Gideon Hears From God (Judges 6)

Today we begin another book of the Bible, Judges. Judges were God-appointed leaders that handled the disputes among the people and ruled according to God’s direction. Now that the Israelites had entered the promised land, everything was perfect. Right? Wrong! Hundreds of years had passed and the Israelites had turned their backs on God. They were even worshiping gods made of clay, wood and bronze.
 We can look at the Israelites and say to ourselves, “What is the matter with them? God delivered them from slavery and now they were sinning against God!”
 If we look at our own lives using the Israelites as an example (Which is what Hebrews chapter 4 says we should do), we can think of how the Israelites were freed from slavery, and how God freed us from slavery to sin when we accepted the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and made Him Lord of our lives.  Have you ever doubted that God wanted the best for you? I have. It’s hard when things are not going right. The Israelites doubted God and they ended up wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years. The promised land for the Israelites was a land of “rest”. We can find rest in Jesus. He even called us to lay down all the hard stuff and find rest in Him. (Matthew 11:28)  God loves when we believe Him and trust Him and find rest in Him.

 It’s also easy to forget what God did for us when things are going great. The Israelites were in a land that already had houses built and farms planted. When a new generation of Israelites came along, they took everything for granted. Have you ever just expected things to be good without thinking about God and thanking Him. It’s easy to do. So God let things get bad for the Israelites. Has God ever let things get bad for you so that you remember that He is control and that He alone should be worshipped.
 God provided judges to the Israelites to get them back on track. The Israelites would follow God’s leading for a while, but when a judge would die, the people would turn their backs on God again. This happened over and over for hundreds of years.

 Today we will be looking at Gideon. God called him to be the fifth judge. There were four judges before him and one was a woman named Deborah. In the days of Gideon, the Israelites were going through a rough time. God allowed the evil Midianites to ruin all the Israelite’s crops, steal their cows and goats and take over all their land. It was so bad that the Israelites had to hide in caves.
 Gideon was hiding from the Midianites while he was threshing wheat.  Suddenly an angel sat down and spoke to him. “Hello mighty warrior! God is with you.” (God knows who we can become with Him. Gideon was afraid and hiding from the Midianites. Far from being a mighty warrior!)
 "If God is with us then why isn’t He doing miracles like He supposedly did for our great grandparents.” Gideon snapped back.
 The angel didn’t answer him but instead told Gideon that God wanted him to save the Israelites from the Midianites.
 “Hold on!” Said Gideon. “ Our tribe is the smallest of all the tribes. My family is the poorest of all the families in our tribe. And I am the youngest member of my family! How am I supposed to save the Israelites?” Have you ever made excuses for not doing what God wants you to do? There isn’t an excuse in the world that God would accept.. God can use the smallest, the weakest or the poorest. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28) God can use you and He wants to use you. Don’t worry! He wants to bless you too.
 “God will be with you.” The angel answered.

 Gideon wanted to make sure that the message he was hearing was really from God. So placed some bread and meat in a basket on a rock. Suddenly the rock burst into flames. The meat and bread disappeared in the flames. Gideon looked up and the angel was gone. Gideon knew that the angel WAS from God. We don’t have to wonder if God is talking to us because we have the Bible. God speaks to us through the Bible.
 That night, God spoke to Gideon. “First I want you to destroy the altar that your father has built to Baal (a fake god that the Israelites were worshipping). Then I want you to use the rocks to build an altar to me. I also want you to cut down the Asherah poles (poles used in worshipping Baal) and burn them  on the altar". The next night Gideon did as the Lord had said. Gideon waited till it was late at night because he was afraid of what all the people would do to him if they caught him.

 The next morning, all the people saw that the altar to Baal had been destroyed. They knew it was Gideon! They wanted to kill him. They called him and his father out into the streets.
 Next time we’ll find what happens.

Winners of the 100,000 Visitor Giveaway!

100,000 visitors! Giveaway!

