Category: Salvation

Bread of Affliction

8/10/2025

Sweat trickled in small streams down his face, making narrow rivulets through the dust and grime. He lifted his hand over his head and brought is down again in a swift, sudden movement, beating the miniscule wheat out of the chaff. The process was especially difficult—there was no breeze to chase away the chaff or the heat that beat down upon him, the waves dancing up and down upon the chiseled-out rock winepress.
      “Egypt,” the man of God had said. “Deliverance.” “...Gave us this land.” The words repeated continuously in his mind, in cadence with every blow. The “God of Israel.” The One who “led” us.
      The young man paused, lifting his back up into a standing position, arching against the pain. His painfully thin arm reached up and scrubbed away at the sweat trickling into his eyes, the salt stinging, the moisture blurring his vision. He looked out over the fields below. Stripped. Bare. Ugly. Brown.
      They had come again and left nothing. Seven long years they had come. He looked down again to his small pile. All he had beaten out was barely enough to sow for next year, let alone live off of through the winter.
      He felt tears spring to his eyes, smarting painfully before joining the sweat pooling on his chin. The man of God had given no hope. Just condemnation. Only a reminder of what God had done for others. Just the statement: “You haven’t obeyed.”
      He knew it was true. He’d watched his village meet at the Asherah pole and sacrifice what they had to Baal. They’d hoped that serving the gods of their enemies would prevent their enemies from coming, would ensure an abundant harvest and bigger families. But the child sacrifice had only made their numbers smaller, only brought more pain and grief as the laughter in the streets had turned to silence and the sound of the little feet running had ceased.
      Even more shameful was that it was his own dad who had set it up. As he recalled that night, his head hung lower and his shoulders, their blades sticking gauntly from his back, began to slump. His dad had thought maybe they could be like the other nations; that wealth and abundance could come to them just like it seemed to for their enemies.
They used to have some things, but now there was nothing left—except his dad’s bulls. Those he had kept. They were a symbol of Ba’al, the storm god who controlled the rains that made their crops grow. They were sacred. They had to be fed and fattened with the grain that was withheld from the starving people.
      A picture of the idol sprang to his mind, the golden head of the bull with his horns of strength and might raised up into the sky. His arms were outstretched, waiting for the children he would be given in exchange for his favor. The sacred tree-pole of the Asherah goddess was erected next to him, her promise of supernatural fertility mocking the now emaciated worshippers.
      Gideon shuddered as he shook away the horror of what he’d seen, wishing to erase it from his memory. How could people be so cruel?
He looked up again, eager to look elsewhere, to redirect his mind. He sighed. Yes, they did deserve this. They had given their children and disobeyed God’s commands. He had told them never to give their children or to serve those idols.
He felt anger grip his heart, tightening, painful in its intensity. In a sudden, weary exhaustion, the anger collapsed back to fear and despair.
God would never forgive them. They were here because of their own sin.
There was no hope.

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Yehovah, and Yehovah gave them into the hand of Midian (מִדְיָן S#4080 midyan: descended from Abraham’s son Midian by his wife Keturah; from מִדְיָן S#4079 madown: brawling, contention) seven years. 2And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3For whenever the Israelites scattered seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites (עֲמָלֵק S#6002 Amalek: a descendant of Esau; from עָמַל S#5998 strenuous human effort that carries a sense of weariness, frustration, and even sorrow) and the people of the East would come up against them. 4They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no ability to stay alive in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to Yehovah. Judges 6:1-5

God's hand is mighty. The Bible often tells us that God saved His people by His mighty hand. Yet, when we sin, it is not His hand but the hand of others who also sin to whom God gives us over. He does this to remind us of what our sin does. As others hurt us through their sin, we begin to realize the sad reality of what sin does, now turned against us. Often our response is to blame God for our consequences: “A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD” (Prov. 19:3 NIV), But this is a mistake and will never bring us back into relationship.
It is our Midianites and Amalekites that bring us back to God by showing us the result of our choices. Midianites are the contentions that arise, those fights and arguments that steal our peace and cause our relationships to be broken. Amalekites are all the human efforts we put into trying to save what we have in a way that only brings weariness, frustration and sorrow.
These two painful enemies come into our lives like locusts, swarming in such numbers and landing on everything green and growing that we have in our lives. By the time they are done ravaging our land, there is nothing left; everything is stripped bare and lifeless. There is no more bread.
When we have finally had enough of our own selfishness and sin, when we finally can see the devastation it causes in our lives and the lives around us, we may find ourselves willing to cry out to God.

7When the people of Israel cried out to Yehovah on account of the Midianites, 8 Yehovah sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says Yehovah, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10And I said to you, ‘I am Yehovah your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” Judges 6:7-10

"Why didn't you listen to the ones I sent?"
Have you ever had a friend, pastor, fellow Christian, family member—or even a complete stranger, confront you about your sin? It is easy for our response to be offended denial and defensiveness. "Who are you to judge!" We might angrily retort. We may resist the very words of God if we are not sufficiently humbled enough to receive even the hard words that might bring life back to our souls. How that grieves Jesus!

