Young People’s Blog

“And Gideon said unto God, If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor” (Judges 6:36-37).

Perhaps you are already familiar with the expression, “Putting out a fleece.” The expression comes from this passage, where Gideon wants a little more assurance about what the Lord wants him to do. It was not that Gideon did not trust the Lord or have confidence in the Lord’s power. Rather, Gideon just found it hard to believe that the Lord was going to use someone like him to do this great work.

For this reason, God did not rebuke Gideon for putting out the fleece. Gideon actually did it twice, if you read to the end of the chapter. Once Gideon asked that the fleece be wet with dew, while the ground was dry, and once he asked that the ground be wet, and the fleece dry. God did what he asked, and Gideon was confident that the Lord would use him.

Usually the Lord was not pleased when people kept asking for special signs, but here it was Gideon’s lack of confidence in himself that was the problem, and the Lord honored his request and gave him a sign.

“And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down…and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built…Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die…and Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal?” (Judges 6:28-31).

Gideon had destroyed Baal’s altar and idol at night, and when the men of the city found out the next morning, they were very angry. They approached Gideon’s father Joash, wanting to have Gideon killed for having done this. The altar and idol of Baal had belonged to Gideon’s father, but when Gideon destroyed it, his father defended Gideon to the men of the city, and would not let them harm him.

This shows us that Joash also had a conscience about worshiping false gods, but did not have the courage himself to do something about it. But when Gideon did it, he defended him. Sometimes when we take a faithful stand for the Lord, we will find that others will step up and agree with us. Let us never hesitate to be faithful to the Lord; perhaps someone else just needs a little courage to do the same.

“The Lord said unto him [Gideon], Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it…and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down” (Judges 6:25-26).

The Lord was going to use Gideon, but several things had to happen first. One thing that was most important was that there was an idol to the false god Baal, right in Gideon’s backyard! The Lord told Gideon to destroy the idol and the altar to Baal, and then to take the second bullock and offer a burnt offering unto the Lord. God could not use Gideon until that idol was gone.

We notice how this bullock speaks of Christ, for it had to be the second bullock. Adam was the first man, but Christ is the second man, in the sense that He is now the Head of new creation, as Adam was head of the first creation. Also, the children of Israel had been under the control of the Midianites for seven years, and the bullock was seven years old. God had prepared the bullock as soon as Israel sinned. As soon as sin entered this world, God told Adam that “the seed of the woman (Christ) would crush the serpent’s head.” God knew that sin would come into the world, and had the remedy for it all ready.

“Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:11-12).

Gideon was a young man, but he is a real encouragement to us. He came from a poor family, and he was one of the younger ones. Also, it was a difficult time in Israel’s history, for the Midianites had taken control of the land, and took all the food that God intended for Israel.

But Gideon had faith and was going to have food in spite of the Midianites. He was threshing wheat by the winepress, to hide it. We do not know where he got the wheat, but this is a good lesson for us. If we really want spiritual food, God will provide it for us. We may have to work for it, but the Lord will give us food in spite of Satan’s efforts to take it away from us.

Also, God needed a man like Gideon, and we know very well how the Lord used him to deliver Israel from the control of the Midianites. Tomorrow we will see how God prepared Gideon to do this. Perhaps the Lord is going to use some of you young people too.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

What John says by the Spirit of God in this verse might seem rather strange to us. He was writing to believers in the Lord Jesus. Was he really concerned that they would leave Christianity and go back to worshiping idols? No, John was not concerned about that. But John wrote quite some time after the other apostles had gone to be with the Lord, and already serious worldliness was coming into the church. True believers were deciding that the Christian pathway was too difficult and were paying less attention to their Christian life, and more to the world around.

John was telling them not to have idols in this world, for anything down here can become an idol to us. An idol is something that people worship, and on which they place a high value. We can make an idol of anything in this world, and that is why John says earlier in this epistle, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). The things in this world may not be idols that we worship as gods, but they can take the place of Christ in our hearts. We need to be on guard against these idols.

