Our Daily Bread 25th July 2020 Devotional – Plod On!
TODAY’S TOPIC: PLOD ON!
Bible in a Year: Psalms 37–39; Acts 26
Key Verse: “Am I not sending you?” – Judges 6:14
Today’s Scripture: Judges 6:7–16 (NIV)
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight: Our Daily Bread 25th July 2020 Devotional
The time of the Judges is an approximately 330-year period after Joshua’s death (Judges 2:8) to the beginning of Saul’s reign as king (1 Samuel 13:1). This was a chaotic time when a new generation of Israelites who didn’t know God turned from Him to worship idols (Judges 2:10–14).
“Everyone did as they saw fit” (17:6; 21:25), so God raised various neighboring nations to discipline them. When they repented, God raised judges—political and military leaders—to lead them. Gideon is the fifth of thirteen judges in this book (Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelek, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson).
Message: Our Daily Bread 25th July 2020 Devotional
God loves to use people the world might overlook. William Carey was raised in a tiny village in the 1700s and had little formal education. He had limited success in his chosen trade and lived in poverty. But God gave him a passion for sharing the good news and called him to be a missionary. Carey learned Greek, Hebrew, and Latin and eventually translated the first New Testament into the Bengali language. Today he is regarded as a “father of modern missions,” but in a letter to his nephew he offered this humble assessment of his abilities: “I can plod. I can persevere.”
When God calls us to a task, He also gives us strength to accomplish it regardless of our limitations. In Judges 6:12 the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” The angel then told him to rescue Israel from the Midianites who were raiding their towns and crops. But Gideon, who hadn’t earned the title of “mighty warrior,” humbly responded, “How can I save Israel? . . . I am the least in my family” (v. 15). Still, God used Gideon to set His people free.
The key to Gideon’s success was in the words, “the Lord is with you” (v. 12). As we humbly walk with our Savior and rely on His strength, He will empower us to accomplish what’s only possible through Him. By: James Banks
Reflect: What’s God calling you to do that you can’t do in your own strength? How can you rely on His power today?
Today’s Prayer: Thank You for empowering me, my Savior and my strength! Please help me to follow You closely.
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