Scripture: Judges 6:36-40.
Event/Theme: Gideon
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Symbol we use: A cotton ball
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Meditation: Time and again God chooses for His heroes those who are considered by the people around them to be weaker, dumber, and more cowardly than the average person. Is it any wonder that such a man would hesitate to lead the Israelites to be massacred by a strong enemy "thick as locusts" (Jdg 7:12)? Gideon's test with the fleece was not about whether God could defeat the enemy but about whether He wanted to defeat them at that time through Gideon's leadership. Once he was certain that he was following the Lord's path, he gathered the Israelite soldiers, sent the vast majority of them home, and led the remaining three hundred into battle.
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When you hesitate to enter a particular battle, are you holding back because you doubt the Lord's ability to win the victory or because you're not certain whether you're the leader He has chosen for this particular fight? Are you actively seeking to discover His will? Besides setting out fleece every evening, attempting to know what the Lord wants you to do includes getting to know Him through prayer and Scripture, asking input from people you trust, and purposefully moving in the direction you think He might want you to go, praying and trusting that He will redirect you if He wants you to move in another direction instead. Yet seeking to discover the Lord's will always means believing that He is able to respond and He is able to defeat every enemy. Once you have learned from His what He desires of you, you must move forward, like Gideon, to obey. Otherwise your attempts to learn God's will become the worst kind of test: a mockery of the Lord working to undermine His authority in your life and in the lives of every individual who sees what you are doing.
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Jesse Tree Week 1: The Patriarchs
Sunday: Root of Jesse
Monday: Creation
Tuesday: Fall of Mankind
Wednesday: Noah
Thursday: Abraham
Friday: Isaac
Saturday: Jacob
Jesse Tree Week 2: The Formation of a People Set Apart
Sunday: Joseph
Monday: Moses
Tuesday: Israelites at Mt. Sinai
Wednesday: Joshua
Thursday: Gideon
Friday: Ruth
Saturday: Samuel
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