"Our Lord’s Surprise Visits" by Oswald Chambers
Be ye therefore ready also. (LUKE 12:40)
You too, be ready! For the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.” (Complete Jewish Bible)
***The great need for the Christian worker is to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience is. The battle is not against sin or difficulties or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in work that we are not ready to face Jesus Christ at every turn. That is the one great need, not the facing our belief, or our creed, the question whether we are of any use, but to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real.
If you are looking off unto Jesus, avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, and setting your heart on what He wants, on thinking on His line, you will be called unpractical and dreamy; but when He appears in the burden and the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16
Judges 7:1 Then Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, and all the people with him, got up early and set up camp by ‘Ein-Harod; the camp of Midyan was north of them, by Giv‘at-Moreh, in the valley. 2 Adonai said to Gid‘on, “There are too many people with you for me to hand Midyan over to them, because I don’t want Isra’el to be able to boast against me, ‘We saved ourselves by our own strength.’ 3 Therefore, proclaim to the people ‘Anyone who is anxious or afraid should go back home, while we stay here on Mount Gil‘ad.’” Twenty-two thousand returned, but ten thousand remained.
4 Adonai said to Gid‘on, “There are still too many people. Have them come down to the water, and there I will screen them for you. If I say of anyone, ‘This one is for you,’ he will go with you; and if I say, ‘This one is not for you,’ he won’t go with you.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water, and Adonai said to Gid‘on, “Put to one side everyone who laps up water with his tongue the way a dog does, and put to the other side everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” 6 Three hundred lapped, putting their hand to their mouth; all the rest of the men got down on their knees to drink water. 7 Adonai said to Gid‘on, “I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home.” 8 So they took the provisions and the shofars of the people; then he sent all the men of Isra’el away, each to his tent. But the three hundred men he kept.
The camp of Midyan was in the valley below him. 9 That night Adonai said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, because I have handed it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down with your servant Purah; 11 and after you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to attack the camp.” So with his servant Purah he went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 Now Midyan, ‘Amalek and all the others from the east had settled in the valley as thick as locusts; their camels too were beyond counting, like the sand on the seashore. 13 Gid‘on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: “I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat.” 14 His comrade answered, “This can only be the sword of Gid‘on son of Yo’ash, a man of Isra’el. God has given Midyan and all its army into his hands.”
15 When Gid‘on heard the dream and its interpretation, he fell on his knees in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Isra’el and said, “Get up! because Adonai has handed Midyan’s army over to you.” 16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He put in the hands of all of them shofars and empty pitchers with torches in them. 17 Then he said to them, “Watch me, and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you do the same. 18 When I and everyone with me blow the shofar, then you blow your shofars all around the whole camp, and shout, “For Adonai and for Gid‘on!”
19 Gid‘on and the hundred men with him arrived at the edge of the camp a little before midnight, just after they had changed the guard. They blew the shofars and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 All three companies blew the shofars, broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands, keeping their right hands free for the shofars they were blowing; and they shouted, “The sword for Adonai and for Gid‘on!” 21 Then, as every man stood still in place around the camp, the whole camp was thrown into panic, with everyone screaming and trying to escape. 22 Gid‘on’s men blew their 300 shofars, and Adonaicaused everyone in the camp to attack his comrades; and the enemy fled beyond Beit-Sheetah near Tz’rerah, as far as the border of Avel-M’cholah, by Tabat.
23 Then men of Isra’el were summoned from Naftali, Asher, and both regions of M’nasheh; and they pursued Midyan. 24 Gid‘on sent messengers through all the hills of Efrayim, with the message, “Come down and attack Midyan; and capture the rivers before they get there, as far as Beit-Barah, and also the Yarden.” So all the men of Efrayim came together and seized the rivers as far as Beit-Barah and the Yarden. 25 They also captured two chiefs of Midyan, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. They put ‘Orev to death at the Rock of ‘Orev and Ze’ev at Ze’ev’s Winepress; then, as they kept pursuing Midyan, they brought the heads of Orev and Ze’ev to Gid‘on, who had crossed to the far side of the Yarden.
8:1 But the men of Efrayim complained to Gid‘on, “Why didn’t you call on us when you went to fight Midyan? Why did you treat us this way?” They were sharp in their criticism. 2 He answered by saying to them, “How can what I have done be compared with what you have done? Aren’t the grapes Efrayim leaves on the vines better than the ones Avi‘ezer harvests? 3 God handed over to you Midyan’s chiefs, ‘Orev and Ze’ev. What could I do that matches what you did?” By saying that, he appeased their anger at him.
4 By now Gid‘on and his three hundred men had come to the Yarden and crossed over. They were exhausted but were still pursuing the enemy. 5 In Sukkot he asked the people there, “Please give some loaves of bread to the men following me, because they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zevach and Tzalmuna the kings of Midyan.” 6 But the chiefs of Sukkot said, “You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your army?” 7 Gid‘on said: “If that’s your answer, then after Adonai has put Zevach and Tzalmuna in my hands, I will tear your flesh apart with desert thorns and thistles!”