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Luke 10:16

And they went back and reported [Jesus' resurrection\ to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:13-14

Instead of becoming angry when we are confronted, let's remember how much courage and love they must have to face the potential of our anger and perhaps punitive response. Fortunately, and notably quickly for the stories in the book of Judges, the people were ready to respond to God’s gracious remonstrance. And as God always does, He had a plan already for their salvation.

11Now the Ambassador of Elohim came and sat under the oak (אִלָה S#424 or terebinth; from אַיִל S#352 strength, mighty, a pillar, a mighty man, to be twisted together to form a stronger element, as in a cord) at Ophrah (from עָפַר S#6080-6083 dust), which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon ( גִּדְעוֹן S#1439: one who cuts down, a warrior, a feller of trees; from גָּדַע S#1438 gada and גָּדַל S#1438 gadol: to twist, to be great, to grow, to be mighty) was beating out wheat in the winepress to allow it to escape from the Midianites. Judges 6:11

Gideon was hiding at the place of dust, Ophrah, from which he had been created. Dust reminds us that just as we were made from the dust of the cursed ground, as a result of our sin we also will return to dust at the end of our toilsome days (Gen. 3:19). It is our inevitable end to work with difficulty to cultivate the ground, to scatter seed and to have thorns and thistles make the task of yielding a harvest of seed and bread for food a wearisome task (Gen 3). Dust reminds us of our frailness, the temporal nature of our fleeting lives and our extreme vulnerability.
Contrastingly, the oak (or terebinth) tree was a symbol of strength and might in the Bible, and it was under these trees that judgments and judicial decisions would be made by judges, as well as covenants entered into by the people. And yet it is here that Gideon is found, not threshing the grain on the hilltop so that the wind might chase away the chaff, but hiding down in a winepress in order that the Midianites might not see that he was trying to store away what he had been able to retain.

12And the Ambassador of Elohim (מֲלְאָךְ S#4397 / מֶלֶךְ S#4428 malek: ambassador, king, envoy of the king; אֱלהִים S#430 elohim: plural of God, the triune godhead) appeared to him and said to him, “Yehovah is with you, O mighty man of valor!” (חַיִל S#2428 chayil: mighty, valor, abundance, wealth) 13And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if Yehovah is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not Yehovah bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yehovah has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

"Why, God?"
Oh, dear ones! Isn’t that so often the question aching in our hearts? If God is with us, if God is for us, if God loves us, if God is all powerful and all knowing, then “Why???” Why did my mom die from painful disease? Why did I lose my baby? Why did my spouse betray me? Why did my child reject me? Why did we lose everything we had worked hard for? Why are we impoverished? Why is everything I try to accomplish destroyed by the enemy of my soul?
We’ve heard the stories of what God has done for others. Incredible miracles. Happily-ever-after soundbytes. It’s even painful to hear them at times. And yet God has allowed devastation to come on us and seems to be uncaring. In fact, when the prophet came to condemn the people for not obeying God, it wasn’t necessarily Gideon who had been disobedient. Often, though, we find God’s people suffering along with others as God has to give loving discipling and correction to whole nations and communities.
But God’s representative has not come to berate Gideon for the sins of his family members or his nation. Rather, He has come to commission Gideon and to remind him that though he is dust, his very name carries the greatness, abundance and might that God can instill in a person committed to operating by faith.
Though Gideon had learned through trauma and hardship to have a scarcity mindset, God was ready to teach him about the abundance we have in Christ.

14And Yehovah turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה S#4519; from נָשָׁה S#5382 to cause to forget), and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16And Yehovah said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17And he [Gideon] said to Him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my present and set it before You.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

It is worth noting that, although Gideon was hiding, he had, in fact, shown a tremendous amount of faith in his act of continuing to scatter seed and gather it even through seven long years of raids by their enemies. Though he was hiding in a winepress, he was still using the strength he had and the resources he could find. Perhaps it was as a result of this act of faith that the Ambassador of Elohim, the very image-bearer of God Himself, would come to him. Under this great and mighty oak, God manifested in the flesh as Jesus had come to Gideon. He had declared that Gideon also was a mighty man of valor. Just as the word for Oak means also to be twisted together for strength, we know that it is a “three cord strand” that is “not easily broken (Eccl. 4:12). When we are twisted together with Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we are indeed mighty.
Gideon was a descendant of the tribe of Manasseh, which means “to forget.” Joseph had named his son Manasseh because God had so blessed him with abundance and greatness that he no longer remembered the painful years of slavery his brothers had inflicted upon him in Egypt.

[God\ allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
15saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
When [God\ summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply of bread,
17He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19until what He had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions, Psalm 105:14-21 ESV

Psalm 105 tells us that first God would not allow His chosen ones to be harmed, then shares that Joseph was allowed to be harmed. In Joseph’s story, it was also a famine of grain, just as in Gideon’s. Additionally, God had promised Joseph that one day he would be great and powerful. It was God’s word to him that tested and tried his faith while falsely accused and imprisoned for many years.
But in due course, God word was fulfilled and Joseph’s faith was found to be genuine. So also with Gideon, God would bring him through this testing of his faith and into a place of abundance.

