Judges 8:34–35: “Thus the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.”

April 22nd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Israelites sadly came to a point where they regarded an idol, Baal-Berth, as their “covenant god.” By serving Baal, they were saying, “What really matters is money and success.” They no doubt came to this conclusion by watching the judge Gideon who set that example for them. Although Gideon correctly said that he did not want to be king, his lifestyle became that of a king. He slowly added to his life a harem of wives and a concubine that bore him 70 sons. So we are not surprised, since that was the example Gideon set in his later years, that the nation followed his lead. Gideon is an example of a man who knew God but slipped from great heights of faith to a place of outright apostasy against God. Gideon stumbled because of success, riches, and prominence.

Herein lies the warning for all who come to God. It isn’t enough to just begin well with God, we must continue on through our whole lives if we would be His servants. Gideon, in his later years, could only look back on his early service for God, because it was all in the past. How we need to press on throughout our whole lives and finish well. Professional racehorse trainers know this fact well and spend much time schooling the young horses to run flat out in practice. They know that if the horse has been taught to run flat out in practice, when it gets into the race, it will do the same without any prompting from the jockey. We need to run flat out because we too are in the race of life. However, it’s not all about speed. As the writer of Hebrews said, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:1–2). This is probably referring to the Greek Olympic footrace. The winner was not the runner who finished first, but the one who finished with his torch still lit. We want to run all the way to the finish, with the flame of our torch still lit for Jesus.

“LORD, help us not to become discouraged by the race we are in, but, by Your grace, press on toward the finish line.”