Today’s Old Testament reading in my two-year bible was Judges 6:33-40. I am keying in on verses 36-40, but this comes after the angel of the Lord has come to Gideon and told him that he will rescue Israel from the Midianites and Gideon has previously asked for a sign from God to prove that it was truly HIS voice he was hearing.

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put some wool on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” 38 And it happened just that way. When Gideon got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.

So my question to you and to myself today is this: Are you just like Gideon? Have you asked God to give you some sort of sign or signal that you should do this or do that and then, having received the sign, asked for another one for confirmation of the first one? HE SQUEEZED A WHOLE BOWLFUL OF WATER FROM THE FLEECE!!! THAT WASN’T ENOUGH OF A SIGN?! It seems so obvious to an outside observer, but sometimes when you are living in that moment, our brains do not respond with rational thought (though we try to rationalize the very thing we asked for). I am very thankful for my friends that look at my life and can lovingly tell me, “DUH! You don’t think that God had something to do with that?!!” I need a good kick in the head once in a while… how about you?

I’ve recently started using a Two-Year Bible reading plan (using the Tyndale New Living Translation in case you would like to join me) and decided that I would occasionally drop a couple of takeaway lines from each day’s readings (I say readings because it is divided up daily with a portion of the Old Testament, a portion of the New Testament, part of the Psalms, and part of the Proverbs). In two years, you will have read the entire bible and the Psalms and Proverbs twice.

Today’s Old Testament reading was Judges 4:1-24 and involved King Jabin of Hazor’s army commander, Sisera, and what happened to him after ruthlessly oppressing the Israelites for twenty years. Anyway, the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help and He answered by having His prophet, Deborah, instruct Barak to assemble an army… they attacked Sisera’s army and soundly defeated them. Sisera ran and found a tent in which to hide that belonged to a family known to be friendly with King Jabin. Verse 21: “But when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg. Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.” Gotta say I like the last little bit… and so he died… I would guess so. From that day on Israel became stronger and stronger against King Jabin until they finally destroyed him.

New Testament reading was Luke 22:24-34 – the disciples are arguing over which of them would be the greatest in the coming Kingdom. Jesus, of course, says that the greatest are those who consider themselves the least and are servants to others first and foremost. My favorite verses in this, however, are 31-32: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.”

Psalm 94:1-13 – God formed your ears… do you really think that He can’t hear you? God formed your eyes… do you really think that He is blind?

So my last post was a little bit vague and cryptic… my apologies. There simply are some things that you can’t say out loud (or even on your measly website). I met a guy last Thursday night while I was in Estes Park… we met at a restaurant not by something that I organized, but by God’s providence (more evidence to that than I could even begin to describe here). It turns out that this man is the head of a Center for Worship at a very reputable university. By Friday morning and after a night of prayer, I was being informally interviewed for a faculty position and things were looking great. I spent the whole day (practically) with this individual… and was then informally interviewed over the phone by another faculty member during lunch. When we left Estes Park, we were quite certain that we would soon be flying to this school for the final and more formal interview process with the idea that I would move and begin teaching in a matter of just a couple of weeks… Nothing about me changed from that time to today, but more people were added to the decision-making mix and… well… another individual decided that my age and lack of experience (hmm… I didn’t know that actually being a college professor at a very reputable university previously wouldn’t cut it) simply wouldn’t allow for my hiring. The thing is… being passed over this late really means that they aren’t going to hire anyone… so nobody seemed better than somebody (me) in this case. I’ve got to say that I am quite devastated… I wasn’t out looking for this position and then had it presented to me (and it was the PERFECT position for my skills, training, and my heart for ministry all wrapped into one) and within a couple of days of giddy anticipation, had it jerked out from under my feet. I was just fine before this became an option… So, if you wouldn’t mind continuing to pray for me and the family, I would still really appreciate it… having trouble clearly seeing the purpose of all of this nonsense.

Hey everyone! If you care about me and my family at all, would you mind stopping for just a moment and praying for wisdom and discernment for us? I can’t really divulge at this time why, but it is potentially very important… thanks everyone! God’s blessings to each of you…