Whining in the Wine Press

When we first see Gideon he's doing his work in the wine press for safety. Now that makes sense to me! There were Midianites combing the hills, raiding and grabbing everything they could get their hands on, and they'd been doing that for years. I'd hide in the wine press, too, if it meant being able to bring home the grain and feed my family.

While Gideon was working, the angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to him—and he didn't just say, “Hey, wha'sup, dude?” He said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Wow! What do you think you would say if an angel showed up and said that to you? Well, I can tell you what Gideon said.

He started whining!
What?! Whining?

Yup. Whining. Gideon said, “If God is with us, why is all this stuff happening to us? And where's all the miracles we're told He does? God's left us and handed us over to our enemies!”

Can't you just hear him whining “Whhhyyyyyy?” and “It's not faaaiiiir!”

Now, I don't know about you, but listening to whining kids is no fun. But you know what's worse? Hearing grown-ups whine! Uh-gly!

Who wants to hear that? The angel sure didn't, that's for sure! The Bible says he turned and just looked at Gideon, and I bet Gideon knew exactly what that look meant. It's that look that makes a lot of us shut our mouths before we get ourselves into a lot of trouble.

Gideon had the smarts to quit whining. Sure, he asked how he was to deliver Israel, but it was a good question. The angel promised Gideon that he wouldn't be fighting alone, that God would be with him. Wow! What a promise!

Are you ever in the whine press? Are you ever hiding in whine press? There's good news! You don't have to stay there! So, how do you get out?
Well, how did Gideon get out? He talked with the angel of the Lord and made an offering. He obeyed what the angel told him to do with the offering, and realized he'd been talking with God. After that he made an altar to God, which is still standing today in Ophrah, and continued obeying God.

You can do the same thing! You can quit whining about how unfair everything seems by talking with God. When you decide to see how good God is, you can be happy about it—and you know what? Happy people don't whine! Honest! Have you ever tried whining when you're happy and smiling? It's just not happening!

But don't stop there because there's more. Gideon obeyed, and that's what we need to do, too. Obey God.

When Gideon left the wine press that day, he was done with whining. He had bigger and better things to do! He was busy listening to and obeying God.

Now, that's what I call a good day's work!


Gideon's account can be found in Judges 6:1-24.

Lopsided War -Gideon Part 2

The kids were excited when I told them we were going to be playing Tug-of-War. I laid out the rope and divided the class onto sides. The right side of the group would be pulling against the left side of the group.

Sounds good, right? Wrong! All the big kids were on the right side of the class, and all the little kids were on the left side.

Vance thought it was great. “Yeah. This is gonna be easy!” He was ready to go.

The little kids held the rope while looking at me.

“Okay, the teams just don't look right. Let me fix things here.” All the little kids were greatly relieved. That is until...

“Cade and Isaac, you guys move over to the big kids' side, that will leave Jonah and Brynnan. That ought to do it, don't you think?”

Cade in his great wisdom noticed something. “But they're the littlest ones! There is no way...”

I hate to admit it, but I interrupted him. “Oh! You're right! Randy!” I turned to him. “Can you play tug-of-war as well as you can teach?”

Randy just stood up and smiled.

Jonah and Brynnan looked mightily relieved because Randy is almost as big as Goliath.

“Randy, would you go help that team.” I pointed to the right and everyone's mouth's fell open. Jonah and Brynnan were still by themselves on the left.

“What?” I asked. “Don't you think that Jonah and Brynnan could win this match of tug-of-war?”

Their odds of winning were about the same as Gideon's chance of beating the Midianites. And something similar happened to Gideon. God sent home almost all of Gideon's army, leaving him with just 300 men to fight against more than 100,000 Midianites.

How do you think Gideon felt? Scared? Like there was no way that he could possibly beat the Midianites? Yup. I think so! But who won?

Gideon and the Israelites won.

How on earth could they defeat an enemy THAT huge? They couldn't, and they knew it. But God could. And God did.

When Gideon couldn't do anything God took over and defeated Israel's enemies.

In fact, that's what God intended all along. In Judges 7:2 God says, “for Israel would become become boastful, saying,'My own power has delivered me.'”

God wanted Israel to understand that He was bigger and greater than their enemies and their problems. Gideon wasn't a hero. He was scared! He was just a normal guy that chose to believe and obey God. That's something that we can do! We can believe that God is bigger than any problem we have and that He is more powerful than anything and anybody. Actually, God is more powerful than everything and everybody, and we can rely on HIS power when we're facing scary things.

That's what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 12:10 “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

When we're weak, we have to rely on God's strength. God is all powerful and He wants us to rely on Him—not on ourselves!

For if God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8:31

Gideon's story is found in Judges 7.

Not So Impossible! Gideon -Part 1

I handed bananas to Vance and Ivan. “Here, slice these without opening the peel.”

“Excuse me? You want me to what? Vance squawked. “There's no way I can do that!”

