Judges 7:1-8:17, Luke 23:13-43, Psalm 97:1-98:9, Proverbs 14:7-8
Today is the 27th day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is awesome to be here with you. It’s wonderful to come in around the Global Campfire, find a place and ahhh, let it go and look to the Scriptures to inform the choices that we need to make, the decisions that are out in front of us and help us reflect and interpret what we’ve already gone through in our past. So, let’s dive in. We’re working our way through the Book of Judges and we’re meeting the different judges of Israel, but we met one yesterday named Gideon. And it will be Gideon’s story that we continue forward with today. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, Judges chapter 7 verse 1 through 8 verse 17.
Commentary:
Okay so, reflecting back on what we read today in the Book of Judges, we’re certainly understanding the story of the Judge Gideon, much better and we see the counterintuitive ways in which the Lord is showing Himself, Powerful and the Redeemer of Israel. They have a pretty big army that has assembled to fight, but the Lord says it’s too many. Like, basically we have to whittle this down to the point that you all realize that you could not have created this victory in your own strength. It’s kind of the lesson of the wilderness, we are utterly dependent on God, utterly for everything. And so, this large army of tens of thousands, 30,000+ people, they…they are whittled down to 300 people and that would have had to been unnerving for Gideon but the Lord had shown him a sign, two signs in fact, with fleece and then he went down and heard a dream in the camp, which certainly gave him courage about what the enemy was thinking, they were disrupted and afraid. And so, all it took was these 300 men, stationed in different areas that made it look like the Army, the enemy army, was surrounded and all they had to do was make a lot of noise, which is what they did. And so, it looked like an army was coming in from all sides. And of course, the enemy army freaked out and started fighting each other and that is how that battle was won. We aren’t done with the story of Gideon yet; we’ll continue it tomorrow. But once again we see God redeeming His people, who are covenant and oath breakers and have done exactly what He said not to do. I mean if you remember when we were reading Deuteronomy, and even the end of Joshua, the leaders of Israel, they knew how stiff-necked and stubborn the people were and they told them what was going to happen in which way to go and told them to choose who they’re gonna serve; of course, they chose the Lord in that moment, but as we see, time went on and they started serving the gods of the nearby region, exactly what they were warned against. And so, to take away any kind of misunderstanding about who the deliverer was, when God came for His people again, it was against all odds and victory was given.
Then in the Book of Luke, we just need to note that once again, we are at the scene where Jesus has been nailed to across in agony, dying unjustly, pouring out his love for our rescue. And we can see all the different ways that God comes for His people in the Old Testament, through the prophets, through the judges, even through Gideon as a Redeemer will not stop coming for the people that He loves. And we see that on the cross, that never changed. He never stopped coming. He never stopped trying to redeem His people, until He came in person to do it once and for all. And so, may we spend some of our day reflecting upon that. There’s only one more time that we’ll pass by this story this year. There’s only one more gospel to read this year and it is a central piece, it is a central piece of the Bible, the story of the passion of Jesus, but it is the central piece of our faith and so it’s not something to blow-by, even though we’ve heard it a thousand times. There will never be enough times to look at this situation and realize the injustice of it and the profound humble love of God for us.
Prayer:
And so, Jesus, we love You and once again we thank You, and once again we confess that words are not enough. Once again, we confess that nothing is enough, there is nothing that we can do. But we love You and our hearts are given to You and we want our lives to look like Your life and there’s nothing that we can do to make that happen, other than surrender who we are and allow You to live within. And then it is You that lives within, Christ, who lives within, no longer we. And so, as we surrender to that posture, we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us deeper and deeper and deeper, day-by-day, step-by-step. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that is it for today, other than to say happy first birthday, to my sweet granddaughter Reagan, born to our daughter China, who reads with Jill on Daily Audio Bible Chronological and her husband Ben. It’s hard to believe, in some ways, it’s been a year, but what a year of joy it’s been to watch her, sort of, become aware. And of course, if she smiles at me, then I turn into a puddle on the floor. It’s just she melts me. And so, we’re rejoicing on this day. Happy first birthday Reagan. And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hey, Daily Audio Bible, this is Susan again, from Mississippi. I had called about a month ago about my children and granddaughter, that we have taken custody of, we’ve actually adopted her. And I was calling about the family not supporting. Well, we have her birthday party, her actual two-year-old birthday was yesterday, April 22nd. Today, is the 23rd and so, we’re having a birthday party on the 30th, we’re actually having it at a goat farm, believe it or not, where you can play with little goats. And so, I’m praying that the family will show up, they’ve all been invited. And my daughter-in-law and son, they have been drug-free now for six weeks, which is a praise. And I continue to ask for prayers for them that they stay that way. They were so excited yesterday, that they got to spend the day with their daughter because they remembered last year on her first birthday, they were nowhere to be seen because they had better things to do, such as drugs. So, continue the prayers for that. Also, I want to pray for Susan in Canada, who had lost her husband seven years ago. It broke my heart listening to her and all her struggling. And Susan, all I got to say is I’ve not been in your shoes and you know, I still have my husband but just, I am praying for you to make it through the stress, that God is with you, no matter what. And remember He doesn’t give you anything that you can’t handle.
