Daily Devotional For Saturday, August 2, 2025
Good morning Southside. The weekend is here and hopefully you can catch your breath, rest and relax. I do not know if you are familiar with a biblical character named Gideon. He gets a very short-story in the book of Judges. God called a nobody to go save everybody in Israel. Gideon knows he is not a real soldier or commander. God had told him to go attack the Midianites and kill them. I understand Gideon’s fear and dilemma. The first time you do anything you are nervous and fearful. BUT, this is not just some simple thing here. We’re talking war, fighting, death and etc.
Judges has one repeated theme about the Israelites – “they did evil in the sight of the Lord.” As a result, the Lord allowed the Midianites to conquer them. Unlike most conquerors, the Midianites were not interested in political conquest. Instead, they wanted the land and its resources. We read this in Judges 6:3-5:
“Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, (4) camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. (5) These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived in droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare” (NLT).
So, I think you get the picture. Now look at Judges 6:6-8a, “So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help. (7) When they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, (8) the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites” (NLT). God’s first response to the people’s cry is humorous to me. God did not send a savior, salvation, or a seraph, but God sent a prophet to give them a sermon! Why? Before they can appreciate the rescue that will come, the people need to understand why they need rescuing. The prophet comes and helps them to understand why they are in the trouble they are in. He wants them to understand where their idolatry—their sin—has led them.
Verse 7 says they “cried out to the Lord.” God wants repentance, but their crying out is not that. With the deaths of other judges such as Othniel, Ehud and Deborah, their mourning was only superficial at best. So, God sent them a prophet to preach a sermon that should convict them of sin before God will save them from their oppressors. Saying, “Sorry” or “I’m sorry” does not mean you are. It may mean you are sorry you got caught. Sometimes, horrendous consequences can bring a person to genuine repentance and sometimes it does not. Take the teenager who is addicted to drugs. He gets caught by the police, goes before the judge, tells the judge that he or she is sorry, gets a sentence and before they are hardly out the door, they are back to drugs. The Bible is clear biblical repentance is doing a 180 completely with no turning back.I like what author and pastor Tim Keller writes:
“Regret is all about “us”: how I am being hurt, how my life is ruined, how my heart is breaking; but repentance is all about God: how he has been grieved, how his nature as Creator and Redeemer is being trampled on, how his repeated saving actions are being trivialized and used manipulatively” (Source: Tim Killer, Judges For You, p. 69).
In Judges 6:11, God has an angel to visit Gideon while he is on a threshing floor. Judges 6:12-13a, “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’ (13) ‘Sir’” (NLT). “Sir” is another way of saying, “Excuse me?” Gideon knew he was no mighty warrior, just a farmer. Look at Judges 6:13-16:
“Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’ (14) Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ (15) ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” (16) The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man’” (NLT).
This conversation makes me smile. God told Gideon he had been chosen to lead His army, but he wasn’t convinced. Gideon begins to give God every reason why he is not qualified to do this. Gideon questioned his qualifications, and the Lord responded, “Go in the strength you have. Am I not sending you?” I believe God is inviting many “Gideons” to take their places on the battlefield today. But many of us are walking through those valleys of decision. People often ask me what they should be doing for God. My answer is usually the same: “Look where God is already working around you and then join Him.”
God wants us to be faithful to the opportunities He presents to us. You may not be required to build an ark, but He may ask you to tell your coworkers about Jesus. Parting a raging sea may not be one of your assignments, but He may ask you to lead a small group or help with a summer camp. This is what it means to lead with your faith—to seek God and move forward “in the strength you have” to faithfully live out His assignments. Today is a new day with new opportunities. Let’s determine to make the most of them by using our lives to point others toward Jesus and His peace. So, we can learn many lessons from this story, but here are two for all of us:
- First, we must have our heart ready to hear from the Lord at any time. God will speak to you from His Word. God will speak to you through a Bible study or a sermon. The best way God speaks to us is through us studying His Word. There is no substitute for this. You cannot get a word from the Lord if you do not read the Word of the Lord.
- First, we need to make sure we are sincerely and genuinely sorrowful for our sin and then repent from it. Sometimes we get stuck in repeated patterns.If you are continually falling into the same spiritual pit, and your falls are not decreasing in numbers or intensity, then you may be responding in regret rather than repentance. In other words, you may be simply regretful for the troubles of your sin, but unwilling to identify and reject the bait or idol under the sin which is still attractive to you. The big problem here is that we are often blind to our own sin or our own perspective on our hearts all by ourselves. Many people who are making progress feel they are not, and many people who are not making progress are in denial about it. This is why we need several strong Christian friends and Christian leaders who can help us tell the difference.
Assignment: When you sin do you feel guilty? Do you immediately repent and allow God to help you correct the wrong? OR, do you get defensive and go into denial or simply make excuses for your sin? There are two main ways to know what is a sin: God’s Word and God’s Spirit. You remember the story of David and how he sinned. When Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sins, the first words David said were, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam. 12:13). If you do not have an accountability partner, get one. Ask God to send you one. It is possible that God is calling you to do something. Are you making excuses or making God an example of what God can do through someone like you?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 4:4, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, thank You for Your great love and mercy! I choose to honor You today. I will read Your Word and look for the places I can be obedient. Open my eyes to see the ways I can demonstrate compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience today. Show me where You are already working so I can join You. Create in me a heart of repentance rather than a heart of denial. Give me boldness to speak the good news of Your Kingdom, and open doors that no one can close! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly