Peter Huang

Although we are told to honor our father and mother we must nevertheless put God first even in the circumstance that we may be going against our parents. God must come before every thing else. In fact by honoring God before everything else we are also honoring our parents Gideon was obeying God when he went apparently against his father

Because before the Lord will deliver the Israelites from their enemies he requires them to forsake the false gods they have turned to instead of the true God. God asks Gideon to build a proper altar to the Lord and using the wood of the Asheral pole that he cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.The risks involved were twofold. He risked offending his father and family and secondly the community at large. The punishment for his action according to community lawis death. He did this at night as the chances of being seen are less.The night mission was on the face of it a sign of weakness because it showed that he was afraid of the community as well as his father but it was also a sign of faith because although he was afraid, he nevertheless carried out the mission as he trusted God and obeyed his command

God answered Gideon by saying that He will be with Gideon and together they will strike down the Midianites. This spiritual principle applies to our lives as christians as we all have low self images and need the Lord's strength in all that we do. Heavenly Father help us as we seek to do your work and gives us the strength to follow you and obey your commandments Amen

Gideon blamed God for abondoning him and Israel.From his point of view it seems like the correct assessment but what he forgets is that the people of Israel have disobeyed God's commandment not to worship the God of the Amorites. In fact God had not really abandoned the people of Israel because when they cried out to Him for help he gave them a prophet to lead them out of their troubles.We tend to do the same thing in our lives because it is human nature to blame others for our misfortunes. We need to sit down and ask ourselves when that happens why the misfortunes have befallen on us Sometimes we can find the answers but more often we cannot and blame God. However we need to remember that God works in mysterious ways and we should always trust in his mercies.

God saw Gideon as a mighty warriior. This was in contrast with the image Gideon had of himself as the weakest member of the family of the Manesseh tribe. Our own self-perception may prevent us from doing great things which God may want us to do. So we must step out in faith that the Lord will be with us in any venture that He has entrusted us with

The reason for Israel's oppressed state is that she had disobeyed God's commandment by worshipping the Gods of the Amorites. They broke God's second commandment to worship only Him and not any other Gods. Christians today are in danger of doing the same thing by worshipping other things besides God such as material success money etc.

Answer to question 1: Gideon claims that God had abandoned him and the people of Israel. But this appears to be true only from his point of view.But in fact God had not abandoned the people of Israel because when they called out to him for help he sent them a prophet to lead them out of their troubles. We often blame God for our troubles because it is human nature to blame others for our misfortunes. To avoid doing this we must listen to God through his word and learn to obey him in our lives. Answer to question 2:the reason for Israel's oppressed state is that have disobeyed God in worshipping the God of the AmoritesThey had not listened to him not to worship the gods of the Amorites. They broke the first two commandments. They had not listened by worship[ping the gods of the Amorites. Christians today are also not listening to god.s commandment to worship Him only and not any other gods be it material success and or money and an undue obsession with worldly matters.

Iam peter huang I am a retiree and attend an anglican church in singapore. I am new to this bible study course but look forward to starting on it.