Thank you so much for everyone that has visited my blog over the last couple years! 100,00 visitors! I have been so blessed and encouraged by all the emails that I have received from kids, parents, churches, pastors and ministry leaders from all around the world. India, Bulgaria, Australia, the Philippines, Germany and the UK... and of course The USA. As a great big thank you, I am giving away 3 Mr.BibleHead t-shirts, a kid’s Message picture Bible, a 14X18 signed poster of Balaam and his Donkey and a Mr.BibleHead mousepad. Just leave a comment here or at my facebook page or follow this page or like the Facebook page between now and July 20 and you’ll be entered to win. If you do all 4 things, you’ll be entered 4 times. Thanks again everyone and God bless you!

As For Me and My House...(Joshua 9-24)

The next few chapters of the book of Joshua tell of all the armies that Joshua led the Israelites to defeat. (31 in all) However there was one army that tricked Joshua into signing a peace treaty with them. Here is what the Gibeonites did.
 The Gibeonites heard all about how the Israelites were conquering all the cities on their way to Canaan. (The promised land) They knew that they were in line to be conquered. So they took some moldy bread, dressed in worn out clothes and told Joshua that they had traveled from a far off land. “Look even our bread is moldy!” They said. “Sign a peace treaty with us so you will not conquer us like you did to Ai and Jericho.” Joshua believed them and signed the treaty. Then he found out that the Gibeonites were one of the armies that was on the way to Canaan. But since he signed the agreement, they let the Gibeonites live. However they did make the Gibeonites their servants.
 In chapter 10, the Amorite army was putting up a pretty good fight against the Israelite army. They were batting the Amorites in the city of Gibeon.
Joshua prayed: “ God, please let the sun stay up longer than usual so that we can finish defeating the Amorites this day.”
 God answered Joshua’s prayer and held the sun in the sky for as long as it took for the Israelites to win the battle! That is so cool! Sometimes I wish God would make the day last a little longer when I am doing something fun. How about you? Have you ever wanted a day to never end?
 After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites finally made it to the promised land! Chapters 14 through 22 are about how the land was divided up between the tribes of Israel. Then God gave the Israelites rest from their enemies for many years. Finally when Joshua was very old, he called all the leaders together.” I am very old and will soon be gone, but God has promised you more land just on the other side of the river. But you will have to defeat a few more armies. Remember what God told me when I first became your leader many years ago. ‘Be strong and courageous.' Now I am telling you to do the same.” Joshua continued. “Be faithful to the Lord, for He has fought our battles and He will fight yours if you be careful to follow all the instructions written in the Book of the Law of Moses. If you become disobedient, the Lord will not hesitate to remove you from this land.”

 Then Joshua reminded the people of their history. How God had promised Abraham that He would have many descendants and that they would live in the promised land. He reminded them of how God chose Moses to lead them out of Egyptian slavery. How God sent the plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind, then when the Israelites were trapped, God parted the Red Sea and let them pass through. How God provided manna every Morning for them to eat and even though they wandered for forty years in the desert, God made sure that their shoes never wore out. Joshua reminded them about how God parted the water of the Jordan river so that they could cross over into the promised land. He pointed to the twelve stone monument that they built by the river as a reminder of God’s faithfulness.Then he reminded them of all the battles that God had given them victory in as the entered the promised land.
 Joshua finished his speech saying, “So honor the Lord your God. Serve Him with your whole heart. Don’t ever go back to serving the idols that your grandparents and great grandparents served. Today you make a choice. Are you going to serve the God who did all these things for you that I have just mentioned, or are you going to turn your back on Him and go back to the idols of your grandparents.You choose, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” Those are some famous words spoken by Joshua. You may have heard them or seen them on a plaque.
 The Israelites shouted! “We will serve the Lord! We will serve the Lord!” So Joshua wrote up a contract between them and God and recorded it in the Book of the Law of God to remind the people of the covenant that they made with God. Shortly after this, Joshua died at the age of 110.

