In our congregation, before each worship service, we have a prayer meeting. I was in attendance ahead of one service recently, and the person ‘directing’ the prayer meeting looked at me and asked if I could pray for a specific area of our ministry.

I nearly said no.

My confession is that I rarely pray.

I do, though, spend time talking to God.

I was reading a great article today with a headline stating: “Prayer isn’t telling God what to do.” I loved it, because it discussed one of the aspects of prayer that I have often felt a little awkward about – God’s To-Do List.

See, I grew up spending enough time learning what a prayer is, it’s talking to God, right?

I took a moment, today, to drift by my old favourite online resource, Merriam Webster for some definitions. This is what I found:

Prayer: An address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought.

Just to make things clear, therefore, I also looked up address:

Address: A formal communication, especially a prepared speech…

When I look at these definitions, I actually can look back on the way I was taught what prayer is and see how they match one another. I mean, I remember our class ‘taking’ school assemblies, and what we would do is write down and prepare the prayer for that assembly. I remember doxologies at the back of the hymn books as a child that we would occasionally read together. I remember saying grace at the dinner table as a child, “Thank you, God, for this food. Bless it to our bodies and bless us in your use.”

So I can already see a bunch of people directing me to Matthew chapter 6.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
~ Matthew 6:8-13

And yes, I accept that Jesus gave us a formulaic prayer right here. The thing is, though, that Jesus preceded this whole model with a few other comments. If we go back a few verses:

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
~ Matthew 6:5-7

Ever stood in a prayer meeting, and listened to someone blasting out this eloquent, passionate, fantastic sounding prayer? I have. In fact, I’ve stood in prayer meetings and blasted out (somewhat) eloquent, passionate prayers (I won’t call them fantastic – others who were there can make that distinction).

The thing is that these days I’m really uncomfortable with this kind of prayer. To me, it doesn’t feel like I’m communicating with God, but talking at him. It’s like I’m standing on a podium delivering a lecture, rather than sitting down at a café talking over coffee.

And what I really want to do is sit down with God over that coffee and just chat. I don’t want to be giving God a to do list, all the while reminding him that he promises to do whatever I ask, as if I’m reciting back a contract of obligations to him. I want to sit down and chat with my Father, explain to him what I’m feeling; the things I’m struggling with; the things that are going awesome – all of it and more.

The catch? You have to let them share the gospel with you.

I posted this through, and a friend commented to ask what coloured eggs had to do with Easter. I replied nothing, but nor did they have anything to do with the story.

But it got me wondering about something. In my past life, I used to be quite contentious about Easter, Christmas and some other minor Christian calendar events.

Why? Because of their history.

For me, at a stage in my life following paganism as a spiritual belief, there was something offensive to me about these Christians making a festival all about their God and their Jesus when that wasn’t what it was all about in the first place. The perspective was one of these Christians barging into countries who didn’t want them and taking over the place, turning the holidays into Christian holidays, and manipulating the people into giving up their own, older religious beliefs for this new one.

A little history lesson: Easter, like Christianity, does potentially have some origins based in the ancient pagan religions. There is some evidence of a Germanic goddess, Eostre (or Ostara) as being a goddess over spring in ancient times, however the first mention of her does state that the festival was already extinct, and there are some scholars today who argue that she may have been invented by Bede (the scholar who first wrote about her).

I’m not saying one way or the other, personally, because to me it doesn’t matter – and I’ll get to that.

What I want to pause and think about, really, is the whole thing about Christianisation of pagan festivals. As I stated above, once upon a time I took this as an offense, as a sort of espionage tactic by the Christians to make it easier to impose their religion on the people of another one.

I think, while it might be possible, it’s certainly less feasible than the other angle.

See, even whilst not walking with God, I still celebrated Easter and Christmas. I went looking for reasons to justify continuing to celebrate them given a lack of belief in Christianity, but I still celebrated them all the same.

