by God to do a great service – to be the one who rescues His people.  Instead, we see Gideon doing the opposite:

Judges 6:15
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.”

From a society standpoint, Gideon had nothing going for him.  He didn’t have the proper linage.  The oldest son in a family was the default, next-generation leader – and Gideon was on the opposite side of that spectrum.  So when God said “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel”, you can be certain that Gideon believed that he didn’t have enough strength to deliver anyone, let alone the entire nation!  After all, God approached Gideon while he was hiding out in order to secretly prepare food.  What “valiant warrior” sneaks around just to get his next meal?

The Lord’s answer to Gideon’s protests is the key to understanding the events that happened next. 

Judges 6:16
“But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him.  “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

God reassured Gideon that he can do this work, because God will be with him.  Gideon wasn’t being sent off alone to figure it out along the way.  God would be there as well – to reassure and strengthen Gideon, as well as to fight against the Midianite army.  Like the Israelite’s stories of old, Gideon even saw several wonders (five of them, by my count), where God demonstrated that He was there and on Israel’s side.

God also promises to be with us believers in the church age.  Here are just two examples:

Matthew 28:20
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, for you were bought at a price.  So glorify God with your body.

There is another famous verse along these lines.  While it’s famously misquoted, when it is read in context, we realize that Paul’s all things is referring to all things God has called me to do for Him:

Philippians 4:13
I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Whatever task or responsibility God has given each of us, we can be certain that He did not abandon us after handing out the assignment.  Even if we wouldn’t have chosen ourselves for this work…we are able to succeed because the Holy Spirit is in us, while Jesus promises to be with us and strengthen us.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The purpose of our salvation

When we think about the ‘worst sins’ a person can commit, we immediately jump to all the atrocities that people commit against other people.  While humans have done horrific things to other humans throughout the centuries, alongside every event is an act of rebellion against the One who created us.  When we look at the motivation for our sin, many sinful actions are the result of our own selfishness taking precedence over the well-being of others; however, some sinful actions are a full-frontal assault on God, with people being the collateral damage.

When Paul was describing the ultimate purpose of his conversion to Timothy, he gave a saying of the time his own personal twist:

1 Timothy 1:15
This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance:

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”

and I am the worst of them. 

A few sentences before, Paul admitted to directly challenging God when he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man.  He did everything in his power to exterminate the belief that Jesus is the Savior that for centuries God had told the Jews to watch for.  Paul had used all available means – jail, torture, even death – in order to eliminate the teaching of Jesus as Messiah.  

If there was anyone on the planet who could be considered a ‘lost cause’, someone who had absolutely zero chance of believing that Christ could give him eternal life – it was Paul.  Paul was so dead-set against Jesus that no one could reach him.  Any time he heard the gospel message, he set out to kill the person who delivered it.  Only a dramatic, direct encounter with the risen Jesus could convince Paul to change his mind…there was no other way.

No wonder the first century believers were afraid of him!  The church had their reservations and doubts about Paul’s conversion…think about it…why would God save that guy?  I’m sure there were more people praying that Paul would be hit with a lightning bolt than there were people praying that God would reach him.

However, God had other plans for Paul.  In fact, his conversion wasn’t only for his own personal salvation, it wasn’t just a means to avoid eternal separation from God:

1 Timothy 1:16
But I received mercy because of this, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate the utmost patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Because of Paul’s conversion, no one has the excuse of being “too bad” or “too unworthy” or “too far gone” for Jesus to save.  This worst of all sinners became a ‘first copy’ to all future believers.

God accepts and forgives people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.  Each one who believes in Jesus for eternal life will demonstrate some aspect of God’s character to the world around them.  What does your story show?  Perhaps you’re from a certain segment of society, or you’re in a particular socio-economic class, or you struggle with a specific kind of sin…God can point at each one of us, as an example, and say “See my generosity?  I will even give eternal life to someone like that.”

When we recognize the great privilege and honor it is to partner with God in this way – as an example of His love – we can confidently say, along with Paul:

1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen

Keep Pressing,
Ken
 

Encourage bravery

A plot had been devised to kill every Jew in Persia.  A man named Haman had convinced King Ahasuerus that the Jews were enemies of the state.  As a result, the king declared a day when the entire Jewish population was to be exterminated and their property confiscated.  Understandably, the Jews were distraught and terrified.

Esther 4:1-4
When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.  He only went as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate.  There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict came.  They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.  She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

Esther was scared out of her mind, and since she couldn’t go out to Mordecai, she wanted Mordecai to come to her.  Since he refused to change out of his mourning clothes, Esther had to settle for talking to him through her servant, Hathach.  After Mordecai described the situation to Hathach…

Esther 4:8
Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and instruct her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.

Esther’s response to Mordecai’s instructions shows that she had another fear to contend with – approaching the king was a “by-appointment-only” arrangement.  If the king was caught off-guard or felt threatened by the unannounced audience, it would cost the person their life.  Look carefully at how she conveys this situation, but also pay attention to Mordecai’s response to her fears:

Esther 4:10-14
Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned – the death penalty.  Only if the king extends the golden scepter will that person live.  I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last 30 days.”  Esther’s response was report to Mordecai.

Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace.  If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s house will be destroyed.  Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”

Mordecai has incredible confidence in God’s ability to rescue the nation, but he also has confidence in Esther – both who she is and her position at this time in history.  The mentor knew it was time for his protégé to act.  His message to Esther was clear:

“It’s time to step up and be brave.”

Sometimes they need a little push.  The protégé may lack confidence, or they grab ahold of something to use as an excuse.  But the mentor knows they are ready…it’s in the tension of this moment that the protégé needs to trust their mentor and be brave.

Mordecai wasn’t there to do it for Esther.  She had to choose to trust Mordecai’s words.  She had to choose to be brave.  Esther had to accept that she was the one who was in the best position to make a difference.

Esther 4:15
Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me.  Don’t eat or drink for three days, night and day.  I and my female servants will also fast in the same way.  After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.  If I perish, I perish.”

Esther was brave because of Mordecai’s encouragement…and her bravery was the first step toward saving her people.

Keep Pressing,
Ken