I will be with you.

The book of Judges. I am amazed at how little scripture I actually know. There's so much stuff in the Old Testament I have never read. I guess that's because early in my walk I prioritized the New Testament.

Regardless.

Reading about Gideon is a relief, I think because his struggles in his encounters with God resemble mine.

"But Lord , " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."


Not that I'm lacking self confidence (quite the opposite, I'm actually pretty egotistical, all things considered), I just don't always live as if I believe the Lord's promises. "Ask and you shall receive" isn't easy for me to believe.

So anyways, what is the Lord's answer to Gideon's unbelief? "I will be with you." That's such an incredible promise. Just today I realized how amazing that is, that He is always here. Always. When I'm eating, running, sleeping, blogging... He's here. What a strength and comfort that is! If God is with me... in the words of Psalm 27: "whom shall I fear?"

Right, well I got a little off topic but this has been similarity number 1.

Number two:

^"36 Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised- ³⁷ look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." ³⁸ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." ⁴⁰ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew."

Twice Gideon tests God in this way AFTER Gideon has already destroyed a temple of Baal at God's command; in other words he's already done righteous acts in God's name. In fact Gideon has already fully realized that he is conversing with the angel of the Lord (²² When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!").

It'd be easy to look at Gideon and think "What an IDIOT!! He's literally speaking to God face to face- and yet he's still unbelieving." But the thing is, I do the same thing- I don't doubt that He exists, that His word is true, that when I pray He hears me, and that when I listen for it I can hear Him... but then I'll still hesitate to follow through with what God is asking of me. I'll doubt myself, whether I'm just hearing what I want to hear or if I really am hearing from God... just like Gideon.

I would like to find a 3rd similarity, just because that's the way I was taught to write, and 3 is a biblical number, but I guess I haven't read far enough in Judges to find number 3 just yet! But I'm sure I will have more to come in the future on where my faith takes me... and you can read about it! That's why I made this blog in the first place.

Alright then, I guess that's about all for now... I wanted to leave you with some lyrics from a worship song, God of 3 Strings. I think it's pretty well known but I have no idea. Anyways, here you go:

"I will be with you all day long
walking through rooms inside your home,
and when the hours have quickly flown
I will be with you to stay on.

I will be with you all day long,
I'll be the summer, wind and song.
And when the sound of evening comes,
I would've been with you all day long."

You guys... He's here.