Daily Devotionals

Ordinary Circumstances

Scripture Reading: Judges 6:11-24

11 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. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “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.”

14 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?”

15 “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.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah[a] of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak . . . where . . . Gideon was threshing wheat. . . .

Judges 6:11

It’s quite natural to hear a message of news and then wonder whether or not the message is trustworthy. This is as true today as it has ever been, especially when communities and nations are under stress and are often hearing messages that contradict each other.

Gideon, who was approached by the angel of the Lord ­under an oak tree, was part of a community that was crying out to God and waiting for help. But most of the people were also unfaithful to God (Judges 6:1-10). Even so, God came to their rescue anyway.

Gideon’s people needed to be delivered from neighboring enemies who were raiding and ruining their crops. Gideon was threshing grain in a winepress so that he wouldn’t be seen by the enemy. It was a desperate situation, so it’s understandable that he balked when the angel first said, “The Lord is with you. . . .” The angel had to assure Gideon that God had the right person at the right address. And the angel worked with Gideon to show him that this message from God could be trusted.

This delightful story about Gideon being called out from under an oak tree draws our attention to the ways in which God sometimes approaches us in the ordinary circumstances of life. God has the authority to call us to participate in his kingdom work, and sometimes he interrupts us in surprising ways. And, in cases like Gideon’s, only after we agree to trust in God’s plan do we receive the skills and tools that are needed.

Lord, help us to trust you when you call, and to believe that you will equip us for the work you want us to do. In Jesus name, Amen.