Judges 6:15 “So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."
Exchanging Excuses for Confidence in God was our cry yesterday. An excuse is an attempt to try to remove blame from. The direction we took on that yesterday was we are trying to remove blame from ourselves for not leading a life worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). Excuses cause us to lead lives that accept less yet we are always upset that we aren’t getting more. Elkanah confronted Hannah about her “bad heart” and that confrontation spurred a great change in Hannah.
Take some time and read about the life of Gideon in Judges 6 – 8. I love Gideon’s line in response to the Angel of the Lord’s call to Gideon telling him to go out and save Israel from the hand off the Midianites. Read it again in Judges 6:15 at the start of this Post Sunday Devotional.
I heard one speaker describe what Gideon said in this manner. What Gideon was saying was that he was the worst of the worst. In other words, he played in the NBA on the worst team and even on the worst team he rode the bench!
Depending on the amount of excuses that flow forth from our mouths it very well may be a reflection of how we view ourselves. Gideon clearly viewed his worth as virtually useless and never expected to be of any value to anyone at anytime. In order to avoid potential failure, embarrassment or death, Gideon said, I’m not good enough.
Try to recall the last excuse you gave someone? Why did you give it? To protect yourself? If you were completely honest do you think your character would have come under investigation? So instead you said, well, I know you really wanted this report to be complete and told me to get info from Frank, but I guess Frank was having a rough day that is why I wasn’t able to get the information you needed in the report. In reality yes Frank was having a rough day, but you went to him too late or you failed to find a way to appease Frank or you were intimidated by Frank or you fill in the blank. Do you think the excuse was protecting you from having a character flaw revealed?
Why is it that Adam and Eve’s hiding from God is the pattern so many of us often times follow? Why didn’t Adam and Eve just stand out in the open and say, hey we really messed up? Why didn’t Gideon instead ask, alright what do I do? Instead he chose to hide behind his family’s seemingly un-heroic past?
Why do we hide behind excuses? Check out the end of verse 14 in Judges chapter 6….the Angel of the Lord said, “Have I not sent you?” Ahhhh! Would you not love for an angel or God Himself to be standing right in front of you telling you that He is sending you! Would you not just say, yeah, OK, if it is you sending me than absolutely, there is no way I can lose! It would seem that this would yield instant confidence in God, yet Gideon doesn’t seem to catch that same feeling. How could Gideon try to hide when it was clear that God wanted Him?
I want to point out two quick things for you to sit and ponder on.
1. Despite Gideon’s attempted excuse to excuse himself, God repeated His confidence in Gideon (verse 16) and He is willing to wait for you (v18).
God loves you. If He didn’t Jesus wouldn’t have died for you (John 3:16) and then He wouldn’t have taken up His dwelling place with you (Colossians 1:27). You can have complete confidence in God!
2. Despite Gideon’s supposed dedication to God there still remained areas that kept him away from God. (Judges 6:26-27)
The whole time Gideon was questioning God’s supposed devotion to him there was an altar to another god (Baal) in the background! How often is our confidence in God not as strong as it should be because we have something in the background that we are devoted to, addicted to, lusting after, coveting, etc. Sometimes our confidence in God seems really weak not because God isn’t present, but because we’ve allowed something other than God to be present in our lives. Take some time and check out your surroundings. You may be surprised what you are allowing in your life that is taking away from your confidence in God.
Read the rest of the story and see how God removes all doubt in Gideon’s mind about the confidence that can be had in God!
Questions to Ask Yourself?
1. How often do I make excuses rather than show confidence? Why?
2. What recent promises of God have I learned during my Bible reading time, Sunday services, small groups etc. that are calling me to show more confidence in God?
Pastor e
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This past Sunday we witnessed three individuals get baptized at New Heights. I really look forward to attending baptisms. I am always flooded with so many positive emotions and recall my own baptism and how special that was.
These three individuals didn't make excuses but showed confidence in publicly demonstrating their love for God. What amazing and inspiring testimonies they gave.
Congratulations Jesse, Jessica, and Pat.
This week was our first sermon based small group dealing with excuses. I believe that having the twenty questions to look at in advance promoted great discussion and allowed more people to participate in the discussion. This really drove home the message that was presented on Sunday. It also allowed me to honestly assess were I am in my relationship with God. I realized that I need to work on some things and both the questions and the discussion helped me sort this out. Thanks Pastor E for the work that you put into these questions.
It is easy to come up with all kinds of excuses as to why I don't or didn't do something. But I think excuses will eventually lead to regrets. I don't want to look back and regret how I led my life while in this world. I want to look forward to living a life that honors God.
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse -
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