“This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).

Yesterday was November 11; it is called “Remembrance Day” in Canada and “Veteran’s Day” in the United States. In other countries it is sometimes called “Armistice Day.” It got its name because it was the day on which World War 1 officially ended, back in 1918. No one who is alive today is able to remember that war, for it ended more than 100 years ago. Yet still people come together and hold remembrance meetings, and old soldiers get together at special monuments to pay their respects to those who died in that war. Dignitaries such as the Queen, the Prime Minister or the President lay wreaths and make speeches in remembrance of those who died, not only in World War 1, but in all wars.

While the day is a statutory holiday in many countries, many people do not pay much attention to it. Wars are only history, and there have been many of them. But the Lord Jesus wants us to remember what He suffered for us, even though it was nearly 2000 years ago. He has asked us to do this, and surely our hearts want to respond to His request. He has done so much for us, and He does not want us to forget.

“We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

This verse is beautiful, and we can understand that we love the Lord Jesus because He first loved us, and died for us. But in a better translation of this verse, the word “Him” should not be there. It should read, “We love, because He first loved us.” There are several words in the Greek language for love, and the love spoken about here is divine love. It is a love that keeps on loving, even if the other person does not love us back. That is the way God’s love works, and that is why the Lord Jesus went to the cross and died for us, even though people hated Him.

We all have the ability to love naturally, such as love in our families, love among good friends, etc. But divine love can only exist when we have a new life in Christ; it enables us to love those who do not love us. When we are saved, we have the capacity to love others, and to do things for others, even though they dislike us.

That is how the Lord Jesus could tell His disciples to love their enemies, and to do good to those who treated them badly. That is not natural to us, but we can do it if we have a new life in Christ. See if you can find the verse that tells us to love our enemies. It is in what is often called “the sermon on the mount” in Matthew.

“He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil….In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil” (1 John 3:7-8,10).

In this world we can divide people in many different ways. We can divide them by their racial origin, by their nationality, by their language, by their religion, and by their political persuasion. But as far as God is concerned, there are only two groups of people in this world. There is the family of God, and the family of the devil. Everyone in this world today belongs to one of these two families.

Most people who are not saved would be shocked and insulted if we told them that they belonged to the family of the devil, but this is true, if they are not saved. As we have noted before, Satan is now the god and prince of this world, and those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior belong to this world.

It is important to remember this, for people in this world can be very nice and very friendly. However, if we speak to them about Christ, they will not want to listen. This is because they really belong to Satan’s family, and do not want God’s family.

“We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

It is a wonderful thing to know that we are sons of God, and that when the Lord comes and takes us home, we are going to be perfectly like Christ. We will always be creatures, of course; we will not be gods. However, we now have the very life of Christ, and when He comes, we will have glorified bodies like His, and we will no longer have the old sinful nature that we have now.

But God wants this process to begin down here. If we have this hope in Christ, of being like Him then, we will want to purify ourselves now, in order to be like Him as much as possible in this world. This means that we put aside things that are not pleasing to the Lord, and things that are of this world. We already have a new life in Christ, and the Lord wants to see this new life displayed in us, more and more.

“All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:16-17).

When we are young, the things of this world are especially attractive to us. Of course, they are attractive to us older ones too, but perhaps not in the same way. That is why this verse is especially directed to young Christians. We can easily get our heart set on something down here, and then spend our time, energy, and money trying to get it.

But all of those things will pass away; they are things in this world, and we cannot take them with us when we leave this world. Our desire (lust) for them will pass away too, for we shall not want those things in heaven. However, our verses remind us that doing the will of God will last for all eternity. How can this happen? It is because the Lord will reward you and me for what we have done for Him down here, and we will have that reward for all eternity.

It is a serious thought that what we do for a few short years down here in the world will have an impact for all eternity, but it is true. It is important for us to use our time properly during our life, for not only will it benefit us for all eternity, but it pleases the Lord, who gave Himself for us.