So what can we learn from Joshua and the Israelites?
   First of all, the Bible doesn’t say anything about Joshua praying while the Gibeonites were tricking him into signing a treaty. Sometimes we think that we don’t need to pray about certain things. God wants to be involved in our decisions and our circumstances. The Bible says “pray about everything and then don’t worry about it.” (Phil 4:6)
   Second, Joshua tells the people to be strong and courageous just like God told him. Being a Christian isn’t easy sometimes. We need to be strong (with God) and courageous (doing the right thing despite circumstances)
   Thirdly, Joshua reminds the people what God has done for them. When we are facing a tough decision or circumstance, remember how God has been with you through your troubles in the past.
   Finally, and this is the main theme of the last book of Joshua, God made us with free will. That means that we can choose things including whether or not to serve Him. Joshua tells the people that their grandparents had idols made of stone and wood. He told them that they had to choose. They could not serve God and the idols. (Mt 6:24) We don’t have stone and wood idols today. But we do have video games, TV, social media  etc. These things are not bad, unless they take more of our attention than we give to God. Then they become idols! Joshua calls the people to make a choice. He said that he had already made his choice. He and his family were going to serve the Lord. How about you? Have you made a choice to always put God first? and to serve Him?

Achan is Exposed (Joshua7)

So Joshua called all the Israelites out of their tents. He wanted to find out who committed the sin that caused 36 men to die in a battle that the Israelites should have easily won. Each family belong to a clan. There were many families in one clan and each clan belonged to a tribe. There were many clans in each tribe. There were twelve tribes. God told Joshua to begin with the tribes. Joshua called the tribe of Judah to come forward. This meant that the person who committed the sin belonged to this tribe. Achan probably got a little nervous, but there were very, very many people in the tribe. Then Joshua called the clan of the Zerahites to come forward. Achan belonged to this clan. He was getting a little more nervous, but there were still a lot of people in the clan. Then Joshua called out all the people in Achan’s family. Now he was getting really nervous! Joshua walked past Achan’s family members. God told Joshua to stand in front of Achan! Achan broke out in a sweat as Joshua spoke. “Give God the glory and confess to what you have done.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! It was me! I saw the beautiful robe and the gold and silver. I wanted them so bad. So I took them and buried them in my tent! Joshua sent some men to dig up the items. They brought them back and Laid them out. Achan was put to death because he had caused the death of 36 men.

Achan’s sin followed a very common pattern that we can be aware of in our own lives. He said that (1) He saw it (2) He wanted it badly (3) He took it. First we see something or an opportunity. Then we think about it. Then we act on it. We think with our minds. We can stop that sin right in it’s tracks (2Corinthians 10:5) when we have our mind focused on God and not ourselves.(Hebrews 12:2) Achan thought that he would never get caught. That is not a reason to do anything. God loved us so much that he sent His Son, Jesus to die for us.(John 3:16) We should do what is right to show God that we love Him back. God doesn’t want us to do the right thing because we are afraid of getting caught or because we feel that we have to do what He expects. He says that if we love Him, we will obey Him.(John 15:15)  Do you love God? Here is an easy (and enjoyable) experiment. Go up to your mom, dad or grandparent and hug them. They hugged you back. Right? Now ask them why they hugged you. I’m sure they will say because they love you. The will NOT say “Because I thought you’d notice if I didn’t hug you back.” or “I thought you’d get mad if I didn’t hug you back.”or “Because I thought that’s what you wanted.” When God sent Jesus into the world, He was giving us a great big hug. When we obey Him, we are hugging Him back! Do you want to give God a hug? Next time you are tempted to do something wrong, think about God hugging you and hug Him back by doing the right thing.

