This week’s Advent theme: Overcoming Our Fear of God’s “Disruptions”
Today’s scripture: Judges 6:11-24 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Tyler Connoley):
If someone had told Gideon how his life was going to change that day, he would have told them they were crazy. He was not a warrior (despite what this angel calls him), but a frightened young man hiding from the oppressive overlords. There was nothing in his background or character that would have told anyone — least of all him — that he would soon be leading a battle to rout the Midianites and free his people. He was a nobody, and he expected it to stay that way.
But God had other plans.
This is the way God often works, choosing the unlikeliest people to change the world, and disrupting the way we expect things to be. We think we have it all figured out. We know where we’re going to be for the next thirty years. We know exactly who we are (and who we’re not), and then God comes along and changes all that in an instant.
However, God doesn’t do any of this against our will. For Gideon, this encounter with the angel in a wine press was just the beginning of the journey. There were many places along the way when he could have changed his mind, chosen not to follow God’s plan, and gone back to being an obscure boy from a small tribe hiding out from the Midianites.
Over the course of the next few chapters, Gideon does many things that if someone had told him about them ahead of time, he would have said they were crazy. In the very next chapter, mild-mannered Gideon sneaks into his father’s compound and tears down all his fathers idols in the middle of the night, standing up to his dad and his family’s traditions. I’m sure when people found out about it, they said, “Gideon did that? Really?! Gideon?!” But that’s the way things happen when God gets involved — and when we’re willing to go along with God.
Thought for the day: What crazy thing is God prompting you to do? Maybe the person you thought you were isn’t the person you’re going to be, but you’ll never know if you stay hiding in your wine press.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.