8 From there he went up to P’nu’el and made the same request, and the people of P’nu’el gave the same answer as those of Sukkot. 9 So he answered the people of P’nu’el similarly, “When I return safe and sound, I will break down this tower!”
10 Now Zevach and Tzalmuna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all that remained of the entire army of the people from the east; since 120,000 arms-bearing soldiers had fallen. 11 Gid‘on went up, using the route of the nomads east of Novach and Yogbehah, and struck down the army when they thought they were safe. 12 Zevach and Tzalmuna fled, but Gid‘on pursued them. Thus he captured the two kings of Midyan, Zevach and Tzalmuna, and routed their whole army in panic. 13 When Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash returned from the battle by way of the Heres Pass, 14 he captured a young man from Sukkot and asked him about the chiefs and leaders of Sukkot; he wrote down for him the names of seventy-seven of them. 15 Then he came to the people of Sukkot and said: “You insulted me when you said, ‘You haven’t captured Zevach and Tzalmuna yet, so why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ Well, here are Zevach and Tzalmuna!” 16 And he took the leaders of the city and desert thorns and thistles, and used them to teach the people of Sukkot a lesson! 17 He also broke down the tower of P’nu’el and put the men of the city to death.
18 Then he said to Zevach and Tzalmuna, “Tell me about the men you killed at Tavor.” They answered, “They looked like you, like a king’s sons.” 19 Gid‘on replied, “They were my brothers, my mother’s sons. As surely as Adonai is alive, I swear that if you had spared them, I would not kill you.” 20 Then he ordered his oldest son, Yeter, “Get up, and kill them!” But the boy didn’t draw his sword; being still a boy, he was afraid. 21 Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, “You, do it. You, kill us. Let a grown man do what takes a grown man’s strength.” So Gid‘on got up and killed Zevach and Tzalmuna; then he took the ornamental crescents from around their camels’ necks.
22 The men of Isra’el said to Gid‘on: “Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, because you saved us from the power of Midyan. 23 Gid‘on replied, “Neither I nor my son will rule over you; Adonai will rule over you.” 24 Then he added, “But I have this request to make of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from the booty you have taken.” For the enemy soldiers had worn gold earrings, like all the other tribes descended from Yishma‘el. 25 They replied, “We’re glad to give them to you.” They spread out a robe, and each man threw in the earrings from his booty. 26 The gold earrings he requested weighed more than forty-two pounds; and this doesn’t include the crescents, pendants and purple cloth worn by the kings of Midyan and the chains around their camels’ necks. 27 Out of these things Gid‘on made a ritual vest, which he located in his city, ‘Ofrah. But all Isra’el turned it into an idol there, and it thus became a snare to Gid‘on and his family.
28 This is how Midyan was defeated by Isra’el, so that they ceased to be a threat. The land had rest forty years during the lifetime of Gid‘on; 29 Yeruba‘al the son of Yo’ash returned to his home and stayed there.
30 Gid‘on became the father of seventy sons, because he had many wives. 31 He also had a concubine in Sh’khem, and she too bore him a son, whom he called Avimelekh. 32 Gid‘on the son of Yo’ash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Yo’ash, in ‘Ofrah of the Avi‘ezri.
33 But as soon as Gid‘on was dead, the people of Isra’el again went astray after the ba‘alim and made Ba‘al-B’rit their god. 34 They forgot Adonai their God, who had saved them from the power of all their enemies on every side; 35 and they showed no kindness toward the family of Yeruba‘al, that is, Gid‘on, to repay them for all the good he had done for Isra’el.
Luke 5:1 One day, as Yeshua was standing on the shore of Lake Kinneret, with the people pressing in around him in order to hear the word of God, 2 he noticed two boats pulled up on the beach, left there by the fishermen, who were cleaning their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Shim‘on, and asked him to put out a little way from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Shim‘on, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Shim‘on answered, “We’ve worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and haven’t caught a thing! But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” 6 They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear. 7 So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both boats to the point of sinking. 8 When he saw this, Shim‘on Kefa fell at Yeshua’s knees and said, “Get away from me, sir, because I’m a sinner!” 9 For astonishment had seized him and everyone with him at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and likewise both Ya‘akov and Yochanan, Shim‘on’s partners. “Don’t be frightened,” Yeshua said to Shim‘on, “from now on you will be catching men — alive!” 11 And as soon as they had beached their boats, they left everything behind and followed him.
12 Once, when Yeshua was in one of the towns, there came a man completely covered with tzara‘at. On seeing Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged him, “Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Yeshua reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” Immediately the tzara‘at left him. 14 Then Yeshua warned him not to tell anyone. “Instead, as a testimony to the people, go straight to the cohen and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moshe commanded.” 15 But the news about Yeshua kept spreading all the more, so that huge crowds would gather to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. 16 However, he made a practice of withdrawing to remote places in order to pray. (Complete Jewish Bible)
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. (from Conformed to His Image, 381 L)
My Utmost for His Highest © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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