The next morning Joshua led an army and conquered the city of Ai. (The same city that had defeated them the week before). Here is what he did. Joshua told a bunch of his soldiers to hide in the wilderness near Ai. Then he took some of his men and marched toward the city. When the city of Ai saw Joshua and his men they thought to themselves. “Here come those Israelites again. We will chase them back to the hills like we did last week.” So the Ai army charged Joshua and his men. Joshua and his men turned around and ran for the hills. Then the Ai army smelled smoke. They turned around and saw their city burning to the ground. Then Joshua and his men turned around and defeated the whole army. (About 12,000 men).
 Afterward, Joshua built an altar there and thanked God. He called all the Israelites together. He reminded them of God’s commandments and he read the first 5 books of the Bible to all the people. (That was all that was written so far) And the people praised and worshipped God.

Today we learned the pattern of sin.( 1)See it. (2)Want it. (3)Take it.
We also learned that God doesn’t want our obedience because we are afraid of getting caught or because it is expected. Our obedience is like a hug to God.
Finally we saw that Joshua built an altar to thank God. We should always thank God for what we have because “Every perfect gift comes from Him.”(James 1:17)

Here is a “Walls of Jericho” coloring page for you

The Walls of Jericho Come Tumbling Down!

The city of Jericho was terrified! Rahab and her family waited patiently as they were gathered in her home, which was built right into the wall, the red rope hanging from her window. On the seventh day, the priest gave a loud long blast from their horns and all the Israelites gave a might shout!.....And the wall that surrounded the city came crashing down! Unbelievable! I’m sure the Israelite army was so amazed at what God had done! 

 Joshua shouted out orders. “Leave everything in the city to be burned unless you find gold, silver, bronze or iron. Take these things to be put into the Lord’s treasury. Do not keep anything for yourselves!”  Then he told the two spies that had been hidden by Rahab (remember a few weeks back, Rahab hid the Israelite spies when they came to check out the city of Jericho?) to go and bring Rahab and her family to safety. 

But wait a minute! The wall came crashing down and Rahab’s house was built right into the wall. Surely her house and her family were destroyed when the wall came down. No. God miraculously spared Rahab and her family! The entire wall collapsed, but God honored the promise that had been made to Rahab for her protection by the two spies. She is even mentioned again in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews because of her faith. The two Israelites found Rahab and her family and brought them back to the Israelite camp. 

 Meanwhile, The Israelite army gathered all the Gold, silver, bronze and iron for the Lord’s treasury. Then they set fire to the city and burned everything in it. The people in Jericho were very bad people and God didn’t want any of them or their belongings around to corrupt the Israelites as they entered the promised land. Joshua led the Israelite army back to camp. All the gold, silver, bronze and iron was put into the treasury of the Lord. All but a brick of gold, 200 silver coins and a beautiful robe. One of the soldiers broke the law of God and kept some for himself. His name was Achan. While the rest of the Israelites were celebrating the victory, Achan was in his tent digging a hole. He buried the silver coins then the robe and then the gold brick. 

"How would anyone ever know?” He thought to himself. “There was more than enough for the treasury.” 

Sometimes we do something wrong because we know that there is no way we could be caught. But that is wrong thinking. For one thing, God sees everything. Even if our parents or anyone else doesn’t see us.... God does. Secondly, when we obey, because it is the right thing to do, it builds our character. The more we build our character, the stronger we get. The stronger we get, the easier it is to fight temptation and do the right thing. 
And thirdly, The Bible says that your sin will be found out sooner or later.

Everything was going well for the Israelites. A small city named Ai (even their name is small) was next between them and the promised land. Joshua sent only a few thousand men to defeat the city since it was so small. But Ai defeated the Israelites, killing 36 of them and sending the rest running back to camp. Joshua fell on his face before God and cried out. “Why God? We defeated the great city of Jericho without a single life being lost, then we lose 36 men to a small town! Why?”
 God answered. “It is because one of your men has sinned. He has taken some gold and silver from Jericho for himself. It is because of this that I was not with you in Ai.”

