Present Obedience

Let me set the scene for you.

We find Gideon in a hole somewhere, getting grains for his starving family to eat, minding his own business. Keenly aware of the needs of his “community,” he works diligently at a job that will pay off in dividends for his hungry crew. And boy, are they hungry. After doing evil in the sight of God, the Lord had removed His powerful hand from them and given them over to the cruel Midianites for seven long years to do with them what they would. A complete free-for-all, the Midianites had been stealing from the Israelites and driving them out of their land, resulting in a serious lack of food. It was for that reason Gideon was in a hole, threshing away, in the first place. Which is exactly where we find him in Judges 6.

He is simply doing what he knows to do to where and when he knows to do it.

Present Obedience.

Things had been ok for a while in Gideon's world. Actually, for a good long while. Under the direction of rockin’ Judge Deborah, Israel had known peace for 40 years. That is until they fell back into their flesh and started sinning, again. When it finally dawned on them that they needed help (somewhat of a “duh” moment after being run off, stolen from, attacked, and left with nothing), they turned to the Lord. Enter help in the form of the grain getter himself, Gideon.

Surely the "man" who showed up, sitting under the tree, would not have been what Gideon was expecting to look up from the hole and see that day. Surely Gideon wasn’t expecting his conversation with the "man" to take him from a grain thresher one day to a nation deliverer the next. Surely he wasn’t looking to pick a fight when he did as he was told to do and tore down the altar of the little g “god” his community was worshipping. Surely he didn’t expect to be mentioned with all the greats in Hebrews 11 one day because of his faith and convictions. Surely.

But he was doing what he was supposed to be doing where and when he was supposed to be doing it. And that’s when the Lord showed up and changed his life forever.

Present Obedience.

…Faithful in the little, but prepared for the much.

…Living in the world of now, but open to the world of more.

…Committed to being content, but ready to be radical.

There’s no contradiction in the terms of this present obedience, ya know. It is not an either-or situation. It is a both-and state of being. It’s about where you are. It is about who you are. It is about who you are where you are.

It's about being ready, just in case a "man" shows up under one of your trees one day and you’ve never seen Him before, to be found doing what you are supposed to be doing where you’re supposed to be doing it when you're supposed to be doing it.

You never know when something like that just might change your life forever.