Devotionals

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Judges 6:17 -18
Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back
and bring my offering and set it before you."
And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."



Belief is just not enough for me, I am the type of girl who likes to know. Now, I am not talking about the usual walking in faith belief; it goes deeper than that. I like to know why my friends are friends with me, who will be home when I get home, what time high tide is tomorrow and just exactly what kind of bug I discovered late yesterday afternoon. I like to know.
The interesting thing about knowing is that at any time what I know can change. Tomorrow one of my friends could change their mind and decide they just don’t like me anymore; perhaps no one will be home; it could be low tide and there could be a new bug species discovered. My knows could quickly become my ‘used to knows’!
One such time where my ‘knower’ was not quite on point was a few years back. My best friend and I were on a little golf outing and we both needed to use the restroom. For some reason we could only find one bathroom and so using our quick-thinking minds we just decided he would go in first to scout the restroom out and when he was finished he could give me the report.

His report: All looks fine. Just don’t lock the door. It seems to stick.

My response to his report: I think I know how to manage a door. I’ve come in contact with quite a few, thank you very much.

So in I went. One and a half minutes later it was obvious: I was not coming out. The door’s lock had somehow dead bolted and no matter how many times I kicked, hit or ran and jumped, it would not open.
I was locked in the bathroom. Not making matters any better was the fact that the door was made of steel. The kind, I assume, they use to create army tanks. I could not even tell if my friend could hear me screaming, “HEY! I AM LOCKED IN HERE!”
He heard alright. He also rounded up security, the manager and made a phone call to my mom. He thought the whole ordeal was hilarious, I on the other hand was stuck in an airtight container (much like the bug I discovered yesterday)!
To make an embarrassing story even more face reddening the manager had to cut through the ceiling to come and get me out. It was a good plan in theory, that is until he jumped into the bathroom with an electric screwdriver to take off the door hinges, apparently forgetting those things need batteries. Now, we were both stuck in the bug jug.
Of course there was no one at the front desk to answer his desperate “help me I am now stuck in the bathroom with a strange girl who just knew she could handle a door” phone calls. Finally, the two of us gathered enough brain power to hoist him up on the diaper changing table and to get us some new batteries.
He was back in five minutes, my air supply was running seriously low, fiber glass was flying in the air and as he jumped back into the restroom I had the sinking suspicion our time for rescue was not yet near. It wasn’t - the blade to his tool broke and he needed to be hoisted once more.
Literally, almost two hours later as the door was taken off the hinges and the outside air was able to seep in, I was welcomed by my goofy friend chatting to one of our friends about my ordeal and quite a crowd of ’well wishers’ or as I like to call them ’make-fun of-hers’!
I laughed as they applauded my survival and now, as I try to do, I replay the story wondering what lesson I was being taught. I am reminded of Gideon. While he was not sitting on a stone cold bathroom floor for what felt like an eternity he did share my need to know.
It was he who wanted to be sure he was hearing from the Lord just right. He even said to the Lord, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you."
I passionately trust that the Lord wants us to inquire. To ask, to find out…He gave us brains to be used. Is he calling you to test out something new? Is he asking you to let go of an area you have needed for so long? Is he opening your eyes to changes that will be taking place? Is he warning you about locks on coming doors?
When he speaks are we listening? Or are we just running ahead, claiming we know? I am not suggesting we live in fear but I am encouraging us to go and collect all of our ‘is this or isn’t this areas’ and place them at the feet of Christ. And while you are searching in old cupboards and shoe boxes; I know right where our Lord will be.

And the LORD said {to Gideon}, "I will wait until you return."

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