Now imagine, say, 1500 years ago, whole villages and towns were coming to Christ. You become Christian in January, and suddenly April rolls around – here’s the Spring festival that you’ve been celebrating your whole life, but suddenly the gods you were worshiping aren’t the same anymore. What do you do?

You party anyway, and you celebrate with God.

If you travel around the world and stop in at Christian meetings throughout the nations, you’ll see differences in the way they worship depending on culture. The advantage of Christianity, and that we celebrate a personal relationship with God, is that there aren’t specific rituals that say you must worship in X manner. The way different cultures worship is an example of the freedom that we have in Christ to worship God and to have our relationship with Him in a manner that fits with us.

So when it comes to Easter, Christmas or anything else, then regardless of their origins, we can celebrate also. It’s not about ‘stealing’ the celebrations from the pagans; I genuinely don’t think that’s what happened. I would suggest that it was simply a cultural adaptation – they had a party last year, the year before, and every year before that too, so why not have a party this year with God?

And as for Easter Eggs?

I was surprised, actually, because this one does actually seem to have stemmed from a Christian tradition. Observation of Lent (I’m not even going there – I’ll eat steak when I like, thank you) had people not eating red meat or dairy, and eggs were included in this. So before refrigerators, they had all these chickens laying eggs, but nothing to do with them.

How rude of the chickens not to observe Lent, I say.

But hey, if you have a whole heap of eggs that you can’t eat, why not do something with them? Paint them up, colour them in and give them to one another. Still better than just throwing them away, right?

It’s a picture of Jesus talking to people, and the conversation is listed as going as follows:

Jesus: “Ok, here’s an idea. You love them, like I loved you. Make sure you take care of them and don’t judge them.

Others: “But what if they’re gay or worship other Gods(sic)?”

Jesus: “Did I f***ing stutter?”

Now let me make one thing clear: I’m not interested, right now, in getting into a discussion about the rights, wrongs and otherwises about homosexuality and paganism. What I am interested, is talking about this attitude and more importantly, about emulating the love that Jesus had for people when he was alive.

When Jesus was on Earth, he spent time not with the ‘good’ people, but with the ‘scum of society.’

Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” ~ Mark 2:15-17

I have a question for the people who are posting this image up as an attack on Christians who disagree with their views on same-sex marriage.

How about we replace the middle line there?

Others: “But what if they’re murderers, rapists or abuse children?”

Right: Time for a disclaimer.

I am not making a statement that equates homosexuality and murder, or anything like that. I do not believe that, and this question is not asked with the intention of suggesting that perspective. My intention with that statement, is to point out that Jesus loved everyone – and declared that everyone should be loved.

There are three key commandments that Jesus gave us throughout his life.

Jesus Answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ~ Mark 12:29-31

Finally, Jesus left Earth with the Great Commission.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. ~ Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus told us to go and make disciples, teaching them to follow all the commandments that he had given. He also told us to love God, and love our neighbor like ourselves – which brings me back to the image I was discussing initially.

Paraphrasing Jesus, the creator of the image has said that we are to love Jesus how he loved us; and that we shouldn’t judge them.

It’s interesting that the first story that comes to mind when I think about all of this, is the Pharisees bringing a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. To tell the story briefly, they bring this woman before him, reminding Jesus that the law says she should be stoned to death for being caught in adultery (the law also said the bloke should be stoned, but apparently he escaped.)

Anyway, Jesus looks at them, and tells them that whoever’s without sin, go ahead, stone her and he bends down and starts writing on the ground. A few minutes later he gets up and they’re all gone. It’s just Jesus and the woman, and he asks her if anyone’s condemned her.

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” ~ John 8:11

Jesus didn’t judge the woman, but he did urge her not to sin. Jesus didn’t judge her, but neither did he tell her to go jump back into bed with whoever she was caught sleeping with. Jesus didn’t judge her, but he did guide her along the right path.

Let’s, then, bring the topic back to the murderers. What did Jesus tell us to do with them?

Love them.

Rapists?

Love them.

Child abusers?

Love them.

Even as I write this, it burns inside me. It’s so hard to be publicly saying that we should love these people, because I’m so passionately against their actions, and I am incapable of conceiving how anyone could possibly do those things.

As are – I would assume – most people.

Why? Because we know that it’s wrong. I would think there are very few people (if any, but you never know) reading this article who would disagree with me that any of those actions – along with many others – are wrong.

So here’s my point: A large percentage of the people reading this article, I would suggest, also believe that homosexuality and paganism are wrong.

And to take it even further: Many of those same people would also believe that telling a lie, speeding or dishonoring one’s parents is also wrong.

So if we’re going to love people like Jesus loved us, then what should we do?

To the liar: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
To the drug addict: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
To the homosexual: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
To the pagan: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
To the murderer: “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”

True love does not just let someone wander off and do their own thing uninhibited.

When my friend goes through a tough time, and tells me that they’ve done something wrong, do I just shrug at them and tell them to do whatever they want? No.
When a parent catches their toddler about to run out into the street, do they just watch, smiling, going, “Oh little Johnny’s become so independent so fast.” No.

Real love, the love that Jesus shared and told us to share doesn’t just let people walk in front of a bus, jump off a cliff without a parachute or do things that are harmful to ourselves and others. Real love is the love that does not judge, but guides to better actions, thoughts and morals.

And as good as sin may feel; or as harmless as it may seem, God guided us against it for a reason. We may not know that reason, and we may not agree with his rules all the time, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t obey them. God’s guidance comes out of an ultimate love for us that we can never understand from our human perspective.

We do, though, need to love one another with that same love – or as best as we can do.

This passage says that Gideon told each of the men to bring one gold earring to him from their plunder and tribute. There ended up being 1700 shekels of gold, which translates, apparently, into about 20kg.

That’s a million dollars plus in gold at today’s price.

And he moulded it into an Ephod.

Here’s the thing, though; the Ephod became an idol.

Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. ~ Judges 8:27

In this chapter we see Gideon go off and pursue the Midianite Kings Zebah and Zalmunna and while he’s doing so, Gideon crosses the Jordan and stops by Sukkoth and then Peniel. At both places he pauses and asks them to provide food for his men, although neither location will. So Gideon swears to return and punish them for it. Which he does – Gideon comes back and tears down the tower of Peniel, killing the men in the town, as well as using briars and thorns to tear the flesh from the elders of Sukkoth.

The thing I notice – and before I go here, just let me clarify that this is how I’m reading it – there’s nothing in the passage here at all about God telling him to do this.

To repeat: This is just how I read this passage, but to me it reads like Gideon didn’t take heed to some of the things God said before.

See back in Judges 7, God said to Gideon that he had too many men, so some had to go home otherwise the Israelites would boast that the battle was won in their own strength.

As I read this passage, the feeling that I get is one of Gideon winning the battle and taking on the victory as his own. His confidence grows higher, and they go off and defeat all of the Midianites, then come back and trash Sukkoth and Peniel also. Especially as I read the rest, the verse above that says the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the Ephod rather than God.

The victory became their security, their confidence, and the victory became their god. The Ephod wasn’t a symbol of God’s victory, it was one of their victory over the Midianites.

And for that, it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

I feel like this is something that we need to be careful of in our own lives. When God does something, we can look to the victory that is achieved in pride, and begin to worship that rather than God who did it for us. Suddenly the miracle becomes greater than the one who performed it. The creation becomes greater than the creator.

We need to remember the things that God has done in our lives – but not for those things themselves, but for the provision, protection and prosperity that God has given.

Otherwise, those things become a snare to us – and we’ll keep tripping over them. We’ll become trapped by them, and when you’re ensnared by something, it’s hard to move forward – sometimes even impossible.

Don’t become ensnared by worshiping the things God has done. It’s the one who did it who deserves your worship.

Here we have Gideon, who is actually a really impressive young bloke. I’m not sure, but I feel like sometimes we might misinterpret the fact that he came across a bit doubtful when he was called. Initially was the statement about being the least in his family, in the smallest clan and the smallest tribe or whatever, and then he put the famous fleece out overnight – twice.

The thing is, though, I can’t help but wonder if we sometimes confuse his seeking reassurance as doubting. I remember back to when God called Moses, and he just kept making excuses, to the point where it actually says that God got mad at him. However it doesn’t say that with Gideon.

And the thing is, that Gideon seems to be pretty much a man of action. One word of confirmation from the angel, and he was off tearing down the Asherah poles. Yes, it was night time. Yes, he went off and hid, but it all turned out alright.

Now, he’s got himself an army and they’re ready to take on the Midianites. 32000 or so men.

And God says he has too many people.

I tell you what, can you imagine that? God’s just called you to go down and take on an army, and just before you’re about to leave, he says, “Hold up, you’ve got too many bodies on your side. Send some of them home.”

I’d be telling him we’re off to war, there’s no such thing as too many bodies.

So Gideon turns to the men and tells them that anyone who’s scared can go home.

And 22000 of them take off.

I tell you what, I’d be watching in shock. Two thirds of the army’s just taken off, but Gideon’s still ready to go.

Except that God says he still has too many  men.

I can just imagine Gideon looking up at God going, “Are you serious?”

So there’s another elimination, and Gideon’s left with 300 men.

To take on an army.

But it gets better.

They arm themselves with: A pitcher, a torch and a trumpet.

That’s it.

Again: “Are you serious?”

The key to all of this, though, is right back at the beginning.

The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’” ~ Judges 7:2

The point that God was trying to make, was that it wasn’t about the Israelites. The point he was trying to make, was that this wasn’t their fight, it was his – and the victory, therefore, was his too.

How often do we doubt God? How often do we look around and see our army of 32000 men and say to ourselves, “Right, I’m ready for the battle now.”

It’s not about us.

It’s not our battle.

It’s not our victory.

I can tell you that I’m not very good at letting God have control of things in my life. I’d much rather take care of it myself – in my way – with the resources around me.

But that’s not what God calls us to do.

God says to send the men home. He says you don’t need 32 thousand – you only need three hundred.

Three hundred.

What would you achieve, if you used less than 1% of the resources you actually thought were necessary to accomplish a task?

Not much.

God, however – would achieve a heck of a lot.

So next time that you feel like God’s stripping back your resources; or that he’s leaving you a little too vulnerable? Revel in it. Relish the fact that God’s probably about to do something big – and you get to witness it, and maybe even benefit from it.

When we let God do it his way, it’s going to work. Just trust him.

Anyway, this morning I’m having coffee with a friend when, after the generic pleasantries are out of the way, the conversation steered towards the love life direction.

I find it amusing, actually. When you’re single, this is one of the most important questions that people have to ask you. My grandmother’s been asking me every time she sees me for years now, “Have you got a girlfriend yet?” Or something along those lines.

Not to say that over those times I haven’t had girlfriends at different stages (just to clarify), and I understand her perspective – she wants more grandchildren on her knee while she has the chance, so I should hurry up for her sake!

It amazes me, though, that it is so important to so many people – perhaps even more important to many of them than it is to me!

However; there was a long period of time where it was vital to my own existence – and I can’t help but ask the question now: Was it so important to me because it was so important to everyone else?

Is there peer pressure to be in a relationship?

When one of the first questions that almost everyone asks you is reinforcing the fact that you’re single, then does that actually serve to produce the feeling that you need to be in a relationship in order to be on the same level as your already-involved friends?

It becomes a pressure. While it’s probably not the conscious message that people are trying to send when they ask you about your love life, the fact is that there becomes this impression that you aren’t complete if you don’t have a partner. It’s as though we’re meant to be defined by who we are in a couple, not who we are individually.

And that’s wrong.

When it comes down to it, I’m actually happy where I am at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have someone to share my life with, but it’s not anything I have to rush. The fact is, I don’t want to be defined by my relationship. I’d much rather the two of us being defined as individuals who complement one another and enhance what are individual and independent qualities.

Second, I accept that right now I’m probably better off not in a relationship. There are other things I want to focus on, build and grow in my life so that I am the best person I can be when that wonderful lady comes along.

I hope you’ll hear my heart here. I’m not saying by any means that this isn’t the case for other couples. I do think it’s a fair statement to say that some couples are together out of a need to be with someone rather than the right one, but that’s not for me to judge, and if it works for those people, then great. For me, though, I’m happy to be single until the right one shows up.

So my statement is this: Singles, Unite! (See what I did there?) Don’t feel a need to be defined by who you are as half a couple, but be defined by who you are as a person – and find someone else who is defined by who they are as a person too!

And when that friend asks you if you’ve thought about internet dating? Well, you never know – I know it’s worked for friends of mine, and it might work for you too. You never know where you’ll meet someone these days, and in a world of online communication, maybe that’s where the best options are. To quote the friend who asked me about internet dating: “You’ve got to drop your hook in where the fish are!”

It’s raining.

It’s Tasmania, that’s not a big deal. The joys, though, about rain is that one of the banes of my existence come out and colour the grey with their brightness.

It’s the umbrella.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally get the value of umbrellas. The classic black, long one allows an extra step of class on a wet day when you stroll down the street using it as a cane – not to mention an advantage if you ever get into a duel. Then, they do also protect you from the wet.

The problem I find is that the moment people put up an umbrella, they seem to forget that there are other people on the footpath too, and suddenly, it makes me want to hit you.

So here’s a few points of Umbrella Etiquette to remember.

1. Get off the wall.
   Okay, this is the big one, and my main reason for venting on the topic. I don’t know how many times I’m walking down the street in the rain, and some jerk holding an umbrella is walking pressed up against the wall, where the minimal amount of shelter is – and forcing other people without an umbrella to walk out and around them.YOU HAVE AN UMBRELLA!Which means YOU can be the one to step out into the rain, and let others who don’t have that protection get the little bit of coverage they can.

   Seriously, I actually find myself wanting to push you out of the way when you do this.

2. You’re not as small with it.
   Okay, this should be common sense. When you’re holding an umbrella, it takes up more horizontal space than you do (okay, in most cases it does). You need to take into account that the gap between two people might fit you, but your umbrella might not. Lift it up, or walk around them rather than between them.
3. You currently have spikes.
   Following on from point two: You have spikes, so when you do try to walk between those two people, not only do they get hit with said umbrella, but it’s quite possible that you’ll take someone’s eye out. I don’t normally advocate an eye for an eye, but in some cases…
4. It’s wet.
   That stuff the umbrella’s protecting you from? It’s water. Water flows. So when you stop at a set of traffic lights next to someone, chances are that water’s going to drip off your nice protection and get someone else even wetter than they already are.
   And trust me, while I might be okay with dealing with the softness of rain, when I suddenly get a flow of water like someone turned a tap on over my shoulder, I will always declare that the following flailing fist was an involuntary nervous reaction to its sudden drenching.
5. It folds up.
   If you’re not in the rain any more, fold it away – you can dry it out when you get home. At your house. On your carpet.

So next time you’re strolling down the street and want to pull out the umbrella and stay dry – feel free, but remember those of us without one. Rain rage doesn’t exist yet – but don’t rule it out!

Across their products, Google has over 60 privacy policies – which means that those of us using the Google products need to know what information’s going where depending on which product we’re using. Gmail might have one policy, while Picasa has another, and my Android phone has a third – add in Google docs, Adsense, Blogspot and anything else you use, and suddenly things start getting very confusing.

