Gideon

Detailed Deliverance

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make  your paths straight.” Prov. 3:5-6

Trust seems so simple – until God asks us to take a step we don’t understand. We naturally want to see the path ahead, but God doesn’t want us to walk naturally; he wants us to walk supernaturally.

One day, when I was grumbling about not being able to see the path ahead, God taught me a shin-banging lesson. He told me to close my eyes and walk from where I was to a specific spot. I tried, and of course I swerved off course and bumped into something. Then He took me back to the beginning, had me close my eyes again, and told me exactly how to place my foot with each step. It was awkward. It felt all wrong. I was hoping no one would walk in because I knew I looked stupid. But…thanks to His detailed directions, I ended up exactly where He told me to go.

God did exactly the same thing for Gideon in Judges six and seven. From the point at which He had Gideon’s attention and willing obedience, God gave him specific instructions for each step he would take. In Judg 6:25-26, God didn’t merely say, “Sacrifice a bull.” Instead, He told Gideon exactly which bull, precisely how to pull down his father’s altar, and in detail how to sacrifice the bull.

This was only the beginning, of course. God continued to give Gideon detailed directions. Had Gideon chosen to bypass any of them, or fudge on even one, the outcome would not have been the same. Israel may not have received her deliverance.

Nothing great in our Christian walk, outside of a supernatural move of God, comes of itself. It comes as a result of the individual starting out on the right path and taking each and every step along the way exactly as God commands.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

The Devil’s Weapons

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

“Then take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” Judg 6:26b [AMP]

In a recent study of this passage, it struck me. Why? There would have been plenty of wood around: Gideon didn’t need the Asherah pole for kindling. It almost seems wrong to use something at which many have worshiped to burn a holy sacrifice, yet this is the very wood God chose. So I asked Him why…and He took me to The Cross.

“Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse [doom] of the Law [and its condemnation] by [himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified);” Gal 3:13 [AMP]

The devil was very pleased with himself on Crucifixion Day. Here he had the ultimate weapon, a curse-bearing cross, and he used it to put Jesus on display as a sign and symbol of God’s ultimate defeat – or so he supposed. The cross he put so much stock in proved, rather, to be a tool in God’s hands, an eternal symbol of God’s ultimate victory.

God not only permitted His Holiest Sacrifice to be laid on this foul cross; He required it.

So now it makes sense. If you consider Gideon’s Asherah pole as a type and shadow of The Cross, it reveals that God can turn even the devil’s most prized weapons into tools to serve His purposes. The devil never outranks God and, no matter how hard he works to pervert things, The Almighty can redeem them all, turn them, and make them serve the purposes for which He originally created them.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C