April 27- Jars of Clay

April 27, 2011

Scripture Readings:
Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43;
Psalm 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 14:7-8

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...

Judges 7:1-8:17

When my daughter was younger, I put her in all sorts of creative classes in order to spark her love of the arts.  She played violin, took piano lessons, danced ballet, sang with voice teachers, participated in drama classes, tried painting, and finally, I put her in a pottery class.  She loved her pottery class and relished the ability to form an object with her own hands.  On the shelves of the pottery studio were pieces of pottery that were available for sale.  In the corner towards the back of the store on a lower shelf were the chipped and broken pots and vases that had not turned out as planned.  They sat out of the way, their use questionable. In our reading today, God uses jars of clay and human earthen vessels to defeat Israel's enemies.

Gideon sounded the trumpet and thirty-two thousand men responded.  The Lord tells Gideon that this army is too large.  Can't you see Gideon's surprise?  The Lord has Gideon tell the group to go home if they have any fears.  Twenty-two thousand men leave.  We are down to ten thousand men.  This is too many for the Lord.  The Lord tells Gideon to divide them into two groups and have them drink from the river.  Those who scooped water into their hands and drank from their hands were chosen to be the army.  There were only three hundred men who drank this way.

Can you see Gideon's hesitation?  Do you think God really cared how the men drank the water?  This is a picture of God choosing His army, but you can rest assured that the men He chose had hearts for the fight!  God chose men who were ready for battle, but a small enough group to prove a point.  God was to get the victory for this battle.

Can God say that about you?  Are you small and weak enough to fight His battles?  He can use you, if you are weak, but have faith in God. The interesting thing is that the Israelites had no weapons, but they were faithful, ready to fight, and courageous.  Having been oppressed by the Midianites, who are like a swarm of locusts in the desert, the Israelites do not have swords.  It is ironic that as they charge into battle they shout, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"  The only sword these men had was Jesus Christ (pre-incarnate) going into battle for them.

God assures Gideon that they will receive a victory, and knowing Gideon's penchant for needing to see a sign, God allows Gideon to go into the Midianite camp and overhear a conversation about a dream.  Gideon realizes that the Lord is going to given them a victory.

Jesus' battle plan to defeat the Midianites includes trumpets, jars of clay, and torches.  No weapons or armor is used.  At night, the Lord tells Gideon to attack by blowing multiple rams'  horns, breaking the jars of clay, and surrounding the camp with torches of light.  The Lord causes the Midianites to fight against each other using their own swords.  The light provided by the Israelites allowed them to see each other, so they could kill each other. 

God chose men who had the right attitude, but no weapons of their own to fight a great battle. We learn that 120,000 Midianites are killed in this fight. The key to God using these 300 earthen vessels (men) was that they were to obey His battle plan.  Obedience is the difference between victory and failure. God chose obedient, faith-filled men.

 Here is a verse from 2 Corinthians 4:6-7,  "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Do you realize that you and I are jars of clay filled with God's light?  When He breaks us with trials or allows us to have flaws that cause us to look like cracked pots, His light shines forth from our brokenness and defeats our enemy, the Devil.  In our brokenness, God finds victory.  In our weakness we find His strength.  Our suffering is His glory.

Luke 23:13-43

Our reading in the New Testament opens with Jesus on trial in front of Pilate.  Pilate refers to the crowd's opinion on who should be released because he sees no cause for death in anything that Jesus has done.  The crowd demands Barabbas be released. 

Simon of Cyrene carries Jesus cross as women weep in a trail behind Jesus and Simon. Jesus prophesies on the way to the cross about a future day that will truly cause weeping for the mothers in Jerusalem. 

Jesus is crucified between two criminals.  He prays that God will forgive these people because they do not know what they are doing.   Many are scoffing and laughing at Jesus. A sign above his head reads, "This is the King of the Jews."  One of the criminals scoffs that Jesus should save himself and them too, if he is the Messiah. 

The other criminal scolds the scoffing criminal and asks in earnest, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."  Wow.  Tremendous faith is seen on the part of this dying man.  He trusted in a Kingdom that would appear in the future, but looks impossible to achieve as they hang on the crosses.  This man's brokenness achieves God's glory. This flawed man had eyes to see the TRUTH.  The truth was Jesus is the King of the Jews.

Jesus rewards this man's faith by assuring him that today he would be in paradise with Jesus.  Can there be any greater knowledge when one faces death than the knowledge that you will spend eternity with a loving and just God?  It is never too late to turn to God, my friends.  Have faith. Spend eternity with Christ.

Psalm 97:1-98:9

Verses 8-9, "Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord. For the Lord is coming to judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness."

Proverbs 14:7-8

Stay away from fools.  Enough said.

What did you see today?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal

Kathy Fullerton
© 2011