Joshua knew that he had to find out who did this thing that ended up killing 36 men so he called everyone out of their tents. All the soldiers and their families gathered before Joshua. He said that there was sin in the camp. That someone had taken some of the gold and silver instead of putting it in the Lord’s treasury. There were a lot of people there.  Achan probably thought to himself that they will never find him out. We will find out next time if he’s right.
 So we can see a couple of things. 
(1) God is faithful.(He protected Rahab and her family in a miraculous way.)
(2) God is all seeing. (He saw Achan stealing the gold and silver. He sees us when we do wrong or right)
(3) God desires our love and obedience. (Obeying God is how we tell Him that we love Him)

The Wall of Jericho (Joshua 5 & 6)

After all the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and the water flowed normally again, the Israelites stood on the outskirts of the promised land. They were amazed at all the fruits and vegetation as far as the eye could see! The next morning they woke up to gather the manna. Guess what? The manna stopped! After covering the ground every morning (except Sundays) for forty years, God stopped the manna. Why? Because the land was full of fruit, vegetables and wheat. The Bible refers to it as a land flowing with milk and honey. But now the Israelites were going to have to work for their food. They had to gather, chop, cut, mix, and cook. God gave them what they needed in the desert because they had nothing and could do nothing. Now He has blessed them, but He wants them to do for themselves what they can do.
 Have you every prayed for something and then waited for God to do it?  Maybe God is waiting for you. God gives us a brain and hands and feet for a reason. Don’t pray for answers to a test, when God gave you the ability to study. Pray about studying. Our ability and capabilities are God’s blessings. Do your BEST and then pray that God does the REST.
 So Joshua was leading the people toward Jericho when he was confronted by a man wielding a sword.
 “Are you a friend or an enemy?” Joshua asked.
 “Neither.” Answered the man. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army!”
At this Joshua fell on his knees to worship. He knew it was Jesus!
 Then the Lord told Joshua. “ I have already given you the city of Jericho. Do what I say and you will be victorious.” He continued. “ I want you to have your entire army march around the city every day for six days. Seven priests blowing horns and other priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant will lead the way. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times. Then the priests with the horns will give one long blast. At this point, have all the people shout! The walls will come down and you will be able to take the city. Just remember that all the silver and gold is to be taken and put in the Lord’s treasury.
 Do you think that this was an unusual way to capture a city? Me too! Why would God ask them to do something that sounded so crazy? A couple of reasons. (1) God wants everyone to know that He did it. (2) God wants the people to obey Him. (3) God wants the people to trust Him. Because when we trust God and obey Him, and see Him at work because of it, our faith gets stronger.
 So Joshua gathered all the people and told them what the Lord had said. He warned them about not taking any of the gold and silver for themselves. Joshua also told them to make sure that Rahab and her family were brought out safely. Remember Rahab? She was the lady that took care of the Israelite spies when they were hiding from the Jericho soldiers. The spies promised safety for her and her family when they took over, if she hung a red rope from her window. Joshua remembered the promise and reminded the Israelites to take care of her and any family members in her house.
 The Israelites were ready to go. They approached Jericho and marched around the wall with the Ark.  The priests with horns in the lead. The people were quiet. The sound of the horns was all that could be heard for six days as they marched around the city once a day.
 The Israelites got a pretty good look at the wall as they marched around it. The wall was 11 feet high and 14 feet thick! Once in a while, one of the people from Jericho would peek over the wall to see if the Israelites were still out there. The city of Jericho was terrified! Rahab and her family waited patiently as they were gathered in her home, which was built right into the wall, the red rope hanging from her window. On the seventh day, the priest gave a loud long blast from their horns and all the Israelites gave a might shout!
 Next time we will find out what happened. Would God keep His promise? Would Rahab and her family be safe? We will see.
 A few things we learned from these chapters.
(1) God wants us to do what we can do, the He will do what we can’t do.
(2) God works in unusual ways so that He gets the glory.
(3) God tests our obedience.
(4) God tests our faith
(5) God works through us when we obey and trust.
(6) When we obey and trust our faith gets stronger.