RISK MANAGEMENT

Image result for clip art showing risk Valiant Warrior, Gideon is all in!  He has seen the LORD. He has demolished the statues of Baal and Asherah. Now, all he has to do is lead the  Israelites in battle to deliver them from Midian! In Judges 7, the Midianites, the Amalekites and the sons of the east are assembled in the valley of Jezrell.  Minor detail: There are about 135,000 of them and their camels.  Gideon gathers some 32,000 Israelites to go with him.  Through a series of God's inventions, the final number has been reduced to 300 men and Gideon. God's encouraging word (NOT) to Gideon before His intervention, "The people who are with you are too many for ME to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me."  We are not told of Gideon's replies at this point, but I just wonder if this is what a crap shoot looks like?  The odds are now 450 to 1! Before the battles, the LORD has told Gideon that HE will give Midian into his hands two more times. In a bloody battle and a series of confrontations, God,using Gideon,delivers Israel from the Midianites.  

One has to admire Gideon's kind of courage especially considering his ole mindset of fear, insecurity, and inferiority.  Granted most of us will never be involved in such a risk event as this, but many times we are called upon to believe God, to trust God, to wait, or to accomplish.  As Christ followers, are we mindful that we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit who empowers us to believe, to trust, to wait, or to accomplish?  Are we such flesh-minded risk managers that we would never allow ourselves into an arena where we have  no other resource BUT GOD?  I constantly have to remind myself:  GOD KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING and hear God's statement to Jeremiah: "BEHOLD, I AM THE LORD, THE GOD OF ALL FLESH; IS ANYTHING TOO DIFFICULT FOR ME?" Jeremiah 32:27. Holy Spirit, I am willing to yield to you.  I will need your courage and obedience for the assignment that you have for me.(I don't have an assignment at the present, but I am just going to go ahead and yield so I can be ready.) Will you join me, Valiant Warrior, to be willing to be ready?  #IHAVETHREESONS

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