November 25, 2021 7:00 pm
Diet Eman was an ordinary, shy young woman in the Netherlands—in love, working, and enjoying time with family and friends—when the Germans invaded in 1940. As Diet (pronounced Deet) later wrote, “When there is danger on your doorstep, you want to act almost like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.” Yet Diet felt God calling her to resist the German oppressors, which included risking her life to find hiding places for Jews and other pursued people. This unassuming young woman became a warrior for God.
We find many stories in the Bible similar to Diet’s, stories of God using seemingly unlikely characters to serve Him. For instance, when the angel of the Lord approached Gideon, he proclaimed, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Yet Gideon seemed anything but mighty. He’d been secretly threshing wheat away from the prying eyes of the Midianites, who oppressively controlled Israel at the time (vv. 1–6). He was from the weakest clan of Israel (Manasseh) and the “least” in his family (v. 15). He didn’t feel up to God’s calling and even requested several signs. Yet God used him to defeat the cruel Midianites (see ch. 7).
God saw Gideon as “mighty.” And just as God was with and equipping Gideon, so God is with us, His “dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1)—supplying all we need to live for and serve Him in little and big ways.
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Welcome to today's edition of the Our Daily Bread devotional.
Our reading is titled Mighty Warrior, and it was written by Alison Keita. We find many stories in the Bible similar to Dietz, stories of God using seemingly unlikely characters to serve Him. For instance, when the angel of the Lord approached Gideon in Judges 6, he proclaimed, Yet Gideon seemed anything but mighty. He'd been secretly threshing wheat away from the prying eyes of the Midianites, who oppressively controlled Israel at the time.
He was from the weakest clan of Israel, Manasseh, and the least in his family. He didn't feel up to God's calling, and even requested several signs. Yet God used him to defeat the cruel Midianites. God saw Gideon as mighty, and just as God was with and equipped Gideon, so God is with us, His dearly loved children, supplying all we need to live for and serve Him in little and big ways.
Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Judges 6, verses 11 through 16. 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. Let's pray. Loving God, when you are with us, we are capable of doing so much more than we think is possible. And when we follow your leading, we are often amazed at the big things you do through us. Thank you for using us to serve you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening. I'm Rachelle Traube, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-17 07:47:57 / 2023-07-17 07:49:19 / 1