Judges 8 - 11.11.24

Scripture

‭‭Judges‬ ‭8‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT

“As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god. They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them.”

Observation

Gideon led a group of 300 warriors to go and conquer the Midianites. Gideon and these men had already conquered and killed over 120,000 men with his small army during his leadership. It was obvious that God’s favor was with Gideon and with God on his side, he was eventually able to defeat and conquer the Midianites. During the rest of Gideon’s lifetime, there was peace among the Israelites and the land. But, as soon as Gideon died, things were about to change. The Israelites went back to their wicked ways, worshiping idols and forgetting about God. 🤦🏽‍♂️

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Application

How soon we forget.

Before we get on the Israelites for always seeming to forget about God, and going back to their old ways, we need to pump the brakes here, look in the mirror for a second, and see if we can sometimes do the same thing. It may not be on the scale of the Israelites here, but if we are honest with ourselves, we are just as guilty of forgetting God sometimes too. It could be a time where we received some bad health news. We ask others to pray for us. We even seek God harder than we ever did before. But, as soon as the doctor comes and gives us the news that we are in the clear, we get back to our lives, forgetting God, and allowing the busyness of life get in the way of our relationship with God again. It can be a vicious cycle too! We receive a life crisis.  We then seek God. He helps us. We go back to our “scheduled program”. Rinse and repeat! We treat God like He is our personal “magic genie”, only seeking Him whenever we need something and whenever He gives it to us, we forget about Him. How self-centered can we be? You will see as we continue to read the book of Judges that the Israelites go through this same cycle.  We need to learn from their mistakes, NOT repeat them! 

“These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” -‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We need to seek God daily! Not just when we need something either. We need to give Him our praise and thanksgiving DAILY. We need to give Him our concerns DAILY. We need to follow Him and His ways DAILY. Just look what God has done for the likes of Moses and Gideon, and see how God’s favor was with them, and how He blessed them. They were men who sought after God  DAILY.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times I forget about Your goodness and faithfulness. Forgive me for ever treating You like a vending machine or my personal magic genie. God, You are so faithful even when I’m not. You desire a daily relationship with me because You love and care for me. May I seek You each day, to give You all my praise and concerns. Help me to walk Your path the way Moses and Gideon did, so I may be blessed and a blessing to those around me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 🙏🏽

-Moses Gaddi