Gideon: The Leader Within Prt. 2
It was early in the morning and I could not sleep. The weight of being the provider of the home was weighing me down. My job at the time was barley meeting the needs of my family. I was given a cut in pay and “politics” was beginning to dictate my future. Something needed to change. As I lay in bed, my mind was going a hundred miles per hour. How was I going to supply the needs for my family? How was I going to fulfill that call if I could not even take care of my family? Oh, I was frustrated and hurting. At that moment I was done with ministry! I needed a better job. Then in the moment of the silence I began to shoot the breeze with God. I remember telling God, “Lord I know you have called me. I know that you are a God who provides. Yet I am done! I am done with ministry! I have listened and I have acted, yet my family still struggles”. Then I threw my fleece out to God. “For years I have followed your direction. Yet tonight I am done with ministry, unless You provide a new way to meet the needs of my family! I cannot continue to sacrifice my family for ministry. Lord, if you want me to fulfill the call You placed on my life then open another door. If not then close this chapter of my life…release me from my call so that I can find a better job to meet the needs of my family.”
Last week we looked at the “fears” of Gideon and how God sees who we really are, even when we don’t. Here was Gideon being told that he was chosen to deliver his people. He was even called a “mighty warrior”. Gideon was even told, “I will be with you”. I can imagine Gideon hearing this and thinking, “No way!” You even hear his excuse in Judges 6:15 when he says “ My clan is the weakest and I am the least in my family.” Yet we see the “TEST”.
Test #1: “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.”
The Scripture tells us that Gideon went to prepare an offering. He comes back and places it before the messenger of the Lord. As Gideon places his “test” before the Angel he is told to pour out the broth. I am guessing over the offering, and if so the food would have been soaked. (It kind of reminds me of another event when a certain prophet (Elijah) poured water on his offering in front of the prophets of Baal and then God did his miracle!) As the offering is presented we are told that the angle of the Lord touched the offering with his staff and the soaked continents were consumed by fire! I believe that the offering was soaked with the broth because God wanted to get his point across to Gideon…What I said, I will do! We are told that Gideon realizes that this encounter is more than a casual meeting between two men, but a supernatural event. Gideon filled with confidence builds an altar and calls it Jehovah-shalom, meaning “God our peace”. Why would he call it “God our Peace”? I believe that at that moment he knew that God was in total control. And when we realize that God is in total control, it brings peace, no matter if we cannot see what lies ahead.
After my discussion with God I threw out a “test”. I went to work the next day frustrated and depressed. Here I was supposed to be an example to my students, an inspiration, yet I was so torn inside. My mind kept wondering throughout the day. Every quiet moment would be filled with a discussion with God waiting for an answer. Silence. You know the silence that screams out to you, “Hello? Are you there?” Then a week later, out of the blue my wife comes by my classroom and says, “I need to talk to you!” Now that was unusual, unless there was an emergency. So my mind was racing and thinking, “Great! What now?” She went on to share with me that she was dropping off a Mary Kay order to a client at another local Christian elementary/Jr. High school. She had just spent an hour with the superintendent of the school, who proceeded to share with her the vision of a new Christian high school with an emphasis on discipleship. They were getting ready to open up the following school year, so they were putting together their team of teachers. The superintendent had heard what I had been doing at my current school and been eager to meet with me, but because of not wanting to create conflict with my current school, he had been praying for an opportunity to let me know of this new venture. My wife, the vessel, walks into the school office, and is introduced to him. The answer to his prayer. As my wife shared with me the details of this opportunity, she ended by saying, “If you are interested, you need to pursue it.” At that moment I received an answer to my “test”. For the first time in weeks I felt peace. Peace, that heard God say, “I have heard your request.”
Test #2: The Fleece
To make sure that the call of God to go into battle was not a figment of his imagination we see Gideon “shoot the breeze” with God. He wanted to make sure that this was God and not his own ambitions.
Here goes Gideon with his army of 32,000. Gideon full of confidence is told by God, “Gideon, you have to many men! Announce to the men, ‘If you are scared, you can go home”. Scripture tells us 22,000 leave! That’s 69% of his army gone! If you lost 69% of your workers in one day, you can close shop! Can you imagine as Gideon stood there with his leaders and watched 22,000 men leave? Let’s get a visual of this. If you were standing at center court at Staples Center in Los Angeles on game night, you would clear out the arena! The Stapels Center holds about 19,000 on game night! I am sure the confidence of Gideon took a hit. He had 10,000 men left and I am sure he believed God would do something great. Yet once again God tells him, “Gideon, you still have to many!” I could hear Gideon say, “What?!” After sifting through the men, 300 are left! That is a 97% cut from his 10,000 men! A 99% cut from what he originally started with! Yet with 300 men we read about a great victory that changed the future of Gideon’s surroundings!
