Plod On!

Hey everybody, it's time for another word of encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The reading for today is titled Plod On, and it was written by James Banks. God loves to use people the world might overlook. William Carey was raised in a tiny village in the 1700s and had little formal education. He had limited success in his chosen trade, and lived in poverty. But God gave him a passion for sharing the good news and called him to be a missionary.

Carey learned Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, and eventually translated the first New Testament into the Bengali language. Today he is regarded as a father of modern missions. But in a letter to his nephew, he offered this humble assessment of his abilities. I can plod. I can persevere. When God calls us to a task, he also gives us strength to accomplish it regardless of our limitations. In Judges chapter 6 verse 12, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. The angel then told him to rescue Israel from the Midianites who were raiding their towns and crops. But Gideon, who hadn't earned the title of mighty warrior, humbly responded, How can I save Israel?

I am the least in my family. Still, God used Gideon to set his people free. The key to Gideon's success was in the words, The Lord is with you. As we humbly walk with our Savior and rely on his strength, he will empower us to accomplish what's only possible through him. Now let's listen to God's word together. This is from the Old Testament book of Judges chapter 6 verses 7 through 16.

This is today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and I delivered you from the hand of all of your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord your God.

Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, but you have not listened to me. The 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. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Pardon me, my lord, Gideon replied, 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, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. The Lord turned to him and said, Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand.

Am I not sending you? Pardon me, my lord, Gideon replied, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. The Lord answered, I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive. Now let's pray. Dear God, thank you for encouraging us with the words from Philippians that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. May this be a reminder for us today when we find ourselves doubting our ability to do what we have been called to do. When we are in the center of your will, we can accomplish more than we ever imagined possible. Thank you for empowering us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.