When God Takes Things Away | Judges 7 | Crossroads Daily

Something's just not that deep. Like, we are very simple-minded creatures, and I wanted to bring this up of, I think it's so funny that God lets Gideon test him in the previous chapter, in chapter 6, because he doesn't always do that. He's like, you, you're not testing me, I'm God, I'm going to do what I want, I'm not going to humor you with your request. But he does with Gideon, and I was like, I was writing in my Bible, like, why are you doing that? This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck, I'm Jamie, I'm Kirsten, I'm Miko. And we are continuing in the story of Gideon. And there's a line, I just want to go right there, there's a line early in the reading where God says to Gideon, when he has 22,000, however many men, he's like, this is too many, this is too many. I can't deliver Midian into your hands with this many men, because if I do, Israel's going to boast. What God, you could, you could play that out and say, God, that sounds petty, right? Like, why does God always be about you guys? Oh my gosh, you have to be the hero. But like, obviously, that's a misunderstanding. Why is God so very clear about that and very consistent about him getting the glory? What do you guys think about that? Yeah. I mean, I think the easy answer is that if anybody is entitled to, you know, have the glory about themselves, it's God. I think that, I don't know. So that's where my mind naturally goes. But even still, it's like, okay, but why?

You know what I'm saying? Like, why is it so? And I think there's other passages when he says, like, I won't share my glory with anyone else. It's one of those things where I'm like, of all of the different attributes of God, like, that doesn't even look well on me because we're so undeserving of that posture. Like it's like, I pushed the chair and did anybody see that? Did anybody see how well I pushed the chair? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like, that's what, so it's, for me, it just is, it forces me to just like retreat back to just like such a like, humble posture, like, okay, God, like, I just have to like, almost like, why do I even, I won't even question you. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's kind of what I really have to like, play out in my own heart. I think God doesn't like to leave the door open for question or doubt in that space. And so, yeah, he could have, they could have conquered Midian with the 22 or however many thousand. And then, like he said, like, you would be able to say, like, we did this on my own. We were able to do this. God wasn't needed. And so I do think like, part of it's his character, like, he's doing this so the people will know. Even though there's so many countless examples of like, how he is God and how he's delivered them, because we have the shortest attention span, we need a reminder. And so God is like, I'm not going to open the door for this. This is about my character and how I'm providing for you all. But also it's a protection. Because I think if they went and did it, they would be like, look what I did. Okay. Have you ever seen the movie Coach Carter? Yeah.

Okay. I love this scene because they're like high school kids playing basketball and they, they're boasting when they're at practice, like, oh, I, so he was like, okay, run it again. And then he is the coach is like, oh, I did that. Look at me. I ran up that play. And the kids were getting so like frustrated with him. I think God like thinks that's what we would do. Like if we orchestrate the thing, then we would be saying like, oh, this is for my pride. This is for my game. This is for my glory. And he's like, there's no humility. Let me build on that. I don't think he thinks it's what we would do. Yeah. He knows. It is what we would do. Right. And it is what we do. Yes. Yeah. No. And I love what you're saying, though, is like, so there's a protection here for us. Right. God is protecting Gideon and Israel from something that would be deadly for them. Yes. Yeah. Yes. That pride. Yeah.

That we can do it. Yeah. Would be deadly because it would just cause a, I never forget, there was a guy, I think And he defined ego as edging God out as that always that always stuck with me because it's like, that's that's exactly whenever I'm in my ego, whenever I'm in my own pride, I am slowly but surely edging God out. And that is that's a dangerous place to be because the Bible is very clear when it says God opposes. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. If you wouldn't have said that, that's what I was about. You want to get God? You want to get God opposing you? No. God is the creator of the universe opposing you and he opposed the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So there's something there. So yeah. Kirsten, what's the resolution for you? I just keep looking at this, this phrase, like he doesn't want them to say my own hand saved me. Right. And I totally agree that it is a protection thing. I think God actually gives us a ton of commands that are not. not to put us in our place or whatever. It is genuinely just to protect us in this world. And if we go walking through life being like, oh, I'm the only one that can save myself. What a horrible place to live in.

