God speaks through Judges

I hope this is not too long of a post, but I have to organize my thoughts. I am reading in the book of Judges. As I have done several times before, I said Lord what are you going to show me in Judges? It never fells He comes through. In chapter 6, it starts off with "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord" When will they ever learn? Then I thought they are God's chosen people. We as Christians are His chosen people and we mess up all the time. When will we ever learn? Reading on I came to where God sent an angel to call Gideon to help the Israelites.

Let me pause and tell you that I am in the early stages of labor. I am preparing for the arrival of this little miracle that God has given me. It has been an exciting 36 weeks. None of it has been the way I planned. It has been HIS plan and I have a feeling that her arrival will not be as I plan either! I have a doctors appointment today so I have stayed home from work to pack our bags just in case. I have enjoyed this morning more than you would ever know. The quietness of the house (other than a load of clothes washing) has been so nice. Beds are made, and I have picked up all of remnants of Ian's star wars battle from the living room floor. Then I set down to read my Bible and gaze out all my windows at the calves grazing in the pasture. "God what are you going to show me today?" I have to be honest, I keep thinking about this little girl inside me. What will she look like? What if something is wrong? Her eyesight, her hearing, her mental capabilities, and...what if she is a he! (Lots of crying this morning!)

So to go back to Gideon. The angel of the Lord appeared to him. He told Gideon to prepare a sacrifice. When he did, Gideon placed it on a rock. Then the angel touched the meat and bread and fire flared from the rock consuming it. Miracle #1. Then Gideon proceeds to either test God or needs more encouragement to do what God wants him to do. He lays out the fleece. Gideon knew that asking this might make displease God, but yet demands two more miracles! It is true that to make good decisions, we need facts. Gideon has all the facts, but still he hesitated obeying God because he wanted more proof. In my commentary, it said that demanding extra signs was an indication of unbelief. Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action. Visible signs are unnecessary if they only confirm what we already know is true.

Lord, you have brought us a long way. There have been more signs than I can even begin to count. Forgive me of my unbelief. Forgive me for not believing you are going to take us all the way through. However you have formed and created Ava will be perfect. You are God. I will be her number one supporter throughout her life. My purpose is to bring her to a relationship with you and I pray you will give me the wisdom and knowledge to do that. You have blessed me with a wonderful family and you have called me to lead them to you.