In the game of Checkers, one of the goals is to get your game piece safely across to the opponent's side of the board. When one does, an additional game piece is stacked on top and the game piece is "kinged." At that point, that piece can move forward and backward having much more control over the board and is much more dangerous. A general rule of thumb is that the more kings you have, the greater your chance of winning! We'll come back to this in a moment.
As I was at the time of my last blog, I'm still studying the Biblical account of Gideon in the book of Judges in the Old Testament. Gideon was used by God to fight a battle against the Midianites in which Israel was the victor. God delivered the army of Midian into the hands of His people and the Israelites never fired an arrow nor drew a sword. Click on the scripture reference that follows and read this brief account: Judges 7:15-22.
Each armed with only a torch, a water pitcher, and a ram's horn trumpet, the 300 men stood against over 120,000!!! Yes, you heard right! They were outnumbered over 400:1!!! And none of them had swords or arrows. They did just as God had instructed them, and the battle was won because God had gone before them. Students of scripture see the delivering hand of God all throughout the Bible. This is but just one account!
Afterward, however, the people of Israel gave Gideon too much credit. They wanted him to be their king! See, Israel, at this point in history, had not ever had a human king. God was their King! And God wished to remain their King! But Israel looked at all the other nations. They had kings. And Israel also thought that having a human royal on the throne would increase their respect among other nations who might look at them as having no ruler, thus being a weaker nation. So, in their minds, why shouldn't Israel have a king too? And their acknowledgement of God as their King, at best, seemed to be in a bit of a revolving door depending on what day it was and the circumstances in which they found themselves.
Prior to Gideon, Israel had been worshipping an idol, Baal. Gideon's own father had an altar to Baal at the family home and Gideon, himself, had grown up in a family that acknowledged Baal as god in their worship. But God sought out Gideon and appeared to him personally. This encounter would spur the events that would lead to the victory described above where God handed Israel the Midianites.
Now understand, this wasn't the first time God had come to the rescue! Remember the whole giving Moses the ten commandments thing? Or the parting of the Red Sea? Or manna being given from heaven? Or water from a rock? The list could go on, but those are a few highlights. Still, Israel never seemed to learn their lesson! They always wanted the tangible. They sought multiple gods in some cases craving the tangible that they could ascribe glory rather than Jehovah God.
Every time I've studied scripture in my life, I've always found myself trying to identify with one character. The one I've always felt most like is David, for many reasons. Moses may be next. But for the first time that I can remember, I found myself identifying with an entire people group: Israel. When I look at my life, it is marked with moments of being "on fire for God" followed by a total shunning of Him by my actions. Peter's denial of knowing Jesus right before the crucifixion has nothing on me. My actions have denied Jesus so many times. I took my eyes off the Faithful for the tangible.
Now back to my opening thought. I've played Checkers with my worship. Instead of it being more like Chess, where there is one king and every piece acts to defend the king, I've sought out as many kings as I could get! We seek out kings in our jobs, our finances, possessions, houses, even in our churches! We want the best, the brightest, the one that's going to get us noticed, the status symbol. We're no better that the people of Israel melting down earrings to form golden idols of false gods on whom to ascribe their worship. Ours just take on different shapes than theirs.
Sometimes our kings become things that even should be important! Our children, our marriages, our friends, our ministries - but when we fail to have God in the sole authority slot of our lives as the King, the rest of the stuff that should be important and that should matter, suddenly no longer matters at all.
Ask yourself some questions:
1. What is my first filter that I run most of my life decisions through?
2. Is there anything I'm not sure I could do without even if God asked me to?
3. What am I most proud of in my life?
4. What is the drive behind my life's ambition and vision?
5. With what area of my life would my family and friends most readily define me?
Whatever the answer to the questions, especially if the answer is the same to more than one of them, could be an idol in your life and has take God's place as king (or kings) on the throne of your heart. It's a hard thing to see, isn't it? It was for me. I never wanted to be "that guy." But Israel was a nation FULL of "those guys!"
