In a world filled with depressing news and negativity all around us, there is still hope and victory. We as people naturally look at our circumstances to dictate our moods and lives. This is unhealthy but ever so true. I have the same problem looking at my circumstances and letting them dictate who I am and what I do! Sports teams and fan bases of those teams do the same thing. They look at their teams and the circumstances which causes them to think that they losers and will never win anything. When in fact the next season, they turn things around and make the playoffs or win a championship. They had the ability to be victorious, but never used it. What they missed was trusting what was already in grained into from when they first started playing their respective sports. We as Christians can be the same way. Some of us Christians have been a Christian longer than I have been alive but just can't seem to find the victory over something in their life, and they lose sight of the only way for victory.
In Judges 6:1-14, God comes to a scared and frightful Gideon of whom he proclaims to be a mighty man of valor. As the circumstantial people that we are, we would say yea right, a mighty man of valor? God said this for a reason because he knew that if Gideon trusted him then Gideon would be victorious. We as Christians have all the tools in Christ to be victorious. Sometimes we forget or lose sight of the fact that we have a great God that can handle anything and everything. Gideon had every reason to be scared and to hide, but God looked at him and saw victory through the faith that was placed in Him. Gideon did exactly what all of us would do in a time of slavery and captivity, but God reminded Gideon that He is bigger than circumstances, trials, slavery in Gideon's case and everything else. Once Gideon placed his trust in God, there was no looking back for him. We saw God move in his life and remove the stumbling blocks of baal out of his family's life, and then after that lead an army to defeat the Midianites all through God. This wouldn't have happened if Gideon had never stepped out on faith and believed that God could deliver him and the rest of Israel from the Midianites. Just remember that God is bigger than circumstances and provides victory through the faith that you place in Him!
Youth Pastor Scott Hopkins
Crossroads Baptist Church