This event in my life was a turning point for me. I needed to know that the call God placed on my life some twenty years earlier was legit. That He had me where he wanted me. I wanted to make sure that I did not make a mistake after all these years. I needed to know that He was not done with me yet. After the day my wife shared with me this opportunity, I went and got an application. I filled it out. Turned it in. Went through the process of interviews and was hired! The salary package was three times what I was getting and the benefits for my family were a blessing to us! God answered…”I am not done with you yet!” For eleven years I have served at the same place. I have seen God’s faithfulness in the lives of my family. My girls are growing up to be beautiful young ladies who are sensitive to the Lord. I have seen God's faithfulness through my students as many come back and share with me how God is using them on their college campus. Last year a student touched my heart as he shared with me that he was sharing with others what he had learned in class. Then he said the following words that melted me and reminded me of the night I laid it on the line. “Mr. Limon, people are hearing your words. They are hearing your message. Because there are those of us that are taking you with us! You may be here in this classroom, but you are reaching others you cannot even see or know!” Through my wife’s business and my job God has blessed us immensely. Oh we may have our struggles at times, yet the confidence of knowing that God has us right where he wants us is priceless!
Whether in business or profession I challenge you to come before God with an attitude not to assert His will, but with one that seeks an answer for direction. You may take this or leave it…I believe God loves when we throw it all out to Him! It is a place where God can move and just like Gideon’s 300, show what He can do with just a few mighty men! Gideon could have seen the 31,700 men who left and said, “I’m done! I quit!” What amazes me about Gideon is that in the midst of these circumstances he kept moving forward. I wonder if he was reminded of the encounter with the angel of the Lord. I wonder if he thought of his fleece and the answer God gave him. It must have gone through his mind. Yet he trusted God. Maybe you are at that crossroad. Should I move forward or thrown in the towel? Business decisions need to be made that will determine your future. May I request that you lay it all down before the Lord and see what happens. Be reminded of the call that the Lord placed on your life. Be reminded of the opportunity that was presented to you as an answer to your prayers. For if there is a time for evantrepenuers to impact the marketplace with precise accuracy and anointing, it’s now! May those that we come in contact with see the glory of the Lord and His favor on us, so that our testimony may ring the praises of the acts of the Lord!
His Call. His gift to you. Your purpose. Irrevocable.
Last week we looked at the “fears” of Gideon and how God sees who we really are, even when we don’t. Here was Gideon being told that he was chosen to deliver his people. He was even called a “mighty warrior”. Gideon was even told, “I will be with you”. I can imagine Gideon hearing this and thinking, “No way!” You even hear his excuse in Judges 6:15 when he says “ My clan is the weakest and I am the least in my family.” Yet we see the “TEST”.
Test #1: “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.”
The Scripture tells us that Gideon went to prepare an offering. He comes back and places it before the messenger of the Lord. As Gideon places his “test” before the Angel he is told to pour out the broth. I am guessing over the offering, and if so the food would have been soaked. (It kind of reminds me of another event when a certain prophet (Elijah) poured water on his offering in front of the prophets of Baal and then God did his miracle!) As the offering is presented we are told that the angle of the Lord touched the offering with his staff and the soaked continents were consumed by fire! I believe that the offering was soaked with the broth because God wanted to get his point across to Gideon…What I said, I will do! We are told that Gideon realizes that this encounter is more than a casual meeting between two men, but a supernatural event. Gideon filled with confidence builds an altar and calls it Jehovah-shalom, meaning “God our peace”. Why would he call it “God our Peace”? I believe that at that moment he knew that God was in total control. And when we realize that God is in total control, it brings peace, no matter if we cannot see what lies ahead.