The good news is that yesterday is gone. It no longer matters. Forgiveness is here, right now, in the person of Jesus. And tomorrow isn't yet written. It's not the king stacks on your life's board that matter! It's the King. It's Chess, not Checkers.
Don't forget to use the social media just below here to share to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts directly. I welcome your comments! PLEASE leave one!!! Here's how:
1. Click on the words "No Comment" or " (#) Comment" (whichever is listed just to the right of the posting time directly below this paragraph)
2. Write your comment in the box provided.
3. You must also choose a selection from the COMMENT AS drop down list. If you have a Google+ ID, AIM, or other you wish to use, choose that. Most of you should choose the NAME/URL option and leave your name in the space provided. You do NOT need to leave a URL unless you wish.
4. Click the PUBLISH button. THAT'S IT!!!
THANK YOU for stopping by! Till next time...
Now understand, this wasn't the first time God had come to the rescue! Remember the whole giving Moses the ten commandments thing? Or the parting of the Red Sea? Or manna being given from heaven? Or water from a rock? The list could go on, but those are a few highlights. Still, Israel never seemed to learn their lesson! They always wanted the tangible. They sought multiple gods in some cases craving the tangible that they could ascribe glory rather than Jehovah God.
Every time I've studied scripture in my life, I've always found myself trying to identify with one character. The one I've always felt most like is David, for many reasons. Moses may be next. But for the first time that I can remember, I found myself identifying with an entire people group: Israel. When I look at my life, it is marked with moments of being "on fire for God" followed by a total shunning of Him by my actions. Peter's denial of knowing Jesus right before the crucifixion has nothing on me. My actions have denied Jesus so many times. I took my eyes off the Faithful for the tangible.
Now back to my opening thought. I've played Checkers with my worship. Instead of it being more like Chess, where there is one king and every piece acts to defend the king, I've sought out as many kings as I could get! We seek out kings in our jobs, our finances, possessions, houses, even in our churches! We want the best, the brightest, the one that's going to get us noticed, the status symbol. We're no better that the people of Israel melting down earrings to form golden idols of false gods on whom to ascribe their worship. Ours just take on different shapes than theirs.
Sometimes our kings become things that even should be important! Our children, our marriages, our friends, our ministries - but when we fail to have God in the sole authority slot of our lives as the King, the rest of the stuff that should be important and that should matter, suddenly no longer matters at all.
Ask yourself some questions:
1. What is my first filter that I run most of my life decisions through?
2. Is there anything I'm not sure I could do without even if God asked me to?
3. What am I most proud of in my life?
4. What is the drive behind my life's ambition and vision?
5. With what area of my life would my family and friends most readily define me?
Whatever the answer to the questions, especially if the answer is the same to more than one of them, could be an idol in your life and has take God's place as king (or kings) on the throne of your heart. It's a hard thing to see, isn't it? It was for me. I never wanted to be "that guy." But Israel was a nation FULL of "those guys!"
The good news is that yesterday is gone. It no longer matters. Forgiveness is here, right now, in the person of Jesus. And tomorrow isn't yet written. It's not the king stacks on your life's board that matter! It's the King. It's Chess, not Checkers.
Don't forget to use the social media just below here to share to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts directly. I welcome your comments! PLEASE leave one!!! Here's how:
1. Click on the words "No Comment" or " (#) Comment" (whichever is listed just to the right of the posting time directly below this paragraph)
2. Write your comment in the box provided.
3. You must also choose a selection from the COMMENT AS drop down list. If you have a Google+ ID, AIM, or other you wish to use, choose that. Most of you should choose the NAME/URL option and leave your name in the space provided. You do NOT need to leave a URL unless you wish.
4. Click the PUBLISH button. THAT'S IT!!!
THANK YOU for stopping by! Till next time...
