Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “The Lord Is Our Help And Comfort” – Friday, 26 September 2014 - Scripture: Judges 6:25-40

Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “The Lord Is Our Help And Comfort” – Friday, 26 September 2014 - Scripture: Judges 6: 25-26 That night this happened. God said to him, “Take your father’s best seven-year-old bull, the prime one. Tear down your father’s Baal altar and chop down the Asherah fertility pole beside it. Then build an altar to God, your God, on the top of this hill. Take the prime bull and present it as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, using firewood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”
27 Gideon selected ten men from his servants and did exactly what God had told him. But because of his family and the people in the neighborhood, he was afraid to do it openly, so he did it that night.
28 Early in the morning, the people in town were shocked to find Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it chopped down, and the prime bull burning away on the altar that had been built.
29 They kept asking, “Who did this?”
Questions and more questions, and then the answer: “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 The men of the town demanded of Joash: “Bring out your son! He must die! Why, he tore down the Baal altar and chopped down the Asherah tree!”
31 But Joash stood up to the crowd pressing in on him, “Are you going to fight Baal’s battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal’s side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar.”
32 They nicknamed Gideon that day Jerub-Baal because after he had torn down the Baal altar, he had said, “Let Baal fight his own battles.”
33-35 All the Midianites and Amalekites (the easterners) got together, crossed the river, and made camp in the Valley of Jezreel. God’s Spirit came over Gideon. He blew his ram’s horn trumpet and the Abiezrites came out, ready to follow him. He dispatched messengers all through Manasseh, calling them to the battle; also to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. They all came.
36-37 Gideon said to God, “If this is right, if you are using me to save Israel as you’ve said, then look: I’m placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If dew is on the fleece only, but the floor is dry, then I know that you will use me to save Israel, as you said.”
38 That’s what happened. When he got up early the next morning, he wrung out the fleece—enough dew to fill a bowl with water!
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be impatient with me, but let me say one more thing. I want to try another time with the fleece. But this time let the fleece stay dry, while the dew drenches the ground.”
40 God made it happen that very night. Only the fleece was dry while the ground was wet with dew.
"The Lord Is Our Help And Comfort" by David Graves
There are times when God may ask us to do things that are not easy. The mission God gave Gideon was difficult, dangerous, and could have been deadly. God told him to destroy the altar dedicated to Baal, build an altar to the Lord, and sacrifice one of his father’s bulls using the wood pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah for fuel. Since altars to Baal were built on high places, it would have been difficult to obey God’s orders without attracting the attention of the Baal worshipers.
Gideon decided to obey the Lord at night when the village was asleep. After all the encouragements God had given him, Gideon was still afraid (v. 27); however, he did not let his fear stop him from obeying God. God proved that He was more than adequate to handle the situation.

Gideon learned a valuable lesson that day: if he obeyed the Lord, even with fear in his heart, the Lord would protect him and receive the glory. The psalmist also learned that God is dependable and that He will help, strengthen, and deliver His children.

Hymn for Today:

"Day By Day" by Caroline V. Sandell-Berg, translated by Andrew L. Skong
1. Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best--
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
2. Ev'ry day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow'r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.
3. Help me then in eve'ry tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E'er to take, as from a father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.
Thought for Today:

“God gives us the evidence and guidance we need to follow Him in Faith"(Session Truth)
Prayer Needs:
For the development of Christian leaders in Guadeloupe.
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