19So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth [oak\ and presented them. 20And the Ambassador of Elohim said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this Rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21Then the Ambassador of Elohim reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the Rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the Ambassador of Elohim vanished from his sight. 22Then Gideon perceived that he was the Ambassador of Elohim. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Ambassador of Elohim face to face.” 23But Yehovah said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24Then Gideon built an altar there to Yehovah and called it, Yehovah Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah (dust), which belongs to the Abiezrites (אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי S#33 abi (father of) ezer (help).

Gideon was now offering a sacrifice to Yeshua, to Jesus, who is the Ambassador and direct representation of the Father (Heb. 1:3).
This offering is reminiscent of the Pesach, or Passover Supper that Jesus celebrated with His disciples on the night before His death as their Passover Lamb. This Last Supper, Jesus declared, was symbolic of His own body and blood given for the sin of mankind. According to the commandments relating to the observance of this Feast, this animal offering could be either a firstborn, unblemished, young goat or lamb (Exodus 12:4-5). This offering would be eaten in haste and entire, and the blood put over the door of their households in order to spare their firstborn from death. It would be served with unleavened bread, in sign of the haste with which they would need to leave Egypt out of their slavery. Instead of the children of Israel being killed as the pharaoh had predicted, it was instead his own son whose life had been required.
Just as Jesus vanished from Gideon’s sight after receiving the offering, so also Jesus vanished from the sight of His disciples after death and His resurrection.

30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:30-35

After this realization, the disciples immediately went running back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the unbelieving disciples that they had just seen the Risen Lord, just as He had foretold. Their hearts had burned, just as the Gideon’s bread had burned, both with the eternal fire of Jesus.

And they [the two disciples of Luke 24:30-36\ went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Mark 16:13

36As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit. Luke 24:36-37

14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:14

When the word of God has so touched our hearts, when we realize that we have been with Jesus, our hearts burn within us. The sacrifice that He receives are a broken and contrite (repentant) heart (Ps. 51:17) that we give Him as a result of our gratitude for His sacrifice for us.
Just as Gideon was startled and frightened when he realized he had seen the face of God in the form of Jesus, so also the disciples became afraid. But Jesus is the God of Peace, and it this peace He leaves with us—not a peace like the world gives, but a peace that is everlasting and can never be taken away!
The Rock from which the fire sprang is Jesus (1 Pet. 2:4-8) and He Himself was made from the dust of the ground, just like us, being made like us in every way (Heb. 2:17). He still stands with us, being fully God and fully man.
All of it belongs to Abi-ezer, our "Father of Help." God is our Father, and the Helper, the Holy Spirit, is the other member of the triune godhead:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“So Send I you!”

25That same night Yehovah said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26and build an altar to Yehovah your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as Yehovah had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. Judges 6:25-27

It is notable that it was the very same night that God gave this instruction to Gideon. Jesus also went out from the Passover Last Supper with His disciples and was taken in custody by the soldier in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was done by night, because the high priests were afraid of the people who believed Jesus to be their Messiah:

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Matt. 26:55-56

The ten servants represent the ten commandments of the Law, by which Jesus must be crucified in order to redeem us from the curse of the Law (Matt. 5:17), thus fulfilling all the requirements of the Law, and the stones represent the entirety of the nation of Isael:

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

Additionally, Though Jesus had vanished from Gideon’s sight, He is still there. His presence would not leave, and His voice would be heard. He has promised never to leave us, never to forsake us (Deut. 31:6, Matt. 28:20)
Before we can fight the larger battles, there is often a battle closer to home that we need to address. While sin comes in a multitude of ways, the sins of the ancient people groups really aren’t any different than we encounter today, in our own culture, in our own families.
Abortion, sexual immorality, greed (which is idolatry (Col. 3:5), lust, dishonesty, rebellion, lust and hatred are just some that God has repeatedly warned us will bring nothing but destruction to our lives.
God did not send Gideon first to tackle the nations problem. He sent him first to his own family’s issues.
Sometimes these seemingly smaller battles to win people to a relationship with God are more intimidating than the larger ones. The fear of alienating family members, rejection by our immediate community and friend groups, and even retaliation for our obedience to cutting off anything from our lives that causes us and others to sin that can be very intimidating and have painful reactions by those we love.
Jesus’ final command to His disciples after He rebuked them for not listening to the women and men He had sent to witness to His death and resurrection was to go to world and witness to what we have seen:

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Gideon’s family had been practicing idolatry—what is more, they had been leading their community in this practice. Gideon’s name also carries the idea of cutting down, of felling. He was being instructed to walk in this: to cut down the idols, to cut down the Asherah pole.
Not only that, but the bull God instructed Gideon to sacrifice was what his family was saving to live off of. No doubt they had been carefully hidden and safeguarded from their enemies. Gideon was to take his father’s bull, and a second bull seven years old. This second bull had been alive ironically and tellingly as long as the oppression the people of Israel had undergone. It had been kept safe through all of the difficulties; honored, worshipped and fattened. Just as the Ba’al idol was fashioned in the image of a sacred bull, the symbol of strength and might, the bulls represented the strength the people were trying to obtain through their efforts and pointless sacrifices.
God had commanded Gideon to remove it, placing his entire dependence upon God alone for their needs. They could no longer count on these physical provisions or their own ingenuity to protect them from starvation. They must rest their hope entirely on God’s help. With the sacrifice of Jesus, the people unknowingly rejected Him while simultaneously securing the means to the salvation of the world.

