Gideon, The Wimp

Scripture:

Judges 6:1-16

Quick Summary:

Midian has taken the Israelites’ homes and keeps stealing all their food. Gideon is the smallest son in the smallest tribe, but God says he will help him defeat Midian. His first job is to take down the idols in town. The town people are mad, but Gideon tells them to let the gods of the idols kill him for what he has done. Because they aren’t real like God, he doesn’t get hurt at all! God has helped him through the first job God gave him!

The Point:

God can use us even when we are the smallest and even if we are scared.

Questions for Family Time:

1.     Who was the judge? What made him special?

        a. Gideon was the smallest son in the smallest tribe.

2.     What job did God give him?

        a. To slay Midian…but first to get rid of the idols the Israelites were worshiping.

3. How did he get rid of the idols?

        a.   He was scared, so he did it at night. He cut them down and used them for firewood to burn God an offering.  

3.     Weren’t the people mad?

        a.      Yes, but Gideon told them to let the idol’s gods kill him…and they didn’t because they aren’t real. 

Deeper:

            “I can’t do it. I am not enough,” is said over and over again in the Bible. God calls someone, and we respond like God doesn’t know us. We remind him of our weakness and inadequacy. We remind him of our sin. We remind him of our fear and past failures.  Like he doesn’t know all that stuff about us. Like he didn’t know Gideon was a wimp? Like he didn’t know how small his family was or where Gideon fell in the pecking order? Gideon, like so many of us after him, told God he must have the wrong person.

            “I will be with you,” is said over and over again in the Bible. It’s God’s go-to when he sees we are filled with fear. With each judge, prophet, disciple who says they can’t do it, God reminds them they don’t do it alone. God doesn’t argue with their shortcomings. He just tells them those shortcomings are irrelevant with God at their side. When God is with us, our weakness is bolstered by his strength. Our fear his bolstered by his all-knowing. Our inadequacy is bolstered by his completeness.

            There is a popular saying, “God does not give us more than we can handle.” Gideon proves that is a big fat lie. God know we are wimps. Yet he sends us to do things we cannot do. At least not on our own. God gives us more than we can handle…but never more than he can handle. When we go before God saying, “God I can’t handle this,” he whispers back, “I am with you.” We can’t handle it, but God can. He can carry that weight that would crush us.

            Being called by God to do something isn’t nearly as glamorous now is it? It means that God may have called me because I am nothing, so his power can shine brighter. My excuses don’t work anymore either. It doesn’t matter that I am a wimp, because God will make up the difference. But it sure makes things easier knowing God’s got my back. He may call me to more than I can handle, but He doesn’t call me to go anywhere that he is not beside me making up the difference.

Personal Reflection:

               What has God called you to that you couldn’t handle on your own? How did you experience God with you in that moment?

David Anointed King

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Quick Summary:

God doesn’t pick the oldest or tallest son to be king over his people. God picked the scrawny one that Jesse didn’t even bother to call in from watching sheep in the fields.  

The Point:

God does not look at the outside but at the heart.

Questions for Family Time:

                  1.      What was the story today about?

             a.    God picked David to be king.

                  2.      Was he the biggest? The strongest? The loudest?

         a.      No.

                  3.      Why do you think David was picked?

a.      It wasn’t anything on the outside. God knew his heart, and knew he would be a good king.                   

Deeper:

I am the third of four kids, and it always seemed my older brother and sister got everything. They got to be Mary and Joseph in the Christmas play. I got stuck being a sheep. My sister got the cool new clothes. I got her hand-me-downs.

What was a little true for me, was a lot more true for David. David was stuck with hand-me-downs that had been worn by 7 different boys before they got to him. While his brothers got the honorable jobs at the right hand of his father and later as soldiers in the army, David was stuck watching sheep all day. On top of that, the oldest son got the birthright and twice as much inheritance, not the 8^th son. He didn’t just feel forgotten. He was. His father hadn’t even bothered to call him in when the prophet Samuel visited his house.

But God saw David. He saw in David the gifts needed to be king. He saw David’s confidence in God and bravery when predators came to steal sheep. That would make a great Commander-in-Chief. He heard David’s songs of worship and knew that David loved God and would put him first. God already knew that one day, David would be remembered as the king “after God’s own heart.” He saw in David someone who could admit when he messed up. He saw someone who would show mercy when possible. He saw the traits of leadership that David’s father Jesse missed.

God sees us, too. No matter how ugly, stupid, or invisible we feel, God sees the real us underneath. He sees what really matters. He sees how we trust him when we are scared. He hears our prayers filled with love and adoration. He knows when we are willing to forgive someone who may not deserve it. He knows what is in our hearts. He doesn’t choose according to the world’s standards of attraction or charisma. He chooses according to our willingness to be molded into what he needs us to be.

      There is a popular saying that goes like this: God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. I think that is true for David. There were things he still had to learn, and as we hear his stories this semester, we will discover he made mistakes. But God called him to be king knowing him. And God did a good job choosing him because David would become the best king in all of Israel’s history. In fact, he would be so good that to this day his ancestors, the Jews, would be identified by the Star of David. He was so good that when Jesus, God’s own son came he would be complimented with the name Son of David.

Personal Reflection:

What do you think God sees when he looks into your heart? What does he see that the world may have missed? How is he calling the best in you to change the world?