Hello, Daily Audio Bible, this is Jesus Freak NE and I just want to say thank You Lord for blessing me so much this year. It’s been an incredible, I have met so many Christians and new people that are interested about You and Your word and I am so grateful to Brian, for this ministry. I pray that God does His will in every single one of your lives. Please, let him do his will okay. And I’m saying this to myself too. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God, do what You gotta do and give us the strength and the wisdom to be open to it. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Hello my DAB family, this is Jamie in New Jersey, Standing on the Word of God. Please pray with me. Dear Father in Heaven, we come to You in prayer, as we look at the world around us and see so many that are struggling, in trials and in desperate seasons of their lives. Father, we know that You love them all. We pray that You will comfort all in their suffering. Lord Jesus, You came into the world as one of us and suffered as we do. As we go through the trials of life, help us realize that You are with us at all times and in all things. Give us all such confidence in the power of Your grace, that even when we are afraid that we can put our whole trust in You. God of all comfort, are very present help in trouble, be near us. When the evil darkens our world, give us light. Be near us in our times a weakness, struggle and doubt. Sustains by Your grace, that our strength and courage may not fail. When nothing seems sure, give us trust, keep us in that perfect peace, which You have promised to those whose minds are fixed on You. Give us the fresh vision of Your love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you for praying with me, my brothers and sisters. May God richly bless you and answer all your prayers. I love you all. I thank you all for praying along with me. Have a good night.
Sabbath Day, Father, is here once again
And I’m overflowing with praise, from deep down within
My favorite bird is singing real strong
In his usual spot where he sings all day long
Praises, my father, we both sing today
And I can’t speak for him, but I can speak for me
Thank you, my Father, for all that You do
For sunshine and flowers and skies, not quite blue
Because today they’re grey and it looks like it’s gonna rain
But I still praise You, my Father, for the absence of pain
Feels full of grain, hardship and strength
And that deep rooted peace You give us, after the rain
Deep in my brain, that cleanses my heart to see the truth really plain
A world so mundane, You’ve freed me from so many things that are clearly insane
Yet still lives in my brain and I look back over my life now and see the years lost in vain
Your forgiveness, Your patience, Your mercy and grace
Are all clearly here, Father, right in front of my face
And I’m thanking You this Sabbath Day, Father, for thinking of me
You gave up Your son at Golgotha for me
Let me always remember the blood that He shed
And let my praise produce works and not just words from my head
blindtony1016@gmail.com I’d like to give a shout out to little Ezekiel. Wow, little Ezekiel, you are really reading very well. And your insight into the principles of the Scriptures, the meaning and what, what we can take away from, is really great. Brian and Jill, you did a magnificent job raising up Ezekiel and I want to thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowing ya’ll.
Hey DAB, it’s Emmy from Illinois, just calling in with a praise. My husband decided, out of the blue a couple weeks ago that he wanted to go to church on Easter. And originally it was gonna be to a random church in town and then the day before the weekend, he decided he wanted to go to our old church that he said, he would never go back to. Mostly out of, in my opinion, pride, because he’s been gone for over two years. So, we ended up going last week which was super exciting and so many of our friends and the pastors were so happy to see him and just loving and encouraging. And then I was going to be, they encouraged him to come back this week. I was gonna be out of town so I didn’t think he would end up going and he ended up going to church by himself last week, er, yesterday and the pastor caught him and ended up talking to him for over an hour, after church. So, super encouraged to know that he’s, something is going on in his heart that he’s wanting to go back to church. And I’m gonna take it as a, as a good step in the right direction. However long it takes, just I guess, prayers that I would continue to be patient and kind and faithful in this transition phase of moving from antagonism to working on his relationship with God and us. So, thank you so much for your prayers.