Good morning, friends.
Our verse for today comes from Judges 8:18, “So they answered, ‘As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king.'”
Like father, like son, right? That’s how the saying goes, anyway. Others may take the fruitier route, claiming the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In earlier times and various cultures, one might even be introduced or referred to as the son of whomever, making a direct correlation between who one was and where they came from. And that’s an important connection. Even the enemies of Gideon could say that some of the men they killed resembled kings. They recognized something in them as they recognized it in Gideon. Clearly it was not as basic as a giant crown or a royal robe. Gideon and the others didn’t carry neon signs. They simply had the actions and attitudes that pointed to one even greater than they were. And there could not be a more appropriate calling on our lives than as sons and daughters of the Lord God.
When Jesus says to obey His words, when He says to be perfect, when He says to take on His yoke, when He says to take up your cross and follow Him, He is saying to us, “As I am, so you should be.” Gideon had many encounters with the Lord before He went out and led the victory over the Midianites. He expressed his frustration with God’s apparently distant hand with the people of Israel. He doubted God’s calling on him because of his own lowly place in a family of a weak clan. He asked God to give him signs to confirm the very words He had already spoken to him. And all of these things ring too true about each of us, don’t they? We doubt, we worry, we rationalize, and we ask for more. But once Gideon finally believed that victory was in his hands, he went out and did what God had said he would do. He went out and resembled the son of a king. Our times with the Lord, where we question and complain, where we tell our doubts and express our fears, are critical in making us resemble our Father, the King. It will take you to the place where you believe enough to go out and resemble the son of a king.
As we seek Him today, let’s be aware that we are carrying an image with us in everything we do. Consider who or what you are resembling, and ask the Holy Spirit to show Himself through your very words and actions.
Have a great weekend and next week, and I will be with you again soon.
#4 Rich Holt
Dad of Ripken, Koy, TrishaJean, Samantha, Kakie Holiday and Raleigh
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