Jesus was the second bull, taking on the form of sinful flesh, though innocent of all charges. The first man, Barabbas, guilty of sin and charged justly under the Law, was released because his debt was being paid by Jesus:

After [Pilate\ had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in [Jesus\. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
John 18:38-40

The people, crying out to crucify Jesus with the chant, "We have no king but Caesar!" showed their own idolatry to the pagan idolatrous practice of worshipping their Caesar.

28When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash (יְהוֹאָשׁ S#3060 fire of Yehovah) has done this thing.” 30Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” 31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
Judges 6:28-32

We find that what Joash should have done, Gideon did. Joash had been unwilling to take on the responsibility, had been too afraid of the nations, of the idols and of the people. But just as Ba’al, the storm god, was depicted with lightning, the fire from heaven in their reliefs, so Joash’ name reflects this dynamic. It was the fire of God that they needed to fear. It was the fire of God, which had touched Gideon’s offering.
But Joash did state one thing very correctly: If Ba’al was god, he could fight his own battles.

Though Gideon was certainly not a god, Jesus was God Himself. It is ironic, then, that the declaration of Baal's need to contend, or fight for himself, is echoed in the mocking jeers of the rulers at the foot of the cross:

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

We see that to the Jews, power is all-important as a sign of God's authority (1 Cor. 1:22-24), which became a stumbling block to them receiving Jesus. However, it is in the foolishness and weakness of the cross that the gospel was chosen to come to us. Jesus knew that He would receive salvation from the grave in due time and willingly gave up enacting His own contention. Unlike Baal, who would indeed come next to contend against Gideon, Jesus knew that His vindication would come from God alone.
This was an entire sacrifice, including the accursed wood of the asherah tree. Significantly, it was the wood of the tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that had borne the fruit that through mankind’s disobedience would bring death and sin to all of God’s Creation. It was the wood of this tree that was accursed. As it is written:

22“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Deut. 21:22-23

“Bring out your son that he may die!”
Early in the morning the men of the town surrounded Gideon's father. This happened also with Jesus:

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

The words of the people of Ophrah, those people of dust, resound in our ears with impact. Unlike Gideon's father, our The Father, God, did bring out His Son. He was given as a sacrifice because of the need to destroy the works of darkness, to destroy that ancient enemy, the Serpent. It is this cursed tree that must be used to redeem us from the curse of sin. Jesus would become sin, become our curse, so that we might be brought back into relationship with our God:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
Gal 3:13

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col 2:13-15

Just as Gideon had to contend first with his sin and that of his family, so Jesus was sent first to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 15:24) and then His disciples were sent to bring the good news to the world. This would take great courage.
Gideon, the feller of trees, the mighty warrior, stands in the symbolic place of Jesus, who felled the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, became sin on this tree and broke down the altar of Ba’al (בַּעַל S#1168 ba’al: owner, master), the slave master over us. God had indeed rescued Gideon and His people from Egypt once again. With Jesus’ help, we will never again be in slavery to sin or endless work to receive our salvation.
There is, and only ever will be, one Sacrifice that will bring us victory over sin's mastery and back into relationship with God. Have you trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation? Have you confronted your need to repent?
Have you been willing to confront the sin in your family and in your community? When will it be worth it to tell people just how devastating their sin has been and what their remedy is?

Will you let fear stop you from bringing salvation to those you love?

https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-worship-of-baal-in-the-ancient-levant
https://armstronginstitute.org/325-zeus-baal-and-a-rare-bronze-bull-idol-discovered-in-greece
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/moloch-0016383
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/identity-moloch-0011457

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The Power of Praise

2/28/2024

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Many of you probably remember the week of Labor Day, 2020. A haze of smoke covered our valley. Fires sprang up all around the state. An eerie, yellow-orange light saturated the air, causing the indoor lights to seem blue in contrast. Ash rained continuously and many suffered from the poor air quality.
Like many, we had to be evacuated from our home up in Gates because the wildfires surrounded it, burning down many homes and leaving everything temporarily uninhabitable. While we were safely evacuated with our family, our home suffered damage.
Our kitchen was destroyed and the smoke entering in from left-open windows covered every square inch. The mattresses, clothing and furniture were permeated with the stench. Thankfully, unlike some, we have homeowners’ insurance. Unfortunately, like many, our insurance didn’t want to pay for all that we believe are the damages. They delayed, made excuses and finally just fell far short of the cost of repair, in our opinion. Finally, after much wasted negotiation, we found an attorney who specializes in bringing insurance companies to court and started the next part of the process.
We have finished the arduous process of compiling evidence and are now waiting in queue to bring our evidence to the judge.
We hope he will see things the way we see them. We hope that he will hear us out and be a fair and experienced judge, able to discern and distinguish between arguments and evidence.
We hope that he is impartial, not showing favoritism to anyone, and above reproach and corruption.
It is how our story today starts as well. In 2 Chronicles 19, we find that King Jehoshaphat very righteously has been about the business of setting up judges to sort through every case, civil and criminal, to judge in the fear of the Lord. They were to carefully examine the evidence, only giving out consequences to those who had committed a crime against another, and in civil cases to make sure that property continued to be disbursed to those to whom it belonged.
After remonstrating with the newly appointed judges, King Jehoshaphat exhorts them:

“Behave courageously, and the Lord will be with the good.” v. 11

Little did he know how those words would portend his future and the future of his country!
Immediately after those days, as the enemy is wont to do when they find that order and righteousness are being restored to God’s people, the enemy joined forces to descend upon all of Judah under King Jehoshaphat:

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

The Ammonites and Moabites, those nations descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, came against them en masse. Now God had strictly forbidden the Israelites from messing with their relatives’ land as they came to the Promised Land: God had apportioned the Moabites their country, and the Ammonites their country. It was their allotment from God just as the Promised Land was the Israelites’ allotment. So, on their way from Egypt, the Israelites were not allowed to fight with their neighbors because they were their fellow relatives descended from Lot.
At this juncture, however, it is the Ammonites and Moabites who are coming to try to remove the Israelites from their land, repaying evil for good.
The only time someone could legitimately be removed from their land and property was 1) if they had illegally taken possession of it or 2) it could be temporarily given away as consequence to pay off a debt or sin of the people for a specified period of time.
So, in effect, the Moabites and Ammonites were making a claim that the people of the land of Judah had violated God’s law so much that they would have to be removed as consequence of their sin just as the Canaanites had been removed. This would, in fact, happen eventually. God often used other nations to bring judgment upon one another for their national sin. Eventually, Judah’s sin would increase so much that they would be exiled for a time.
So, just as the people were to gather in the previous chapter to seek the judgment of the judges for any disputes, now Jehoshaphat and all of Judah, small and great, were called to come to the judgment of God in order to plead their case and defense against this accusation and hostile trespass. (v. 9)

We must act in justice as a community: loving God and people.

Sometimes the enemy threatens what God has given us to steward.
Satan’s first tactic is to try to get us to worship idols, to worship what people have; to be obedient to what we have created with our own hands.
But Jehoshaphat, in chapter 17, had removed the idols from the land and caused the people to worship God alone. They were loving the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
In chapter 19, we found King Jehoshaphat establishing justice and morality throughout the land, making sure that people were held accountable for treating one another right. They were loving their neighbors as themselves.
They were walking in obedience to the two greatest commands of God!
The Bible tells us that we are not unaware of the enemy’s schemes (1 Cor. 2:11). While he has several, he reuses them. They are identifiable and repetitive.
When the enemy cannot get us to worship our own desires and works, his next scheme is to accuse us falsely as if we have.
He comes against us, our constant legal adversary to the Father, as the Accuser which accuses us night and day before our God (Rev. 12:10). However, if we have been walking in righteousness, he has no legal right or authority because we have done nothing wrong.
Now, if we have been unfaithful to God, if we have allowed other things to be first in our heart and life, if we have wronged our brother or sister, then the enemy has a legal standing to take issue with us before our Judge. In such a case, if we find that we have sin in our hearts, 1 John 2:1 tells us, we have an advocate, an attorney who pleads our case for us: Jesus Christ, The Righteous who always lives to make intercession for us. If we repent from sins and cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, we have peace with God and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin so that we can once again come boldly to the throne of grace and find help in time of need.
If, when examining our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit, we find that we have kept faithfully to walk in obedience to the Spirit, then, in our legal system, the case becomes what is called a “frivolous lawsuit,” one intended to distract and use up our resources and attention in order to deplete us in an attempt to wear us out and keep us from being successful.
These kinds of earthly lawsuits can be demoralizing, because even if we know that, given a good Judge, we should ultimately win, the case will be so costly that it could bankrupt us.
In Jehoshaphat’s case, this was a class action lawsuit. It involved the entire nation being dispossessed.
We saw from Jonathan’s story that if we act in righteousness and boldly walk in the Lord’s victory, there will be a victory accomplished for us. But if we want not only victory for ourselves, for our families—if we want victory for our communities and our nation and our world, then there must be a turning back to God corporately by God’s people.
1 Peter 4:17 tells us that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” If the enemy were to come against our nation, could we as believers, declare boldly to the Lord that His Church here in America has been faithful? Could we say with confidence that we have turned away from sin, that we have worshiped him above everything and that we have treated all alike with the love of Jesus Christ?

We must send the call out.