I pointed him toward the table where there were a number of items. “Sure you can,” I encouraged.

“But how?”

“Nope. No questions. You have two minutes. It can be done, just work at it.”

The two boys looked at each other then grabbed the plastic knives that were on the table. Two minutes later their bananas were butchered but they still hadn't figured it out.

“There's no way,” they said, pushing their bananas away.

I reached into my bag for another banana and instead of picking the plastic knife, I chose a safety pin that was sitting right beside it. With a few quick moves I sliced the banana then peeled it and offered the slices to the kids.

********
Remember how the boys felt when I gave them the bananas? That was probably how Gideon felt when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him he was to lead Israel against the Midianites.
'You want me to do what? There's no way I can do that!' Gideon even made up excuses. 'I don't come from an important family and I'm the youngest one.'

Hmmmmm. I've thought the same things quite often. But what did God say to Gideon?

Surely I will be with you. ~Judges 6:16

Wow! What a promise! And it's a promise we see throughout the Bible when God calls someone to do things that are seemingly impossible.

Gideon hurried and brought out an offering for the angel of the Lord and arranged it on a rock, just as he was instructed. The angel of the Lord stretched out His staff, touched the offering, and fire jumped out of the rock, consuming the offering. Can you imagine Gideon's shock and surprise? What a display of God's power! If God could make fire jump out of a rock (and He did!) then surely God would keep His word and be with Gideon.

That's the same promise God has given to us! He's told us what to do in Matthew 28:19-20. “Therefore go and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Are you saying, “You want me to do what?” Are you making excuses? (I can't go to other countries? I'm just a kid?)
Well, don't worry, the verse didn't end with just giving us our assignment, it goes on to say, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God has given us the very same promise He gave to many great men in the Bible, He's promised to be with us.

God wants us to start telling people about Him, and He's given us the way to do it.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
~Acts 1:8

This was written to people who were living in Jerusalem at the time. God wants us to start telling others about Him, by starting with the people that live near us and that we go to school with! Now that's something all of us can do!

And remember God's promise to Gideon and to us as we do the work He's given us:

Surely I will be with you. ~Judges 6:16

The Great Shepherd

If you're gonna be a sheep, you wanna make sure you have a not just a good shepherd, but a great shepherd!

Sheep aren't the brightest animals on the farm, and they need special care. I mean, what other animal hatches bug eggs in its nose?
That's just not a good thing to be doing if you want to breathe, but that happens to sheep. And it's not like they can pick their nose and dig those bugs out--their hooves just don't work like that. So what's a sheep to do? Make sure they're with the greatest of all Shepherds!

Back in the days of King David, when Psalm 23 was written, a shepherd would make an oil mixture and put it on the sheep's heads to keep those pesky bugs out of their noses. Maybe that's what David was talking about when he said “You have anointed my head with oil”. Maybe he wanted us to know that God would keep pesky bugs away from us so we could breathe. That's a nice thought isn't it?

The last verse of Psalm 23 says: “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The word that King David used for our word 'follow' means a whole lot more than like when a little brother or sister follows you around. They eventually get tired of following you and they'll wander off and do their own thing—but the following King David was talking about is like when a tracking dog is following a scent. They keep their nose trained on the scent and chase after whatever it is they're sniffing out, and they don't quit. That's how God is with us! His goodness and mercy will follow us, pursue us, all the days of our lives. God loves us soooooo much He wants us to be with Him!

Have you ever sat someplace and thought, 'Oh, this is soooo comfortable I could sit here forever?' That's how it is when we're with the Great Shepherd. We're content and happy and never want to leave Him or have a different shepherd.

So tell me, do you just know Psalm 23 or do you know the Great Shepherd? Is He your shepherd?

Surely a Sheep

When was the last time you started a race by lying down and napping? That's not how you do it, is it? Well, sheep are the same way! They don't have any way to protect themselves except by running away, so if a sheep senses danger, or even feels uncomfortable it won't lie down and rest. The shepherd knows this so he works to ensure they have a place they feel safe so they can get the rest they need.


Sheep are fearful animals and they won't drink from fast moving water. I don't blame them! I mean, if your were always wearing a big, thick wool coat would you want to try to drink from a fast moving river and possibly slip in? I don't think so! Have you ever tried swimming in a wet, heavy wool coat? It's hard for us to do and we have arms, but it's impossible for sheep! They would quickly drown! So, a good shepherd finds still, calm water for his sheep to drink.

Now, if you were a sheep, would you want to eat dry, brown grass or would you want soft, tender, juicy green grass? Of course, you'd want the good green stuff! Well, you're in luck because the Great Shepherd has green grass all picked out for His sheep.

See, the Great Shepherd takes care of the needs of His sheep. He knows what we, His sheep need, even when we don't know ourselves. He leads us down paths He knows we can handle and watches out us for us in case we land on our back.

