Gideon’s Success Test

From the beginning, God’s hand has been on our business. The success we enjoy point to Him and is all to His glory. One could say the odds have been stacked against us from the start. With very limited knowledge of the video industry, no money, no real sponsors or advertisers, we have come from very humble beginnings to a place of great honor in our sport. Our capabilities are starting to rival other, well known, production companies.

No, we have not arrived. When you start to think you’re ‘all that and a bag of chips’, you best watch out, the fall is coming. We must stay humble. Yes we can enjoy our success, but we must continue to dig deeper, work harder and run further into our Lords arms to guard against the worlds call to thump our chest and say, ‘look at me and all I’ve done’.

There are several story’s in the Bible where a person started out well and finished poorly. I read recently that when you release your life to the Lord, something happens in how you see yourself and your work. Life no longer is dependent on success, but in how it glorifies the Lord. That fundamental shift in thinking gives me great peace.

Where do you find yourself today? Are you striving for success outside of God’s will for your life? If so, I recommend you take a step back and spend time with the Father for guidance. Yes, we must use our gifts to accomplish the work He has given us, however the success of what He has given us to do is all up to Him. Once you embrace that idea, your walk will be forever changed.

Blessings

Gideon’s Success Test
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping [the idol] there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family” (Judg. 8:27).

Israel was at war with the Midianites and the Amalekites. So God chose a humble young man, Gideon, to deliver Israel by cleansing the land of idols. After submitting a fleece to determine it was God calling him, Gideon obeyed the Lord and destroyed the pagan idols in the region. Then he summoned a large army – over 30,000 men – to fight the Midianites and Amalekites. God said the army was too large, so He first reduced Gideon’s army 10,000 men, and then to a mere 300 men. When God gave Israel the victory with an army of only 300 men, all of Israel knew that it was the power of God, not the strength of his army.

If the story had ended there, all would have been well. But at the moment of Israel’s triumph, Gideon stumbled. He told the people, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” The Israelites took the gold from the bodies of the enemy dead and Gideon melted it and fashioned it into an idol. The Bible calls this idol an ephod, a word that refers to a ceremonial breastplate?Gideon probably depicted the Lord God as a warrior with an ephod of gold.

But God does not allow Himself to be represented by an idol. This idol was an offense against God and a trap for the people. After Gideon’s death, the Israelites again worshiped the pagan god Baal. They forgot the Lord God who rescued them from their enemies.

The story of Gideon has a great beginning, but a tragic ending. This is an instructive lesson for us all. As the apostle Paul tells us, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12).

If we fail the Success Test we must go back to God without fear. We can ask Him to help us learn the lessons of our failure and to strengthen us for another effort. The God of second chances is able to accomplish His purpose through us even if we have failed Him many times before.