This week, pastor Don finishes a 3 week look at the life of Gideon, one of the Judges of Israel. We learn that while Gideon may have started strong, he did not finish well. While Gideon may have said some things that sounded good, like, 'I don't want to be your king, God is your king', yet in practice, he didn't live out the truth of what he said. In other words, he didn't 'practice what he preached'. How often the same is true of us today as we declare things to be true, and yet when we face a trial or temptation, we act in the complete opposite way. Those of us who are parents are exhorted to teach our children about the fight or the battle they are in as followers of Jesus. The devil (and our own sinful desires) scheme against us in 3 obvious ways: 1. Division - instead of being united as God's people, we are often divided. These divisions are rarely about big, important, matters, but often trivial, and non-essential things in the Christian life; 2. Revenge - Gideon wanted revenge against those who had not helped him at the first. Instead of being grateful that God had delivered him in what looked like an impossible battle, Gideon chose to exact revenge on those who he saw as not helping him win that victory. The Bible declares plainly that we are not the ones who should seek revenge, because we never see the full picture. Rather, we are to leave any 'revenge' payment for sin, to God, who alone is able to judge impartially. The Bible encourages us to 'be wronged' rather than commit wrong; 3. The scheme of misplaced credit: There is never a moment where Gideon gives God the credit! We can often fall into this same trap. Instead of looking for glory, we should be those who seek to deflect any praise or glory to Him, the only one worthy of any praise.
How do we do all of this? How is is possible to ensure we don't get caught in Satan's snares or deceived by his schemes? We should reflect on Ephesians 6, the battle we face is a spiritual one. Though on the face of it, the battles Gideon faced looked like physical ones, yet underlying it all, was a much bigger, spiritual battle with a much stronger, spiritual enemy.
Let us not be caught off guard as we engage in this battle today. Let us teach our children well also.
