Judges 8:1-21
Today’s Passage: Judges 8:1-21
Yesterday we got to read about one of the cooler moments in the book of Judges. God took Gideon’s large army and dwindled it down to 300 people where God showed His power in His ability to use even a small army to bring victory. God was faithful to them.
At the start of Judges 8 we see an interesting exchange between the men of Ephraim and Gideon. They were angry that they had not been invited into the fight. This seems fishy. You can tell it is fueled by personal reasons.
1) They found their identity in being warriors.
2) Not being invited hurt their pride.
3) It was rooted in selfishness - they didn’t get the spoils of war.
Gideon diffuses the situation but we can learn some lessons here. Here are some questions for you to ponder... What is your identity in? What hurts your pride? Where does selfishness come out in your life?
We know that as followers of Jesus our identity should be in who we are in Him. We know that we shouldn’t let pride, conceitedness, or selfish ambition rule (Philippians 2) but it is all too easy to be misaligned. And when we are misaligned it is always ugly and it always hurts our relationships with others.
To close out Judges 8 we see Gideon go on a conquest... but there is something different about this conquest - There is no mention of God. It does not seem that God ordained this. It does not seem like Gideon consulted with God. And that too always leads us to destructive ways... which we will read about tomorrow.
Love you CPC! Go live this day for Jesus with all your heart!
Written By: Nick Parsons
Yesterday we got to read about one of the cooler moments in the book of Judges. God took Gideon’s large army and dwindled it down to 300 people where God showed His power in His ability to use even a small army to bring victory. God was faithful to them.
At the start of Judges 8 we see an interesting exchange between the men of Ephraim and Gideon. They were angry that they had not been invited into the fight. This seems fishy. You can tell it is fueled by personal reasons.
1) They found their identity in being warriors.
2) Not being invited hurt their pride.
3) It was rooted in selfishness - they didn’t get the spoils of war.
Gideon diffuses the situation but we can learn some lessons here. Here are some questions for you to ponder... What is your identity in? What hurts your pride? Where does selfishness come out in your life?
We know that as followers of Jesus our identity should be in who we are in Him. We know that we shouldn’t let pride, conceitedness, or selfish ambition rule (Philippians 2) but it is all too easy to be misaligned. And when we are misaligned it is always ugly and it always hurts our relationships with others.
To close out Judges 8 we see Gideon go on a conquest... but there is something different about this conquest - There is no mention of God. It does not seem that God ordained this. It does not seem like Gideon consulted with God. And that too always leads us to destructive ways... which we will read about tomorrow.
Love you CPC! Go live this day for Jesus with all your heart!
Written By: Nick Parsons
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