After my discussion with God I threw out a “test”. I went to work the next day frustrated and depressed. Here I was supposed to be an example to my students, an inspiration, yet I was so torn inside. My mind kept wondering throughout the day. Every quiet moment would be filled with a discussion with God waiting for an answer. Silence. You know the silence that screams out to you, “Hello? Are you there?” Then a week later, out of the blue my wife comes by my classroom and says, “I need to talk to you!” Now that was unusual, unless there was an emergency. So my mind was racing and thinking, “Great! What now?” She went on to share with me that she was dropping off a Mary Kay order to a client at another local Christian elementary/Jr. High school. She had just spent an hour with the superintendent of the school, who proceeded to share with her the vision of a new Christian high school with an emphasis on discipleship. They were getting ready to open up the following school year, so they were putting together their team of teachers. The superintendent had heard what I had been doing at my current school and been eager to meet with me, but because of not wanting to create conflict with my current school, he had been praying for an opportunity to let me know of this new venture. My wife, the vessel, walks into the school office, and is introduced to him. The answer to his prayer. As my wife shared with me the details of this opportunity, she ended by saying, “If you are interested, you need to pursue it.” At that moment I received an answer to my “test”. For the first time in weeks I felt peace. Peace, that heard God say, “I have heard your request.”
Test #2: The Fleece
To make sure that the call of God to go into battle was not a figment of his imagination we see Gideon “shoot the breeze” with God. He wanted to make sure that this was God and not his own ambitions.
“If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” (Judges 6:36-37)God answers by doing the exact thing Gideon requested. To just make sure it was not coincidence, he asked the opposite. Once again God answers just as Gideon requested. Can you imagine the confidence that Gideon had knowing that God’s request was not a figment of his imagination? It was real. It was tangible. It was going to come to past! Yet what strikes me about God and this story is that God always has the last say!
Here goes Gideon with his army of 32,000. Gideon full of confidence is told by God, “Gideon, you have to many men! Announce to the men, ‘If you are scared, you can go home”. Scripture tells us 22,000 leave! That’s 69% of his army gone! If you lost 69% of your workers in one day, you can close shop! Can you imagine as Gideon stood there with his leaders and watched 22,000 men leave? Let’s get a visual of this. If you were standing at center court at Staples Center in Los Angeles on game night, you would clear out the arena! The Stapels Center holds about 19,000 on game night! I am sure the confidence of Gideon took a hit. He had 10,000 men left and I am sure he believed God would do something great. Yet once again God tells him, “Gideon, you still have to many!” I could hear Gideon say, “What?!” After sifting through the men, 300 are left! That is a 97% cut from his 10,000 men! A 99% cut from what he originally started with! Yet with 300 men we read about a great victory that changed the future of Gideon’s surroundings!
This event in my life was a turning point for me. I needed to know that the call God placed on my life some twenty years earlier was legit. That He had me where he wanted me. I wanted to make sure that I did not make a mistake after all these years. I needed to know that He was not done with me yet. After the day my wife shared with me this opportunity, I went and got an application. I filled it out. Turned it in. Went through the process of interviews and was hired! The salary package was three times what I was getting and the benefits for my family were a blessing to us! God answered…”I am not done with you yet!” For eleven years I have served at the same place. I have seen God’s faithfulness in the lives of my family. My girls are growing up to be beautiful young ladies who are sensitive to the Lord. I have seen God's faithfulness through my students as many come back and share with me how God is using them on their college campus. Last year a student touched my heart as he shared with me that he was sharing with others what he had learned in class. Then he said the following words that melted me and reminded me of the night I laid it on the line. “Mr. Limon, people are hearing your words. They are hearing your message. Because there are those of us that are taking you with us! You may be here in this classroom, but you are reaching others you cannot even see or know!” Through my wife’s business and my job God has blessed us immensely. Oh we may have our struggles at times, yet the confidence of knowing that God has us right where he wants us is priceless!
Whether in business or profession I challenge you to come before God with an attitude not to assert His will, but with one that seeks an answer for direction. You may take this or leave it…I believe God loves when we throw it all out to Him! It is a place where God can move and just like Gideon’s 300, show what He can do with just a few mighty men! Gideon could have seen the 31,700 men who left and said, “I’m done! I quit!” What amazes me about Gideon is that in the midst of these circumstances he kept moving forward. I wonder if he was reminded of the encounter with the angel of the Lord. I wonder if he thought of his fleece and the answer God gave him. It must have gone through his mind. Yet he trusted God. Maybe you are at that crossroad. Should I move forward or thrown in the towel? Business decisions need to be made that will determine your future. May I request that you lay it all down before the Lord and see what happens. Be reminded of the call that the Lord placed on your life. Be reminded of the opportunity that was presented to you as an answer to your prayers. For if there is a time for evantrepenuers to impact the marketplace with precise accuracy and anointing, it’s now! May those that we come in contact with see the glory of the Lord and His favor on us, so that our testimony may ring the praises of the acts of the Lord!
His Call. His gift to you. Your purpose. Irrevocable.
Comments
Post a Comment