Judges 6. Gideon, part 13: The Lord demands that we entrust our entire lives to Him.

Title: Judges 6. Gideon, part 13: The Lord demands that we entrust our entire lives to Him.         

 

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Gideon gets the sign that he was looking for, but it then filled him with fear. Being so occupied with the sign, he hadn't thought of its implications.

 

He didn't plan ahead or even contemplate what the actual fulfillment of the sign would imply to him and his future. He was so occupied with confirming that this was indeed the Lord that he didn't think of the implications if it was actually Him.

 

Jdg 6:22 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face."

 

Jdg 6:23 And the Lord said to him, "Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die."

 

Jdg 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day [the writing of the book about 250 years later] it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

 

We all look for the plan of God in the word of God. After we're saved, hopefully we ask, "I'm eternally saved, ok, now what?" The Holy Spirit sets in the heart of every believer the love of God and from this is a desire to know the One who is behind such love. We wish there existed no believers who work to suppress that desire. When we begin to learn the word of God we are looking for confirmation of God's plan for the ages as well as for each of us individually, and when we get a glimpse of what this all is and that we are in the middle of it, now set into an eternal life that has purposes and abilities that we could never have dreamed of, set in motion long before us, and which will continue on to its perfect end even in spite of us, we might find ourselves like Gideon; scared stiff.

 

Luk 5:8 … 10

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" … And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men."

 

We've seen a young John-Mark refuse Paul's first missionary trip to the Roman province of Asia and preferring to return home. Did he do so out of fear?

 

Gideon says, "I've seen God I'm going to die," and we sort of say the same thing. I've seen the face of God and the plan of God and that plan doesn't want just some of me, but it wants the whole of me. God doesn't want a compartment in my soul, but the whole thing. That can be scary.

 

We didn't come into this world dedicated to God, understanding God, in fact, we weren't aware of Him at all. Children can have faith once told about God in the person of Jesus, but they don't fully understand the ramifications of the call of God upon a person. At some point in our lives, after God consciousness and faith in Christ, we are faced with the plan of God for the first time and as we learn more about it, we come to see that this is no frivolous thing. It is a reality of eternal significance and the deepest and most serious call to walk in a manner that is of the greatest worth - Jesus Himself.

 

I think every new believer is willing to give God some of his soul, but then he finds out that this thinking is worldly and erroneous in the plan of God for the child of God.

 

With the call of Christ comes always the decisive question: Are we really willing to follow after Him, not as of necessity, nor from a painful sense of duty, but of a ready mind and a joyous heart, choosing Christ as our portion, and deeming His reproach greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

 

Are we ready to follow Him in all things out of a joyous heart?

 

Php 3:10-11

that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Luk 9:23-24

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it."

 

Do we want to know what troubles and blessings await us in the future? No one knows but God alone. If a child of God is only willing to give a part of his soul, then that person is still greatly lacking in his understanding of the call. He is as the one who wants to attend to his family after his father died or who wants to go to see his business and holdings are first securely in order. We are called to count all things as loss for the sake of Christ, and to this there is no compromise.

 

The believer will remain stagnant as a child and fail to mature as long as he seeks to keep hold of the world and his personal desires.

 

If our heart still cleaves to the world then we are still of it, though as new creatures we are not in any wise a part of it. If this is true than there is a need of an inward change before anything can be done in service of God.

 

2Ti 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

 

Paul had entrusted his entire life to God. He suffered the loss of all things. If we go forward in simple faith we will find that any fears we had were groundless. There is no lion in the square.

 

2Ti 1:13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

 

2Ti 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

 

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

 

1Pe 4:13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.

 

1Pe 4:14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

 

1Pe 4:15 By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;

 

1Pe 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.

 

1Pe 4:17 For it is time for judgment [trial, persecution] to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

 

1Pe 4:18 And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved [delivered in the trial], what will become of the godless man and the sinner?

 

1Pe 4:19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.