Grace and Peace

    Pastor Ben preached out of Judges 6:1-24 and how God used Gideon to rescue the Israelites from captivity. One themes of the Israelites, especially in the Old Testament is that things go well, then the Israelites get cocky and do what is right in their own eyes, God punishes them by sending them into captivity and the Israelites eventually repents, God forgives them and delivers them from captivity and then all is well. This cycle happens a number of times throughout the Old Testament 

  One of the things that caught my eye is how often do we blame God for our own stupidity and for the situations we get ourselves into? We often want to take responsibility for the good things we do, but when we do something stupid, or even sin, we blame God and or others. We blame God for not taking that temptation away or we wouldn’t have said something that was hurtful if the other person didn’t say what they said or done what they did. In essence, we enjoy quite well playing the victim card and somehow try to escape our punishment. Here is where the rubber meets the road and that is we may not be able to control what others do or say, but we can control our response. God Gave us the gift of a free will, so we can make choices on how we respond. How respond often reveals our heart and our intentions. Consequences, both good and bad are a result of our actions and intentions. They often point out the direction we are going. 

  How often do we make excuses? When God called Gideon to go rescue the nation of Israel from the Midianites, Gideon came up with every excuse not too. He claimed that he was the weakest of his clan and his tribe was the weakest of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Making excuses is nothing new and famous Biblical characters made them also. The biggest one was Moses. When God called him to go free His people, he claimed that he stuttered and that he wasn’t nothing to look at. We often make excuses because it will make us uncomfortable and it is going to cost us something great. We are more concerned with our comfort than doing what God calls us to do. 

  Gideon decided to obey God and go rescue the nation of Israel, here is my question for all of us. When we do this, we are being obedient, even thou we may be entering a storm and we have a peace about doing it. Could it be fixing a broken relationship or making better health decisions, no matter the what comes our way. Here is the thing about Gods peace, it doesn’t mean the absent of strife, but it is our condition and who we trust. The cool thing about Gods peace is that we don’t get it when the battle is over, but it often comes during the battle. In John 14, Jesus is celebrating His last Passover meal with His disciples before He is beaten, crucified and resurrected. The disciples are scared with what Jesus is telling them. Jesus tells them the peace He gives them and peace is what He is leaving them. Gods peace is that comfort that goes beyond human explanation and it keeps us focused and calm. Gods peace is knowing what we are doing is right, no matter the chaos that is going on around us or what others may say, because God is whispering in our ear His comfort, approval and direction.

  I will close with this, Gods peace doesn’t always mean that things will be put back together here on earth. Even though Gideon rescued the Israelites, the Midianites were still out there as neighbors. Or we tried to put the marriage back together but still ended in divorce because of a cheating spouse. The list goes on, but it is seeking God with all we have, even in the midst of the chaos and taking comfort in His grace, goodness and holiness. 

Grace and Peace

Tom