Judges 6:1-40, Luke 22:54-23:12, Psalm 95:1-96:13, Proverbs 14:5-6
Today is the 26th day of April, welcome to the Daily audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we launch ourselves into another day together, and the next step forward together, which will lead us back into the Book of Judges. We talked about the Judge Deborah yesterday and Jael, a couple of valiant women in the story of ancient Israel. And we’ll just keep moving forward because as we move through the Book of Judges, we are not only seeing the back-and-forth seesaw thing that’s happening in Israel where they return to God when they’re in trouble and then God sets them free, raises up a judge and sets them free and they have peace, and then they wander away again. It’s like this back and forth and back and forth. But as we’re watching that, we’re also meeting all of these judges who led Israel between the time of Joshua and the time of Israel’s first king. Today, we will meet another one of Israel’s judges. We’ll spend more time on this one. This story kind of unfolds. This is a judge named Gideon, and today we will read Judges chapter 6.
Commentary:
Okay, so, in the book of Judges we met Gideon today and what is beginning to unfold is one of the most counterintuitive stories that we will encounter in the Old Testament, which has a number of counterintuitive stories in it. The way God is going to deliver Israel from Midian is, it shouldn’t work but it does. But as we met Gideon, we saw that once again the children of Israel had strayed away. Once again, things have gotten really difficult for the children of Israel. They had come under the power of another nation. They’re abandoning of God had given them to into the hands of the Midianites who were oppressing them severely, very severely. So, the children of Israel would go out into their fertile land and sew their crops to sustain their lives and the Midianites, and the Amalekites would come like, in caravans like a horde, like a plague, like a locust, like a plague of locusts. They would descend upon the land and set up their tents and pillage the crops and feast, and destroy what was left, leaving the children of Israel, starving and in extreme poverty. And the way that Judges tells it to us, they were like hiding. They had to hide to eat, they had to hide in caves. They had to hide in wine presses. They had a hide just to kind of thresh the wheat that they could harvest. They would just try and get enough to survive, when they cried out to God. And that is how we met Gideon. He’s doing exactly that, threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to stay hidden from the enemy, who are pillaging the land, and that is when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him that God was with him. It’s kind of at this point that we can begin to enter ourselves into this story and begin to watch our own lives as the story unfolds, because the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and says the Lord is with you. And Gideon says like, this is an old story, this is thousands of years ago, but what Gideon responds, it sounds like it could be said today. “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are the miracles we were told about by our ancestors?” So often we do find ourselves in that kind of position. Why is this happening? Why is this happening to me? And once again, we see that, even though this is a very, very ancient story, the heart of the human, the heart of humanity and what it, what it longs for, and what it lusts for, and what it submits to, it’s the same thing. Like, we just have different technology and different clothing. So, Gideon asks what to him seems to be an obvious question, it seems to be something that he was thinking about. Why is this happening, where is God? Where is the God we were told about? Hasn’t the Lord abandoned us? The Lord responds to Gideon and what doesn’t happen to Gideon is a lightning bolt doesn’t come out of the sky and blast him for saying what’s in his heart to God. God responds to Gideon and says, go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you. And Gideon responds again, as we often do, with all of the excuses about why it’s not going to work. And any response that God gives to that, all the excuses is, I will be with you. And what else is there to say. If that is true, if God will be with us, than what cannot get accomplished? So let’s remember this when we feel like we are walking a path and trusting and it’s not working out the way that we expected, and we get exasperated and then we get frustrated and then we can bitter and then we’re like where is God? Why is this happening to me? I’m trying to be obedient. I’m trying to live out my calling. Let’s remember Gideon in those moments, and in particular, let’s remember God’s response to Gideon, go in the strength you have. I am sending you. I will be with you.
Prayer:
Father, we enter into that, it is so comforting and yet it can get so bleak that we can’t see what’s going on, and so we thank You for these examples in the Scriptures that allow us to realize we’re not the only ones facing any kind of difficulty that we have to endure. And as we will see in the story of Gideon, a victory was brought about delivering Your people in a way that could have only been You. May we trust in You and may that trust be our anchor. We don’t know what to do and what’s going on. Come, Holy Spirit, into this. Today, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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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 guys, it’s Sparky. Libby, I wanted to, from Australia, I wanted to go ahead and pray for you and all of the people that thing, that thing in their life that they can’t get rid of, you know. So, let’s all go ahead and pray for everybody that has that thing. Father, we ask You to relieve Libby. We ask that You take the memory of the problem and let her know that she is enough for You. Father, whatever is happened, whatever came upon that has beaten this lady down, Father, we ask You to remove that. Father, You said we are enough. You love us, You care for us. Father, we know that You hated to see her have to go through that. You hate to see us suffer, God. Father, we just ask for a complete forgiveness of the soul, that if somebody caused that to happen, Father, we just ask that You help Libby to forgive. Father, You just ask us to forgive. Father, You…You wanted the tax collector to be treated like a king, even though he was hated. Father, we just ask that You grant this permission to release this in her life and from it. In Christ name I pray. Amen. Love you guys, I pray for all of you all.