Here in America our land is under siege. Our children, our neighbors, our communities are being threatened. There is so much coming against our nation from the enemy that it is countless. A couple of weeks ago we talked about what we should be personally doing, in our own lives about spiritual battles.
I want to bring us to this corporate battle. It is the whole church of God around the world, in our nation, against the enemy who wants to dispossess us from being God’s people.
King Jehoshaphat called everyone: rich, poor, slave, free, men, women and children. There was no one who was not necessary to come seek the Lord together. Every, single person from every walk and class of life was essential and valuable in the commission.
God declares in 2 Chron 7:14 that: “If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land.”
We, the people of God, must call all to humble repentance. We, the people of God, must call all to come to seek the Lord with us: small and great, men, women, children and families.
We do this by setting an example in front of them of holy, loving lifestyles and by repeatedly inviting and calling out to them to follow us as we follow Christ. At school, at work, in our neighborhoods, in our families: it’s not a private thing. It’s not enough to just go into our closets and work out our private, personal salvation. Yes, that is first. Yes, that it right. But if we want to see revival, if we care enough and love our neighbors enough, we will reach out to them to call them back to seek God.

We must humble ourselves in unity.

King Jehoshaphat calls all of Judah out to fast. This is a humbling thing. To fast and to present themselves in worship to the Lord makes a clear statement: God is over them as Judge and they are pleading for His mercy. They are not assuming that they are good enough to be heard for what they have done. They are throwing themselves at His feet in humble petition, and the King is the one leading this!
In a court, what happens if you do not show up to the case? You automatically lose your case. Whoever shows up and stays there for the duration can be heard out.
Fasting puts us in a vulnerable, weak state. It declares our subsistence, not on physical bread, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of our God, the Judge of all. When we fast, we deny our own appetites, our own desires, and fully focus every part of ourselves, spirit, soul and body, for a season so that nothing distracts us from waiting on God for His answer.
We don’t allow anything to prevent us from coming boldly to the throne room to petition our God. We don't allow our case to be thrown out by our failure to appear before the Judge.
Corporately, fasting together creates a unity of purpose that focuses our prayer powerfully and effectively.

Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

God answered with a musical prophet. These musicians, both men and women, the Bible tells us, would “prophesy” with their instruments and voices in corporate, temple worship (1 Chron 25:1). It is one of these musical prophets that God comes upon to give them their word from the Lord.
The wilderness of Yeruel is where God would fight this battle with them. Yeruel comes from the Hebrew word, “yara,” and means to be unified together and established based upon many, many small substances being brought together in unification. It has the idea of raindrops converging together to form one substance of a mighty body of water all focused in one direction together.

Yara-El: Founded by God in Unity.

Their corporate fasting and worship had created a unity among them that was powerful and effective before the throne and would soon lead them to a powerful victory through praise!

We must praise the beauty of God’s holiness--Rejoice!

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”
Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

A lot of times we think of worship as music and praise. While it really incorporates the entirety of ourselves as a living sacrifice walking in obedience to the Spirit, there is a huge element of worship including fasting, prayer, psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, both personally and corporately.
King Jehoshaphat did a noteworthy thing: He consulted with all the people. They helped to choose who would bravely go before them: those who were unafraid and courageously walking in faith by God's command. They put the musicians before the soldiers. These worshipping musicians must have walked in a mighty act of faith, voluntarily weaponless except for the Almighty God who went before them!
The word, “Rejoice” is built on the word for grace, for the favor that God gives a humble petitioner, already thanking and rejoicing that they know that they will be given what they need before they even ask. It is a huge act of faith and such an honor to God that His people would rejoice in His goodness to them in front of the world!
They rejoiced before they won as an act of faith because they fully believed that God’s promise was true. They rejoiced as if it had already happened.
Jehoshaphat knew that he could appeal to God in this way, because he understood God’s nature as a just and holy Judge. You see, Jehoshaphat’s name means: the Lord is Judge. He meditated in this concept of righteous judgment and trusted fully in His vindication of judgment from God alone.
Jehoshaphat knew personally the importance of a judge being just and holy in his judgments. If a judge was corrupt, then corruption would spread through the land.
Meeting together in the Valley of Tekoa, or the Valley of the Trumpet, they praised God for His holiness, high and loud, lifting up their voice and sounding out the proclamation —God is Holy! God is not a corruptible Judge. He cannot be bribed. He will not err in judgment. God will be faithful to His promise unwaveringly. He is both absolutely, stunningly holy and as well as abounding in love and mercy.
It is this kind of wholehearted, unified abandonment to praise that touches the heart of God.
In Ephesians we are told that the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God. We are told that after we have armed ourselves, having done all, to “Stand”, positioning ourselves, praising God for the mighty work He has already completed on our behalf.
We often get discouraged when we see the enemy mount up against us. We think it will only bring pain and at the most- at best- we will just survive it.
The reality is, that God is intending to use these things for our good. In Romans 8:28, Paul explains to us as believers that “God uses all things for the good of those who love him, who are called according to His purpose.” A good judge throws out any frivolous lawsuits and penalizes the offending party for wasting the court’s time and for trying to harm another person vindictively.
Even more, a good, just judge will also award compensation to those in the right—or as King Jehoshaphat told his judges, “the Lord will be with the good!”
Once again, we see God positioning Himself to fight for His people. It is His battle. He will cause our enemies to destroy themselves. You see, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Satan’s house never has unity, because he is the author of confusion, selfish ambition, jealousy, covetousness and dissension. His own house cannot stay united because true unity comes from God alone. All the enemy can do is create a semblance of fake unity—one focused on a common enemy, while they themselves are also one another’s enemies. In the end they will be routed by the unity of the Church.

