I shared in my last blog a revelation that the Lord gave me while running, and this blog is about one I got when I got back from my run. If you haven’t read “Running the Race”, please do so, this is part 2. I know it’s kind of long, but I will risk presuming too much and say that I am confident it is from the Lord. I hope it blesses you in whatever circumstances in which you find yourself.
Judges 6:1-39
In this passage God calls Gideon, the least of the least to do a seemingly impossible work for the Lord. He was called (eventually) to defeat a coalition army of at least 135,000 men with a force of 300. I think this story is way cooler than the famous Spartan stand of 300 because the Spartans used swords and shields and ultimately were defeated. Gideon’s boys found victory with clay pots, some candles, and some glorified kazoos. I feel like that’s way more hardcore than those guys with the fake painted on six-pack abs. Anyways, I digress.
Here’s what I’ve been learning. I have heard so many times that I need to use my common sense when I feel God is calling me to something. “Don’t get crazy, the Lord gave you wisdom, use it. Use your common sense”. I have been wondering recently what would have happened if Moses had used “common sense” when God told him to stretch his staff out over the Red Sea and cross it. What would have happened if Joshua had bowed to his “common sense” when called to march around Jericho instead of to the angel of the Lord? What if Elijah had trusted his “common sense” instead of God’s voice when he was told to prophesy life into the dry bones?
What is common sense? I think that it is a reliance on what we know about the world and how it works. The problem is that as Christians, we are building God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and that’s just it. It’s NOT OF THIS WORLD! So are we called to use “common sense” when answering the Lord? NO!!!! There’s some controversy for you. I know that living my life this way will probably result in some people thinking I’m crazy, because I bet God is going to call me to do some crazy things (dancing naked in front of the Ark, hitting a rock with a staff and expecting water to come out, heading out into the desert with no food or water for 40 days). But I don’t care what people say anymore. I just don’t. I want to be like Peter and James and John who, when Jesus said, “Hey boys, come follow me”, “pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11).
Now hold on a second, take a deep breath, mom. I’m not saying that I’m going to go out and jump off a cliff or something. Common sense is still very useful in many situations. I’m just saying that I’m not going to rely on “common sense” anymore when it comes to answering God’s call. Instead, I’m going to rely on what I’m going to call “Kingdom Common Sense”. What is this? Gideon shows us in Judges 6:37-40. First, he makes sure the call is from God. Then, secondly, he gets off his butt and he does it.
Making sure the call is from God is so important for a couple of reasons. First, if you feel called to something crazy, you’d better be sure it’s from God and you’re not just making it up. Secondly, it is vital to KNOW that the call is from God because the moment you set out to do the work, Satan will begin whispering. “That wasn’t really God. Maybe he meant something else. This is crazy, use your common sense”. Gideon throws out a fleece (twice in fact) and God answers him. I guarantee you that if Gideon was anything like me, he probably sat down on a hill overlooking the Midianite army which the scripture describes like this “…thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore”. In that moment, I think he probably closed his eyes and remembered the feeling of running his hand through that fleece and feeling the cool dew. After the long journey and God reducing the number of his men to less than one percent the number that started, Gideon remembered. He remembered that GOD had called him here. That GOD had promised to be with him and that he would have victory because of GOD.
This is what I am striving to do. As I mentioned in my last blog, I’m focusing on the fact that God said that I would make it running. This is what each of us is called to do. Things are going to get tough, believe me, really tough, but in those moments, we have to close our eyes and remember running our hands through the damp fleece. We have to remember those minutes sitting on a log on the side of the road with God whispering to us. Then, we have to gather ourselves, despite our fears and weakness, and get up and get going.
Please pray that I would remember my fleece moment as these next four months will probably be the hardest of the Race for me, and that’s saying something. Thank you so much for your prayers, I love you all.
