susanb

joash had watched his son make a decision for the Living God and now he had a choice to make. joash had compromised by worshipping baal and like us all he had to remove the idols of compromise and get back to where God could bless him. we wonder where our blessings have gone and we have to look at our own idols of compromise at times- too much tv, shopping, people, success, materialism- to see they are not bringing the blessings we desire. i find that we distract ourselves by seldom turning off everything-including praise music- to just listen for the voice of God Himself. Gideon is finally listening and then so does his father. God can use one person given totally to Him to change the lives of many.

honoring doesn't always mean doing what they want if you know God has other plans. parents sometimes guilt their children into letting the parent remain in a wrong position instead of the child being able to confront them with the truth. loving someone doesn't mean letting them stay in a negative or fallen state. God honors us by loving us enough to confront our issues.

Gideon saw himself as the "weakest link" which is a great position to be in to be useful to God. There would be no danger of Gideon taking credit for what God was going to do. "As a man thinks...so is he" and he acts according to what he percieves himself to be. Since I am a child of the King of everything, I am a "princess". I can trust that God can use my shortcomings more easily for Himself than things I know I can do. LESSON: Don't limit my future with God by my past without HIm.

i agree that it is process of leaving our first love. we get distracted by other things and we don't see it as worship or idolotry. i find it humerous that we forget to have our quiet time or don't have time, but i've known few that forget or can't find the time to eat. what is important we find the time or the money for. i also see that God was telling them that they were not weak because thier enemy was strong, but because they were worshipping the wrong things. i wonder how many times we are weakened by the same mistake.