I am still running behind in getting these finished and published. Today it is because my main computer is not working properly. I am pretty sure I can fix it, but I did not have the time today. On the other hand, in some ways this break in my routine has helped me see these passages in a different light.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Once more the Israelites did evil in God’s sight and He allowed them to be oppressed by raiding peoples, primarily Midianites. Whenever the Israelites would plant crops, raiders would come and camp in the land, destroying the crops and taking the Israelites’ livestock. This left the Israelites with little to eat. They called out to the Lord for help and He heard them. God sent a prophet to tell the people how they had failed to follow His commands and had worshiped the gods of those other peoples among whom they lived.
     God, also, sent a messenger to Gideon. The messenger (the word translated angel means something like “divine messenger”) told Gideon that the Lord was with him. Gideon responded that if the Lord was with him, how come the Israelites were being oppressed by the Midianites? And why didn’t they see the great miracles that their ancestors had told of? The messenger then told him to go with the strength that he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites, God was sending him. Gideon responds that he came from the weakest clan of his tribe and his family was the weakest of his clan, how could he defeat the Midianites? The messenger told Gideon that God would be with him and he would defeat the Midianites as if there was only one of them.
     Gideon then asked the messenger for a sign that this was really a message from God. He requested that the messenger remain until he could return with his offering. The messenger agrees to wait for him to return. When Gideon returned with his offering (which from the description would have taken some time to prepare), the messenger told him to lay it out on a rock, pouring the broth over it. Once Gideon had done this, the messenger touched the offering with the tip of his staff and fire burst forth from the rock consuming it and the messenger disappeared. Gideon was terrified because he had seen the angel of God face to face. God told him not to be afraid, that he would not die because of this.
     That night God told Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole that was next to it. He was then to build an altar to God in its place and sacrifice one of his father’s bulls upon it, using the wood from the Asherah pole for the fire. Gideon took 10 servants and followed these instructions during the night out of fear of his family and the townspeople. When the townspeople discovered what he had done, they demanded that his father turn him over to them to be killed. His father asked them what was the point of worshiping Baal if Baal was unable to defend his altar?
     Shortly after this a large force of the raiding armies invaded Israelite land once more. Gideon sent out a call to arms to the tribes in the vicinity. While Gideon was waiting for the Israelites to assemble, he asked God for a sign. Gideon placed a fleece on the ground over night. He asked God that if he, Gideon, was to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites the fleece would be wet in the morning, but the ground would be dry. In the morning, the fleece was so wet that Gideon wrung a bowl full of water out it, yet the ground was dry. But Gideon was not satisfied, he asked for a second sign. Once more he put a fleece on the ground over night. This time he asked that the ground be damp and the fleece dry. Again, Gideon received the sign he had asked for and the fleece was dry.
     There is a lot in this passage. However, there is something I never noticed before. When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance, God sent a prophet to tell them that they had sinned. A casual reading of the passage might lead one to think that the prophet was Gideon, but it does not read that way to me. As I read this passage today, I envisioned Gideon hearing this prophet speak and being inspired to serve God and turn from idol worship. Then he receives a visitor who encourages him to not only turn from idol worship, but to fight back against it. As I read the passage today, it struck me that there was a combination of actual physical messengers from God and the Spirit moving in Gideon’s heart. I think there are a series of steps we can see in this passage.
     First God sent a prophet out to call the people of Israel to repentance. One of those who heard and heeded this call was Gideon. But he was not alone, others throughout Israel heard and responded to the call. However, none of them quite knew what to do. Then God sent a messenger to Gideon who told him to stand up for what he believed in, God would be with him. Thus encouraged to act, the first thing Gideon did was destroy the places where those closest to him conducted idol worship. Word certainly spread of Gideon’s actions and Gideon was emboldened by his success. When the Midianites returned once more, Gideon sent out a call to those who trusted God to join him in confronting them. The point is that when Gideon felt God’s call to serve Him, he did not start with attacking those oppressing his people. Gideon started by tearing down the altars where he and his family had worshiped idols and setting up a place to worship God in their place. He started locally and led by example.

center>Luke 22:54-23:12

     Those who had accompanied Judas arrested Jesus and led Him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed behind at a distance. Some of those there lit a fire in the courtyard and Peter joined them. A servant girl saw Peter sitting there and told the others that he had been with Jesus. Peter told her emphatically that he did not know Him. After a bit, someone else said to Peter that he must be one of them. Again Peter denied it, speaking even more emphatically. About an hour later, a third person said that Peter must be one of Jesus’ followers because he was a Galilean. Peter denied this even more strongly (and possibly loudly). At that moment the rooster crowed and Jesus turned and looked at Peter. It was at that point that Peter recalled that Jesus has said that he would deny Him three times. Peter left the courtyard and wept bitterly. Do I feel the same level of shame and remorse for those times I have denied Christ? I am afraid that I do not and did not, but I am striving to learn to care so deeply that in the future I will. It seems strange to say that I wish I was more ashamed of what I had done, but perhaps we would all be better off if instead of attempting to feel less embarrassed by the bad things we have done, we strove to feel more embarrassed about them.
     At daybreak the council of elders of the people met together and had Jesus brought before them. They asked Him if He was the Messiah. Jesus answered that if He told them they would not believe Him. And if He asked them they would not answer (I believe a reference to their response when He asked them by what authority John the Baptist baptized). He concluded by saying that going forward the Son of Man would be seated on the right hand of God. The council then asked if He was saying that He was the Son of God. Jesus replied, “You say that I am.” At this the council needed no more testimony, they had heard Jesus say that which they considered blasphemy.
     The council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and told him that Jesus was preaching insurrection against Rome. Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. Jesus answered Pilate, “You have said so.” Pilate returned to the Jewish council and told them that he found no basis to charge Jesus. The council replied that Jesus had stirred up riots from Galilee to Jerusalem. When Pilate realized that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at the time. Herod was happy for the chance to question Jesus, hoping that He would perform a miraculous sign. Herod questioned Jesus for some time and got no answer, while the Jewish leaders hurled accusations against Jesus. Herod and His soldiers began ridiculing and mocking Jesus. Finally Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.

center>Psalm 95-96:13

     The psalmist calls on us to joyfully sing praises to the Lord. This is another one of those psalms which I cannot summarize a lesson out of that says it any shorter than what the psalmist wrote. Let us praise the Lord and sing to Him. I will proclaim the good news that He saves. I want to learn to do this every day to anyone who will listen. I want those who know me to either be saying the same thing or, “Yeah, I got it, you think God can help me with my problems.” I not only think He can help, I know that He can help.

center>Proverbs 14:5-6

     The first proverb tells us that either we are honest and do not lie or we breathe lies. I do not think it is quite that simple, but if we do not strive to always be completely honest, we will end up lying continuously.
     The second proverb tells us that if we mock others in our attempt to find wisdom, wisdom will elude us. While those who strive to understand others will learn easily.