Therefore, Google’s streamlining their privacy policy into a single document that covers all of their products and services. This policy defines how they’ll use the information collected across each website that they own. Examples suggested by Google include:

• Reminding you of a meeting based on your location.
• Figuring out what you mean when you search a term like ‘Apple’; ‘Jaguar’ or ‘Pink.’
• Tailoring ads that you see to topics that you’re interested in.

Now the thing is that Google’s been doing this for years. The collection of information on the internet is nothing new, and it was happening well before Google became the be all and end all of searches. What Google’s doing, though, is streamlining things so that the information collected can be used as effectively as possible.

I, personally, like the analogy on Google’s site explaining it all. I go to my local café several times a week for my morning coffee, and now, the staff there greet me by name, ask if I’m having the chai or the latte today, and get to making it. I don’t have to order, I get a nice personalised service, and I’m in and out quickly.

No, Google isn’t a barista, and isn’t having a conversation with me while I look up the Wikipedia article of my current fascination, however, what they are doing is providing me with information that is relevant to me.

Fact: Nothing is free. Google provides me (and you) with a free service, but they have to make money. No money means no servers, no power, and no Google, does it not? Therefore, they have to sell advertising. It’s just going to happen. Why shouldn’t that advertising, then, be something that’s tailored to me? Personally, I’d rather see an ad for the latest cricket equipment than something for the latest in beauty therapy. Why is this a bad thing?

Fact: I use my phone to keep track of appointments, to check Facebook, to look up directions to where I’m going. I’d love for my diary to sync with my email to sync with my directions! Think of this: Someone emails me asking for a meeting next Thursday at Big Joe’s Sandwich Bar over lunch. I reply and say yes, and then save it to my Google calendar all on my desktop. At 11AM on Thursday, my phone beeps to remind me that I’m meant to be having lunch with Bill, and includes the Google Maps directions from where I am to Big Joes, including an estimate that it will take half hour to walk there. Great, I can leave a couple of minutes before noon and get there on time! Why is this a bad thing?

Fact: I choose to utilise these services. I like Gmail for its ease of use, storage and functionality; I use Google+ as a social networking tool (not as much as Facebook, but I’m on there occasionally); I use Google to look up information; I use Youtube to look up videos. I think it’s great that any relevant information shifts across these sites smoothly. In particular, the ‘Search Plus Your World’ feature in Google Search. After all, let’s look at it this way – if I’m looking for a new hairdresser, who am I going to turn to? There’s a good chance I’m going to ask my friends who their recommendations are. Same for a mechanic – I’ll ask my mates who they recommend. Now when I search online, Google is going to include in the results pages that my friends recommended or liked. Why is this a bad thing?

Seriously, people, get over it. If you’re online, your information’s going to be collected. Live by the adage that you can’t take back what you put onto the internet. This isn’t a Google thing, it’s an internet thing, so get used to it, or stop using it. Second, if you want Google to be free for you, then someone needs to pay them so that they can do that. Again, if you don’t like it, don’t use it.

And that’s the kicker. You can choose not to use Google’s services. They can’t do any of this unless you actually have an account and are signed into it.

And from me? Thanks, Google, for a smoother service that’s providing me with a better experience.

Here’s the beginning of Gideon’s story, and it opens in a pretty familiar fashion.

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. ~ Judges 6:1

They were oppressed, troubled, abused – and after a few years of this, once again, they cried out to God. Sounds almost identical to how the story of Deborah got started.

So this time it’s a young guy called Gideon, he’s just going about his daily duties when an angel shows up.

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” ~ Judges 6:12

And Gideon’s first response is, ‘but’.

Gideon reminds me a bit of Moses, actually. When Moses was first called by God to go back to Egypt he had every argument under the sun ready – not bad, really, for a guy who claimed he wouldn’t be able to speak to Pharaoh. Now Gideon’s being called, and his immediate reaction is basically, “Wait, you’ve got the wrong guy.”

The interaction here is interesting, actually. Gideon shakes his head, saying that if God’s with them, then why are they suffering? He brought them out of Egypt, but he’s abandoned them.