We must gather and bless the Lord.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

When we are victorious over our enemy, there are the spoils of war. In a large army camp, they would have had huge flocks of animals to feed the soldiers. They would carry with them other foods, oils, dried fruits, spices. These all carried a significant value. They would carry with them all kinds of jewels and gold and treasures that they had raided or brought from home. They would have massive amounts of weapons and armor and horses and chariots.
Sometimes we think that when the enemy mounts up his forces against us, it is really a lose-lose. Either way, even if we survive, there will be no benefit. We approach these battles with dread, wishing we were never required to go through them. But God intends these things to bring us greater blessing than we could ever imagine!
Jesus echoes this concept in Matthew 5:12: "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Instead of just surviving, the provision and blessing of God is multiplied for God’s people as a result of these battles.
The people of Judah gathered together in the Valley of Blessing to gather home all that God had just provided for them and to bless His Name together, gratefully acknowledging what God had overabundantly supplied for them.
When we are victorious in spiritual battle, there is provision for our communities. There is provision for our weapons and protection.
Most importantly, the slaves they would have brought as captives to serve them are set free.
If we want to see our communities set free, the Church must walk in love first to God, then in love and justice toward one another. We must send out the call and invite all to seek God in humility with us.
Finally, let’s rejoice together in the beauty of God’s holiness, because He will only render a good verdict for His people as the Judge of all the earth. Let’s praise the Lord as if God’s word is really true! Let’s walk in front, boldly marching ahead, confident in His holiness.

Bless His holy name!

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The Saving Work of Kindness

9/22/2021

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xrēstótēs
"useful, profitable") kindness that is also serviceable; ("useful kindness") refers to meeting real needs, in God's way, in His timing (fashion).

The traveler stopped in his tracks, staring. Pushing his donkey back, he assessed the situation quickly. The man’s inert body lay there, blood pooling in the dry, dusty road. His bruises, laying claim to every area of his body, had taken on rich shades of purple and blue. His dry, parched lips were cracked and lacerated.
A conflict of emotions broiled inwardly as the traveler debated his choice. He could walk away now--others certainly had. Despised and rejected, abused and mocked by the very man who lay before him, the traveler had every reason to walk on. But the more he looked at the injured man, the greater the compassion that welled up inside of him. In an instant he made a choice.
Striding quickly over to the man, the traveler led his protesting donkey forward. Reaching into his saddlebags to take out his oil flask and wine skin, he knelt down poured first the cleansing wine and then the soothing oil generously over the wounds. He then quickly tore pieces of cloth from his own tunic to bind the man’s still spilling blood. Finally, taking off his outer tunic, he covered the man's stripped body. Bracing himself, he gently lifted up the wounded man’s body and laid him over his own donkey.
They would need a place to sleep. While alone the traveler may have saved money sleeping outside. But there was no way this man could survive in the cold desert night air. Making a decision, the traveler led the donkey the few miles left to the nearest inn. The host greeted him, taking instant stock of the situation.
The night was long, and many times the traveler had to get up and care for the moaning man, giving him drinks of water, changing his bandages, checking on his wounds. Feverish and delirious, it took all his energy to help the man pull through the fever. The traveler looked wearily for the rising of the sun, anxious for a respite.
At daybreak, the fever broke, and the injured man began to sleep the deep and unbroken sleep of one who is healing. Exhausted, the traveler packed up his few belongings. Stepping out of the dark room, he blinked wearily, his eyes bloodshot and smarting.
Looking around, he found the innkeeper. Pulling out his bag of coins, he quickly counted what he had available. Two days’ worth of work. It had been enough to last him for eight days of traveling food. But even this wouldn’t be enough to care for the extensive injuries and extended stay. There was no other way around it, however.
Handing over the money, he gave instructions for the care and healing of the Jewish man. He gave the innkeeper assurances of further payment for costs that might be incurred before his return.
As he turned away and walked out of the inn, his stomach empty and protesting, he pulled himself up onto his donkey and turned her home—home to Samaria.

Adaption of Luke 10:25-37

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Titus 3:3-8

What is kindness? It has always baffled me a bit. Kindness, goodness…gentleness. It all seems like kind of the same thing. To me, kindness seemed like being polite in the grocery checkout line. Kindness was a hug when a friend was down.
But kindness is so much more than that. In fact, I would say now that kindness is a fruit of the Spirit that cannot be lived out without the grace of God through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Kindness, according to Strong’s, is a useful fruit of the Spirit that truly takes care of the real needs of others. Kindness meets “real needs, in God’s way, in His timing.”
Kindness, as we enter into the Divine nature of God, always calls us to a measure of giving that is more than we feel we have to give. It asks us to go beyond the simple to the extraordinary, from the natural to the supernatural. It demands that we give to people what they truly need, even when it isn’t what they want, and to give without being paid back.
We used to be difficult to show kindness to. Our attitudes, our actions, our expressions—all were focused on self-gratification and pleasure. This overflowed out of our sinful hearts to others, on others, abusing, hurting, and creating schisms in our relationships.

