Gideon wins the war against the Midianites, righteously refuses to be king and judges Israel for forty years. Yet in making the ephod, he sets Israel up for their next plunge into idolatry and rebellion.
Moses is dead. Joshua must accept the fact and take his role as leader of the Israelites.
Perhaps the most prevalent sin of the Christian today is that of complaining. It is in our nature. How many things have we murmured or complained about today and we were not even conscious of it? In our heart we have strategically placed complaining as one of the smaller sins or perhaps not even sin at all. God, however, has a different outlook on the matter and we would do well to adopt God’s viewpoint versus our own. God tells us in His word “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”, and in another place He says “and be ye thankful”. Complaining is not so. As such we ought to learn what the scriptures say about complaining and take heed to its warnings.
When all goes wrong and we think God has turned against us, we are wrong. He may be just setting things up for a great time of blessing.
We look on service today as something beneath our dignity. However, Jesus said, “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”. And here, in this passage, a temporary servant becomes a lifetime servant of his own free will. What is the Lord trying to teach us?