Hello, Daily Audio Bible listeners. This is Litta Lilly, formerly known as God’s Girl. I was calling to pray for Libby from Australia. Gosh, sweet girl, woo, how do I get through this? Your request for prayer just pierced my soul today. We are very much alike in what’s happened to us. As children, as a young infant, as a young adult, and even as a teenager, nothing good ever happened to me as well. And so, I totally understand how you feel, just the guilt of it all, and just Satan always wanting to get into your mind and make you feel like you’re less than. And the only moments that I have sometimes, as I’ve gotten older, are happy moments like my marriage, my children and now my children having their children. But at nighttime, it gets really horribly sad and hard for me. So, I was just going to encourage you to listen to Christian music all the time. Remember God’s promises. You are loved and adored by Him. So, when you listen to God’s love songs and music that really helps. And so, I thought I was hoping that I could just impart that to you and I’ll be praying for you. I just love you and I want you to know how much you are loved and adored by God and by all of us here in this community. So, I will keep praying for you and keep, just remember how much you are loved. You’re loved by all of us and God and we are His children. We are His great promise, so, never forget that.
Good morning, this is Elizabeth from Kentucky and I just finished listening to April 19’s prayer requests. And first of all, I would like to say thank you to Brian. Your commentary on today’s reading and how the Lord cried over Jerusalem was just amazing. And I know that’s a word that’s very overused but that’s, it just was spectacular. I’d also like to lift up and thank, not sure of her name but she said she’s from Georgia and California right now taking care of her 100-year-old mother, and that the wisdom that she had to pass on about not being in such a rush that you pass up an opportunity to be with a loved one. And I’d like to pray for Libby and Queensland, Australia and just let her know that I am praying for you and I can hear your heart break and I just want you to know that you are loved and cared for by all of us. And I’m running out of time so, dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I pray that You would help all these people who have requested prayer today and I…I consider it a great joy to be able to pray for you and love you all, my dear family. In Jesus name I pray.
Hello DABers, this is Rob, currently in Florida, just call me The Dude. Yeah, Becca’s message on the 20th of April today caused me to think about something that I hadn’t actually asked for help with. My mom passed two months ago, thereabouts and feels like I haven’t really had a chance to grieve. Just been dealing with the fallout from taking care of her affairs and then dealing with my siblings who are not people that I want to know outside of you know, my family. But I’m also entering retirement here and it’s been anything but relief of stress, trying to navigate my way through this, trying to figure things out moving forward. And I also have a big trip ahead of me to Nova Scotia from Florida here and I’ll be spending some time up there and so that’s another source of stress. So, I would appreciate your help in lifting me up in prayer. Thanks, bye.
Good morning, DAB family. It’s Abba’s Daughter, Saddie M. Today is Thursday, April 20th. And I want to call in and pray for a few folks. I’m very sorry I don’t remember usernames very well. But I wanted to pray for Prodigal and Becca. I know Becca, you just lost your mother, last week and that’s just so hard. And then Prodigal, I’m so happy you’re getting back with your relationship with God and back into the DAB family. We love you; we want you here. God wants you here. You have a place on this earth until God calls you home. He has not called you home yet so please stay with DAB, reach out, post on the Prayer Wall. Do whatever you need to do bud, we want you here. So, let's…let’s go to God with these dear DABers. Abba Father, we come before You today, humbly before Your throne. We come asking for Your protection, Your comfort, Your presence among both Becca and Prodigal, Lord. One lost a loved one, one is trying not to lose himself. And Abba Father, we…we just know that until You sound the trump to call us home, we are meant to be here. And so, God, I just ask that You remind Prodigal of that. And for Becca, just send Your presence. Same, send Your comforting angels, Abba. She needs You, her whole family needs You. We just pray for Your presence among that family. You are a God of comfort. You wipe every tear. So, please Abba, do that for them. In your matchless…