Did you know that there are sheep that if they fall and accidentally roll onto their back they can't get back on their feet without the help of the shepherd? That's right! Their wool coats are so heavy for them that the shepherd has to roll them over and help them back to their feet, and if the shepherd doesn't find them in time they'll die.

Our Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, does all these things for us. That's why King David, the man who wrote Psalm 23 said,

“The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet water.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.”
~Psalm 23:1-3

If we've asked Jesus to forgive our sins and live in our life, we are His sheep and He cares for us better than any shepherd here on earth cares for his sheep. Jesus knows what we need and because He loves us, He takes care of us and keeps us safe from things that are dangerous for sheep. He's not just the Good Shepherd, He's the Great Shepherd!

A Johah Look-Alike

Have you ever looked like Jonah? I sure have!

Oh, I'm not talking about how he looked after being puked out of the whale, I'm talking about his selfishness. There have been plenty of times when I've been more concerned about myself, and how comfortable I am, than I've been about whether people hear about God's love and forgiveness.

While Jonah was in the Belly Room of his swanky Whale Hotel, he finally repented of running away. God had compassion on Jonah, again, and the whale puked him out onto dry land. Do you think Jonah was happy about that? You bet! This time, when God told him to go to Ninevah he went.

Now, why do you think he didn't want to go to Ninevah? Because they were the enemy of Israel, and who wants to tell their enemies a secret that will keep them from being destroyed? Jonah sure didn't want to, but he went anyway and he told them they had to repent—he just hoped they wouldn't listen to him. But they did listen, and they repented, and it made Jonah angry—real angry.

Hmmmmmm. Something smells fishy here. God had just saved Jonah from drowning by sending the whale to swallow him, and then had the whale deposit him onto dry land, but Jonah didn't want God to show mercy on Ninevah. He wanted them zapped and destroyed. Sounds like a good case of selfishness if you ask me!

So what did ol' Jonah do? He went to a place where he could see the city and sat down and sulked. While he was sulking, God had compassion and sent a vine to keep the sun off him. Jonah was sooooo happy! But the next day, when a worm came and destroyed the vine, Jonah was angry because the worm killed the plant. He didn't even plant the vine but he sure was mad when it died and he was frying in the sun!

Now, wait just a minute! Was Jonah more concerned about frying in the sun than he was about a city full of people who would fry in hell if they didn't repent? Yup, he sure was! But God wasn't. And God had the final word.

Just like God had shown Jonah compassion many times on his journey to Ninevah, God showed compassion to the people of Ninevah by sparing their lives because they repented of their sins. God is a compassionate and loving God and wants to forgive people of their sins, but they have to repent and ask for His forgiveness.

Maybe it's time to learn what Jonah learned: that selfishness will make us miserable but that we don't have to just sit there and be miserable, we can care about people and whether they know about God's love and forgiveness.

You can read about Jonah's big sulk and God's compassion in Jonah 4.

Jonah: An Easy Way Out?

So while that super storm was going on where was Jonah?
Sleeping!

Have you ever tried sleeping in a ship that's being tossed around by a gigantic storm? It's tough to do!! Pastor Mike said that Jonah was probably sleeping because he was depressed. He was hoping that if he slept long enough his problem would go away. Have you ever done that? Does it work? Well, it didn't for Jonah.

Those sailors were sooooo upset and they wanted to know what to do since the storm was his fault. So what'd Jonah tell them? “Throw me overboard!” I bet Jonah was smirking when he said that!

Now, do you think Jonah was willing to go to Ninevah yet? Nope. Not at all. If he was, he would've asked God's forgiveness. But not our man, Jonah. He decided he'd rather drown than obey God and go to Ninevah.

I think, just maybe, Jonah took the easy way out. He didn't want to obey, so he said 'throw me overboard!' The easy way out is usually not the best way to go! And Jonah learned that lesson over the next 3 days that he spent in his traveling hotel.

Does time pass quickly when your having fun? How about when you're not having fun? It. Just. Seems. to. Crawl. by. When. You're. Not. Having. Fun. Have you ever noticed that? I sure have! And I bet those 3 day's in the belly of that whale lasted just about forever, especially since he didn't know it was only going to be 3 days! (Only 3 days?!?)

Finally Jonah figures things out while he's down there in the Belly Room of his swanky hotel. He starts praying and in his prayer we can see just how scared and miserable he was. Jonah accepts how great God is and asked for God's help. Finally.

The last verse of Jonah 2 says “Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” Eeeeeeew! Jonah was puked out! Do you think he smelled good? What about his clothes? What a fashion statement he must've made.

So, was that whale the only one on the good end of that storm?
I don't think so. Check out Jonah 1:15 & 16. “Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to Him.” Wow! All those sailors saw just how great and powerful God is and it changed their lives. That's what it's all about—people giving their lives for God.

But what about Jonah? Did he learn his lesson like those sailors did?
What do you think?


You can read about Jonah's journey to the deep in Jonah 1:11-2:10.