That is not at all one, you're not strong enough to do that. Like, sorry, but even if they did go in with 22,000, I think they would have just gotten destroyed. We know this because God is the one that holds all power and can do so with 300. I don't even know what the fraction of that is, but it's insane. Like, I just, I love it. You know, it's interesting. So like, you know, and I've heard this taught a bunch of different ways and it gets to what you're saying. Like God ultimately just wanted to make it very clear that like, he's the rescuer. So you may have heard people say like, hey, you know, God said, have them, the ones who lap water, you know, versus the ones who kneel. And the reason that the ones who kneel got sent home is because they were connected to idol worship. And that may be true, but a couple of commentators also say it, God might've just been like, whichever one more people do. That's the point I'm getting at. That's the point I'm getting at. Does it not have to be that deep? Some things are just not that deep. Like we are very simple minded creatures. And like, I wanted to bring this up of, I think it's so funny that God lets Gideon test him in the previous chapter, in chapter six.

Cause he doesn't always do that. He's like, you're not testing me. I'm God, I'm gonna do what I want. I'm not gonna humor you with your requests. But he does with Gideon. And I was like, I was writing in my Bible like, why are you doing that? Because you don't always do that. And here he's like testing Gideon. I think it's funny, cause he could have knocked it down to 300 if he wanted to. But it was like a test after test after test to see how many times Gideon will obey him until he is at a place that is like truly glorifying of the Lord and trusting. It's just so fun. That's what I hear in that trust and like humility. Cause it's like how, imagine in that play out in any, you know, day to day, you know, today, like, okay, at your job, I'm going to decrease your salary to this much. Will you still stay? Okay, now I'm gonna decrease it to this much. You know what I mean? So let me stop you right there. God told me I could walk. Right, like, I think it's just so like, you know what I mean? Like, we have our versions of what that may look like.

And then I see Gideon's response to that. And to me, it's like, okay, Lord, like I pray to have that posture as it feels like, you know, whatever, decrease in my own life or whatever the case may be. Like, I think that's the takeaway for me there. Like, will you have that posture and still, you know, go for it? Cause this is life or death. You know what I'm saying? It's not like, just like, oh, I lose my apartment. It's like, no, 300. Exactly. It's not. I mean, I love the World Cup. I'm watching the World Cup. But this is not the World Cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. That's so good. All right, let's make it personal. Where is this playing out in your life? Where are you in a Gideon kind of faith moment in your life? And I'll share one. It's probably gonna be a three line from my whole year. Our oldest is going into his senior year. And so he's gonna be going to college next fall. And man, there's so much about this transition that just, it just requires such trust. It just requires such trust.

I can't make this decision for Nathan. I can't, like, it's gotta be his decision. There are certain things that need to play out for him to land in the places that he wants to land. And it's just like, gosh, it's just a reminder that the whole parenting journey is a faith walk. This is a new chapter of it for us and our family. And then it's like, well, what is our family on the other side of this too? Because we're gonna be different when he's not around all the time, assuming that he goes to school away from us. And so I feel like for me, that's the moment. And it does come down to, I hate to say it, but it comes down to money. Like, you know, I've told my kids, like, look, your mom and I, we have saved what we can save for college. We aren't stroking a check for you to go to any college. Like, this is not gonna be our reality. And so we need God to show up. And it's trusting that God will show up in the ways that he has always shown up for our family. So I find myself regularly in this season remembering the ways that God has literally made a way for us financially. Because we need him to make a way financially in lots of ways to step into this. Yeah, we have a similar financial trusting journey that we've been in. My husband has lost his job twice in the past,

a little over a year now. And we have two kiddos. And it's so easy to see half your income. I work full-time, he works full-time. Neither of us, we're both romantics. Like, we don't care about making a big paycheck. But it is like so cool. You never think like, oh, half of our income is gone now. Like, we'll be fine. fine. And we have actually been more than fine. We have had more than we need. We moved my sister in. We don't charge her rent. We feed her. And we have not seen a dip at all. It's a really cool place. You can't really dream ahead. You're not like, let's go to Disney World next year, as much as I would love to do that. But we are in a posture of literally kneeling before our bed every night, just saying, okay, God, we have a lot less, but we know you want more. So show us what it is. That was something I learned through this podcast months ago, where we talked about our posture mattering. So that's just how I'm doing that. Well, thank you for sharing that. And I love that in that you're finding a connection with your husband, a prayer rhythm, and that. Again, God knows what we need, and he will meet our needs. It hardly ever looks like what we think. But it's always exactly what we need. So man, I wish we could go into this even more. There's so much going on back here. But man, I hope you enjoyed this. And yeah, wherever it is for you that you find yourself in a place of God taking your $22,000 down to $300,000, you can trust him. He's more than enough. That's right. Yep.