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Jesus: The Man Who Changed History

Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of Esther

A Pretty Big Deal by Megan Marshman

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 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Gideon</div><div class="p"> 1The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.</div><div class="p"> 7When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8he sent them a prophet, who said, &#8220;This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you, &#8216;I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.&#8217; But you have not listened to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, &#8220;The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, &#8216;Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?&#8217; But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The Lord turned to him and said, &#8220;Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian&#8217;s hand. Am I not sending you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Pardon me, my lord,&#8221; Gideon replied, &#8220;but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16The Lord answered, &#8220;I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Gideon replied, &#8220;If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">And the Lord said, &#8220;I will wait until you return.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah#6:19 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.</div><div class="p"> 20The angel of God said to him, &#8220;Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.&#8221; And Gideon did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, &#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23But the Lord said to him, &#8220;Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.</div><div class="p"> 25That same night the Lord said to him, &#8220;Take the second bull from your father&#8217;s herd, the one seven years old.#6:25 Or Take a full-grown, mature bull from your father&#8217;s herd Tear down your father&#8217;s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole#6:25 That is, a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah; also in verses 26, 28 and 30 beside it. 26Then build a proper kind of#6:26 Or build with layers of stone an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second#6:26 Or full-grown; also in verse 28 bull as a burnt offering.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.</div><div class="p"> 28In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal&#8217;s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!</div><div class="p"> 29They asked each other, &#8220;Who did this?&#8221;</div><div class="p">When they carefully investigated, they were told, &#8220;Gideon son of Joash did it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30The people of the town demanded of Joash, &#8220;Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal&#8217;s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, &#8220;Are you going to plead Baal&#8217;s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.&#8221; 32So because Gideon broke down Baal&#8217;s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal#6:32 Jerub-Baal probably means let Baal contend. that day, saying, &#8220;Let Baal contend with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.</div><div class="p"> 36Gideon said to God, &#8220;If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised&#8212; 37look, 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.&#8221; 38And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew&#8212;a bowlful of water.</div><div class="p"> 39Then Gideon said to God, &#8220;Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.&#8221; 40That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.</div>
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 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Concerning Married Life</div><div class="p"> 1Now for the matters you wrote about: &#8220;It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.&#8221; 2But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.</div><div class="p"> 8Now to the unmarried#7:8 Or widowers and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.</div><div class="p"> 10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.</div><div class="p"> 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.</div><div class="p"> 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?</div><div class="s1">Concerning Change of Status</div><div class="p"> 17Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God&#8217;s commands is what counts. 20Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="p"> 21Were you a slave when you were called? Don&#8217;t let it trouble you&#8212;although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord&#8217;s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ&#8217;s slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="s1">Concerning the Unmarried</div><div class="p"> 25Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord&#8217;s mercy is trustworthy. 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.</div><div class="p"> 29What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.</div><div class="p"> 32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs&#8212;how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how he can please his wife&#8212; 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 36If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong#7:36 Or if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.#7:36-38 Or 36 If anyone thinks he is not treating his daughter properly, and if she is getting along in years (or if her passions are too strong), and he feels she ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. He should let her get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind to keep the virgin unmarried&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who gives his virgin in marriage does right, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.</div><div class="p"> 39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is&#8212;and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.</div>
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