Saturday, December 07, 2002
When God Answers
"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them." - Judges 6:34-35
Last Sunday when Rev. Yeung preached on Gideon, I was struck by this verse at first, but then as I listened to the message and other points hit me, I kind of forgot about it. Now that I'm taking the time to re-read and reflect on the passage, though, I am again intrigued by this verse.
It seems to say that because the Spirit of the Lord came to Gideon, Gideon was able to call up thirty-two thousand men to join him against the Midianites. That seems like quite a sizeable army, so perhaps Gideon thought that this was God's way of helping him to defeat his enemies. But then God told him to get rid of most of the men he had with him. I can imagine that Gideon was pretty confused; he thought that God had given him strength, but then God told him to get rid of that very same strength.
God's answer to Gideon's prayers, then, was totally different from what Gideon expected it to be. I think that's the same way it is for me. When I pray, I expect God to either do A or B, or to tell me either yes or no, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for God to work. Even though I'm asking him for help, I'm putting limits on the type of help I'll accept from him. I think this is really the case when it comes to my praying for softball.
Whenever I pray for softball, I pray that God will touch people's hearts and lead them to serve in the ministry as committee members. I have this unquestioning faith that God will provide the workers for this ministry, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but what if the one person who's expressed a possible desire to serve on the committee is the only person who steps up? Would I still believe that God's will was being done, or would I wonder why people didn't heed God's call? Probably the latter, but that would be leaving out another option, an option that maybe God intended to have a two person committee!
See, I already have the idea that a committee is supposed to be four or five people at least, so if the committee turned out to be smaller than that, I'd work with the mindset that the committee wasn't working under the most ideal circumstances. Sure, I'd like to think that I would still see God working in the committee, no matter the size, but if it wasn't as big as I expected it to be, I'd probably reflect more on how much better things could be with more people than on what God had done with the available people, y'know?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm starting to see a little bit that God is asking me to stop laying out plans for him to choose from, because that's not really trusting him, it's consulting him.
"Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them." - Judges 6:34-35
Last Sunday when Rev. Yeung preached on Gideon, I was struck by this verse at first, but then as I listened to the message and other points hit me, I kind of forgot about it. Now that I'm taking the time to re-read and reflect on the passage, though, I am again intrigued by this verse.
It seems to say that because the Spirit of the Lord came to Gideon, Gideon was able to call up thirty-two thousand men to join him against the Midianites. That seems like quite a sizeable army, so perhaps Gideon thought that this was God's way of helping him to defeat his enemies. But then God told him to get rid of most of the men he had with him. I can imagine that Gideon was pretty confused; he thought that God had given him strength, but then God told him to get rid of that very same strength.
God's answer to Gideon's prayers, then, was totally different from what Gideon expected it to be. I think that's the same way it is for me. When I pray, I expect God to either do A or B, or to tell me either yes or no, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for God to work. Even though I'm asking him for help, I'm putting limits on the type of help I'll accept from him. I think this is really the case when it comes to my praying for softball.
Whenever I pray for softball, I pray that God will touch people's hearts and lead them to serve in the ministry as committee members. I have this unquestioning faith that God will provide the workers for this ministry, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but what if the one person who's expressed a possible desire to serve on the committee is the only person who steps up? Would I still believe that God's will was being done, or would I wonder why people didn't heed God's call? Probably the latter, but that would be leaving out another option, an option that maybe God intended to have a two person committee!
See, I already have the idea that a committee is supposed to be four or five people at least, so if the committee turned out to be smaller than that, I'd work with the mindset that the committee wasn't working under the most ideal circumstances. Sure, I'd like to think that I would still see God working in the committee, no matter the size, but if it wasn't as big as I expected it to be, I'd probably reflect more on how much better things could be with more people than on what God had done with the available people, y'know?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm starting to see a little bit that God is asking me to stop laying out plans for him to choose from, because that's not really trusting him, it's consulting him.