The angel’s response is what I like.

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go out in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” ~ Judges 6:14

When it comes to Gideon asking the why question, when it comes to him saying they’ve been abandoned, the angel doesn’t say anything. Just get on with it – you’re being sent, aren’t you? Let’s go.

Gideon’s not convinced – he asks for a sign, and gets one. After that he cuts down the Baal altar and uses the Asherah pole for firewood, but then when he’s called to go after the Midianites, he’s wanting two more signs before he’ll go.

Now here’s the big thing I noted in this chapter – it’s not actually about the signs, it’s about the few verses in the middle. Gideon sneaks in at night, not wanting to get caught, and destroys the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole alongside it, and sends up a sacrifice to God.

We go off track, and we fall into these troughs in our lives. I know I do, a lot, so I’m glad God’s as patient with me as he was with the Israelites – coming to the rescue and looking after them despite their constant fluctuations between loving him and thinking he must hate them. This little part, though, between Gideon’s signs speaks something very important.

It starts at home. Gideon’s first task was to destroy the Baal altar and the Asherah pole. Why? Because they needed to make sure that they had cleaned up things internally before they could go out and deal with the Midianites.

How often, when things are going wrong in our lives, do we blame the outside influences? How often do we say that it’s all someone else’s fault?

Maybe it is, but the fact is that the place where we can make the most peace, the place where we can do the most restoration is right in our own hearts.

Please note: I’m not necessarily saying that if things aren’t going well for you in your life right now, then it’s because of something you’ve done wrong. However what I am saying is look closer to home. Instead of blaming someone else for things not going right, what can you change in yourself to make the situation better?

But social commentary is not the aim here.

So last chapter I didn’t actually get to the story, so here it is. With the Israelites being oppressed and beaten down by Sisera, the prophetess Deborah was leading Israel and she sends this bloke, Barak, son of Abinoam to send Sisera and his armies packing. Barak’s not convinced, and he tells Deborah that he’s not going unless she comes too.

And so begins a feminist’s favourite bible story!

Deborah says sure, she’ll go with him, but because he’s asking her to come with, he won’t get to be the hero. The villain of the piece, Sisera, will instead be handed over to a woman – and that woman’s name is Jael. Sisera’s on the run from the Israelites and decides to pull in for a pit stop at Jael’s tent. With refreshments provided, he decides to have a nap, and while he’s napping, Jael takes a tent peg and hammer and pins his head to the ground.

Charming, no?

Anyway, in chapter 5, Deborah sings about it. There’s actually not a real lot to say here, because a lot of the song is retelling the story that we just went through, but in lyrical format. What I will say, though, is that song is powerful.

I love the first couple of verses, especially.

“When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves -
praise the LORD!” ~ Judges 5:2

My relationship with God is one where he is constantly reminding me of the heritage he adopted me into, not to boost my own ego (believe me, it doesn’t really help there), but to remind me of just how powerful He is. He’s a king, not just any king but the king over Heaven, Earth and everything created, and the thing is that he brought me into his family as his son and heir to that kingdom.

Just like he did for you.

We are all princes and princesses, and what we can take from this chapter is a mission to lead.

God hasn’t called us as his children, as his heirs and as his soldiers to hide behind others. He hasn’t called us to hide behind the walls of the kingdom where it’s safe and protected. He calls us to lead. Read that verse again:

“When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves -
praise the LORD!”

 When we take the lead, he is to be praised. He is to be glorified. When we lead, God’s light is shone into the darkness.

God’s calling you to be a leader – that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re meant to run a church or build a ministry, but it does mean that you are called to be the example to those people around you. God hasn’t called you to himself to hide in the shadows. He hasn’t called you to sit quietly and acquiesce when others around you are going down the wrong path. He’s called you to lead. To stand up and show them that there’s a better way, God’s way.

In which situation in your life can you lead and be an example for your King and Father?