Daily Journey: April 23rd

Judges 6:1-7:25, John 19:23-42

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage:

And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house [Jud. 6:15].

Now consider for a moment the position Gideon occupies in his own thinking. He said in effect, “You certainly are not asking me to do this. To begin with, I belong to the nation Israel. We are now under the heel of the Midianites.” It was bad enough to be under Egypt, but imagine being under these nomads of the desert, the Midianites! “We are in slavery. Here we are hiding, and here I am threshing at the foot of the hill. And you come and call me? Well, to begin with, the tribe of Manasseh (one of the sons of Joseph) is not noted for anything; we have had no conspicuous men. In the tribe of Manasseh, my family is not very well known. We are sort of ne’er-do-wells. We are not prominent folk. In my family I happen to be the very least one. You made a big mistake in calling me because you happen to have called the smallest pebble that is on the beach.” Honestly, this man felt that he was the last man in Israel to be used of God. And do you know that he was right? He was the last man in Israel that God should have called.

Our problem today, friend, is that most of us are too strong for God to use. Most of us are too capable for God to use. You notice that God uses only weak men, don’t you? First Corinthians 1:26–27 tells us that this is so…. God used all of these judges but not because they were capable or outstanding. Does that encourage you, friend? (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, © 1981 by J. Vernon McGee