Kindness leads to repentance

Praise God, He didn’t leave us in our mess! God reached to meet our needs when we were still His hostile enemies. He didn’t wait for us to clean up, shape up, or fix up ourselves. He knew we had no power or strength to do that without His Spirit. So He joined us in the middle of our mess, and made a way out for us.
He poured on the cleansing wine to sanctify and make us holy through the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. He generously poured on the healing oil to make us whole and complete again through the comforting power of the Holy Spirit. He covered our shame with His own robe of rightousness:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good [man/cause] someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Rom. 5:6-10

As much, though, as God came down into our mess, God’s kindness was never intended to leave us in our mess. God’s kindness is intended to bring repentance—a complete change of heart and mind to think like God thinks, to take action like He acts:

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?
Does this mean nothing to you?
Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
Rom. 2:4 NLT

If we stay in our sin and refuse to extend kindness to others, but instead rely on our old patterns of selfishness and self-gratification, then we are despising rather than entering into the kindness of God for salvation. If we simply say to ourselves, “sure, I’d love to have free salvation,” but never repent, we become like the filthy clad man invited to the wedding in Jesus’ parable, who wanted eternal life without repentance and Christ’s righteousness. If we tear off His tunic and reject His gift of righteousness through His blood, then we are still left in our own shame.
Before we can enter into the power of the Spirit to change our behavior, we need to first enter into repentance, which includes a life and mindset change to agree with God about our behaviors and our need for a complete change of spirit--a new creation. Only then can we cooperate with the Spirit’s sanctifying and cleansing power in our lives to enable us to overflow in good works of kindness to others at all times:

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Tim. 2:21 ESV

People without Jesus need kindness

. Kindness calls us to care for those who don’t deserve our care, or even have purposefully acted in evil ways against us. These attributes of foolishness, disobedience, malice, envy and hate are all great indicators of the need of a person, once in days gone by the very attributes of our own perverted identity, are tell-tale signs of to whom we should extend kindness.
It is to these that Christ Jesus calls us to overflow with Divine kindness to meet their needs:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matt. 5:44-48

It’s likely that we won’t need to search very far to find people that are difficult, that are unkind to us, and that require supernatural grace for us to meet their needs in love and sincerity. We may not even have to walk outside our homes. Perhaps during Covid shut-ins, even extending kindness to our family members or extended relatives seemed like an out-of-reach impossibility. Maybe being kind to other church members who see pandemic responses or political viewpoints differently than we do may seem like a stretch past the reasonable imagination.
But Jesus calls us to an extreme: that, like our Heavenly Father, we actively look for and meet the needs of not just those we like or care for, but anyone down to the most vengeful enemy. That person that refuses to wear a mask down the aisle. The man who lied about us to take over our place in the company. The woman who gossiped about us and caused us to lose precious friendships. The spouse who refuses to take responsibility for their family.
When we feel that people are mistreating us, we should remember that it is precisely those wrong actions that we used to practice in our own past. Rather than practice avoidance of those people, perhaps we should look at their actions as indications of a need that God would like us to fill.
Sometimes, instead of simply walking away, we can pray that God would open our eyes to ways that a particular person may need something that we can care for. It might be an encouraging note, or a meal. Maybe they need a bill paid, or a ride. They could be overwhelmed with homework with their child and might need some tutoring.
Above all, they need to hear of the hope and kindness of Jesus to save them from their hurtful cycles of sin and to meet their needs with His own Divine kindness.

We have an abundance for meeting people’s
true needs with kindness

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t usually feel true. Often I start the day tired and overwhelmed with needs just from my own family and work. The process of caring for the needs of others we don’t even feel a natural affection for may sound like it extends past our natural resources. And this is absolutely true.
The kindness and actions that God calls us to are past our natural resources. This form of kindness requires us to rely on the all-sufficiency of God to multiply our resources of time, energy, love and finances to fill the needs around us.
It’s not natural, it’s Divine:

As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.
2 Peter 1:3

Let’s ask God today to give us eyes to see the wounded. To deepen our love for others. To multiply our time, energy and resources. To give us opportunities to show kindness to those who need it.
Today, let’s pour the wine and oil. Today, let’s bind their wounds. Today, let’s point them to Jesus’ gift of righteousness.
Today, let’s overflow.

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Bread of Affliction

There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

The Power of Praise

The Saving Work of Kindness

xrēstótēs
"useful, profitable") kindness that is also serviceable; ("useful kindness") refers to meeting real needs, in God's way, in His timing (fashion).

Kindness leads to repentance

People without Jesus need kindness

We have an abundance for meeting people’s
true needs with kindness

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Bread of Affliction

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There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16​

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Luke 23:35

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1​

The Power of Praise

The Saving Work of Kindness

xrēstótēs ​ "useful, profitable") kindness that is also serviceable; ("useful kindness") refers to meeting real needs, in God's way, in His timing (fashion).

Kindness leads to repentance

People without Jesus need kindness

We have an abundance for meeting people’s true needs with kindness

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15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrina devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. Mark 15:1

xrēstótēs
"useful, profitable") kindness that is also serviceable; ("useful kindness") refers to meeting real needs, in God's way, in His timing (fashion).

We have an abundance for meeting people’s
true needs with kindness