Daily Manna | Tuesday, August 6, 2019 | Topic: Conscience 403
Scripture: Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. Genesis 45:20
Note: Judges 6:16, “And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Considering Gideon’s attitudinal response to the word of the Lord, it’s obvious that Gideon’s excusable response that economic factors of status, might and social standing, do play significant roles in one’s general disposition to unfavourable situations. Gideon was doing relatively well economically within a failed economic system and chaos, orchestrated by the relentless Midianite attacks.
The attacks from the Midianites were vicious, with well calculated attempts made to cut off food supplies to the citizenry. This was evidenced in the modus operandi of the marauding attackers deliberately destroying whatever was left of the farms during their retreat back to where they came from. The objective of the evil attacks wasn’t simply to steal the fruits of the harvest, but to destroy everything in its wake, destroying every proof of sustenance, causing starvation and death, and leaving the survivors in misery.
Out of this hopeless economic outlook emerged Gideon, who was a survivor out of products of horror, hardship and seemingly impossible economic climate. Gideon had defied the horror attacks that included in their trail the destruction of all the winepress in Israel. What was deemed totally destroyed and undeserving of further attention by the enemies became the opportunity that Gideon utilised to feed many. Gideon was threshing wheat at the supposedly destroyed winepress, escaping the prying eyes of the enemy.
Gideon had every reason to have chosen the paths of those that ran to the dens, caves in mountains and strongholds. It would have been a legitimate excuse to do nothing as most of the people did. Instead, Gideon chose a different path that made him an economic giant in a failed economy. He saw opportunities where most people saw fear, fright and death. This singular feat of Gideon’s ended up separating him from the masses. This exceptional stance by Gideon in standing up to be counted at a time when no one dared to risk getting counted and decapitated, received divine recognition that elevated Gideon from a low caste Manasseh family head man to the highest echelon of power in Israel.
Food for thought: Unfavourable situations that cause pain, horror and suffering, are also opportunities for emerging economic giants.
Declaration: Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:7
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
