{"id":7801,"date":"2018-01-02T06:15:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T06:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7801"},"modified":"2017-11-30T11:29:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T11:29:52","slug":"top-10-action-moments-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 4\/10)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>No .07 Gideon<\/h1>\n<p>When it comes to action and battles, the bible is seriously packed full of this stuff. Don\u2019t shy away from reading these passages, it can be hard to read but it is in the bible and needs to be explored. Some of it is very graphic and will leave you questioning how God was in this stuff, but that\u2019s ok! You\u2019re not meant to understand and be able to fathom all of God\u2019s moves, that won\u2019t ever be the case.<\/p>\n<p>Gideon was hiding away in a winepress threshing wheat, not because he had invented a new and more environmentally friendly way to do it, he was fearing for his life. Let me set the scene.<\/p>\n<p>The action starts with the Israelites being disobedient again in their agreement and relationship with God. So, God sent oppression and strife their way from the neighbouring nations. The Midianites that attacked were particularly vicious and punished the Israelites big time. (Remember what I was saying about God doing stuff and allowing things in the Old Testament that are hard to look back on for us today?)<\/p>\n<p>The Israelites were so impoverished they had lost land, cattle, homes the lot and had fled to the caves for safety. Gideon is doing all he can, but he is from the smallest clan and the least in the family (and oh, that\u2019s a dangerous place to be when God is looking for action!)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>\u201cBroken heart, broken spirit and looking to hide away. Have you ever felt like that?\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>God promises Gideon that this will be sorted. The Lord answered, \u201cI will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.\u201d Judges 6:16<\/p>\n<p>God gives Gideon a plan and a promise, and puts some fire back in his heart again. Gideon trashes the old religious icons and symbols to the false gods the people had started to worship, a revolution was stirring!<\/p>\n<p>Let me cut a long story short, Gideon managed to get 32,000 men together but the enemy had joined forces, there was a lot of enemy! The bible says that in their camp they were thick like locusts, more camels than the grains of sand on the shore! Oh dear!<br \/>\nBut God spoke to Gideon and basically told him you he had too many men!<\/p>\n<p>Well, lets just say at the end of this sifting process he is left with 300 fellas looking at him with spears, clubs, trumpets, empty jars and lit torches. Yeah, doesn\u2019t sound like a win to me!<\/p>\n<p>At night Gideon and his 300 men, circled as much of the camp as they could, with a mighty trumpet call they all shouted and held up their empty jars with torches in and smashed them.<\/p>\n<p>A few things happened next. The enemy below assumed that with each light they could see was an army of men not just one bloke on his tod! They were literally surrounded and outnumbered. Then they decided that their newly formed alliance wasn\u2019t actually that deep after all, and panic and chaos broke out, so they drew blades on each other and hacked each other to pieces. (God was sorting the chaos out!).<\/p>\n<p>So, God took Gideon, with a broken heart and spirit, fearful and desperate and God gave them the most incredible victory. Sometimes, when I wrestle with the plan, when I can\u2019t see all the details or even just get a glimpse at what on earth God is doing, I remember Gideon. You don\u2019t always need to know, you need to trust that God is and will be working and sometimes that\u2019s all we can do!<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/team-cvm-podcast_600x200.jpg?w=750\" alt=\"team-cvm-podcast_600x200\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Image Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Word for WORD Bible Comic<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nThe Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-4\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No .07 Gideon When it comes to action and battles, the bible is seriously packed full of this stuff. Don\u2019t shy away from reading these passages, it can be hard to read but it is in the bible and needs to be explored. Some of it is very graphic and will leave you questioning how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":7817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1466,20,1468,1422],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-21P","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9219,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/lockdown-3-0-read-the-bits-of-the-bible-that-you-enjoy\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":0},"title":"Lockdown 3.0: Read the bits of the bible that you enjoy","date":"24 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"At CVM we are focused on sharing the good news of Jesus to as many men as we can.\u00a0 So, in light of that, I decided to put together a quick blog series to help us stay in the fight and keep Jesus front and centre during lockdown. This is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/lockdown.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7807,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":1},"title":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 7\/10)","date":"23 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"No .04 King Asa I like to read in the Old Testament about the kings, the battles and the adventures they went on. One of the battles that you might not have stumbled across is found in the life of King Asa. The bible, when it talks about the period\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7805,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":2},"title":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 6\/10)","date":"16 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"No .05 Caleb and the Spies So, we pick up this story with Moses getting a message from God to send some spies out and check out the land that God is going to give them. Remember that bit, that\u2019s the important bit, the promise was there at the start.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7811,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":3},"title":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 8\/10)","date":"30 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"No .03 David and Saul It was difficult to pick a single moment of action from the life of David, there are so many situations, moments and battles. However, this is my \u2018go to\u2019 moment in his life that has been challenging me recently. David and Saul\u2019s relationship was not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7803,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":4},"title":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 5\/10)","date":"9 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"No .06 Samson If there ever was an amazing action story in the bible is has to be that of Samson. You can have a look on YouTube of course and find some interesting films made about 50 years ago, but this is begging for a full Hollywood work up.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7793,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/top-10-action-moments-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7801,"position":5},"title":"Top 10 Action Moments in the Bible (Pt 2\/10)","date":"19 December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"No . 09 Daniel OK, so perhaps if you are following this blog you will be working out that I like lions, yes, another blog about lions, I know. I promise this is the last lion blog I will write. (for now.) Anyway, aside from liking lions I also like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/action-bible.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7801"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7825,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801\/revisions\/7825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}