{"id":2651,"date":"2023-06-15T03:39:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T03:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=2651"},"modified":"2023-06-09T15:46:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T15:46:51","slug":"gideons-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/gideons-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"Gideon’s Mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, June 15<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gideon\u2019s Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.<\/em> Judges 8:27<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Judges 8 Gideon returned a victor, but it wasn\u2019t enough. Perhaps Gideon was flush with so much success, instead of resting in God\u2019s will, he lapsed in judgement and forgot his Source.<\/p>\n

God had called Gideon to defeat the Midianites, and because of his victory the Israelites hailed Gideon as their king. We see a glimmer of hope as Gideon refused this place of honor (see Judges 8:23); however, he took the plunder from the victory and fashioned an ephod (see Judges 8:27. On the surface this might not seem harmful, but an ephod was to only be worn by the high priest in the tabernacle. Rebelling against God, Gideon not only had another ephod made but also put it on display in the city. And this is the beginning of the cycle we read so many times in the book of Judges.<\/p>\n

Gideon\u2019s story comes to an anti-climactic, yet chilling ending here in Judges 8. After Gideon made this ephod, Scripture records these sad words, \u201c\u2026all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family<\/em>.\u201d (Judges 8:27).<\/p>\n

Gideon made a big mistake. Success, victory can often do just that – flames of pride and power. Fame can be dangerous. Gideon got caught up in the moment. His actions set the course for idolatry and cult-like activity for generations to follow. The hailed hero lost sight of the Holy One. Rather than illustrating Gideon\u2019s faith and obedience, his story came to a quiet end.<\/p>\n

Yet, in this occurrence Gideon offers a lesson for all of us. Sometimes even doing the Lord\u2019s will we can become engrossed with success and make self-focused decisions. Pride can sneak in, motivating us to step ahead of God. If we put self before submission, we risk stealing the glory from God.<\/p>\n

If only he had watched where God was leading. This is a lesson I want to learn well.<\/p>\n

Prayer for today<\/strong>: Lord, any success I have or will ever achieve is from You alone. Please forgive me for even monetarily stealing your glory. I want to live to make You famous. Keep me humbled so that I am reminded to life You high. In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday, June 15 Gideon\u2019s Mistake Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family. Judges 8:27 \u00a0 In Judges 8 Gideon returned a victor, but it wasn\u2019t enough. Perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2651"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2660,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions\/2660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}