Dr Paul Allen

There is a constant danger that people face who are involved in ministry, and that is the thought that God needs us. Of course, we wouldn’t say it just like that, but we are often battling this thought whether we like it or not. Some might be tempted to think this more than others, perhaps young pastors are more at danger to believe such a preposterous thing, but all of us, at least in our actions at times, scream out from time to time the statement, “God needs me!” Do you remember the story of Gideon and the 300 soldiers? Spoiler alert for those who don’t remember it, the point of the story is that God doesn’t need you. The story starts off with this man named Gideon. Gideon was a judge of Israel. He was a bit cowardly, though, and if he wasn’t cowardly, then he was at least doubtful.  He asked God to prove Himself to him through three miracles. God sent the angel of the Lord to shoot fire out of a rock to consume meat (Judges 6:21), he then gave Gideon two other miracles

Miniature ofrom Folio 8r of the Syriac Bible of Paris shows Moses before Pharaoh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus , whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus . And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” Acts 9:5–9 Sometimes God uses the most unlikely of people to accomplish his mission. This is a common theme throughout the Bible. God called out to Moses and told him to confront the most powerful man in the world at that time, Pharaoh, who was enslaving God’s people . Moses had a big problem. He was a nobody, and he couldn’t speak well. But God promised to be with him. God told Joshua to lead his people into the promise la

English: Marshall Ney supporting the Rear Guard During the Retreat from Moscow, on exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Have I not commanded you, “Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you.”  (Joshua 1:9, AMP) Napoleon called Marshall Ney the bravest man he’d ever known. Yet, one morning before a battle, the Marshall’s knees trembled so badly that he had difficulty mounting his horse. When he was finally in the saddle, he shouted down at his limbs, “Shake away, knees. You would shake worse, if you knew where I was taking you!” Courage is not the absence of fear; it’s the conquest of it! It’s Gideon with 300 soldiers going to fight an army of Midianites as big as the ocean, because God said, “Surely I will be with thee.” (See Judges 6:16.) It’s Peter stepping out of the boat in the middle of a storm to walk on the water. It’s doing what you’ve never done before, in order to

English: Gideon and His Three Hundred; as in Judges 7:9-23; illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon !’” Judges 7:20 Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon! A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” This is precisely what all Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been hiding your candle, and shine. Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such, that when men look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jes

The "Hospitality of Abraham" by Andrei Rublev. The three angels symbolize the Trinity, which is rarely depicted directly in art. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In  Torn to Heal: God ’s Good Purpose in Suffering , Mike Leake offers a “bare bones theology of suffering.” He does this by reflecting on the idea that “God uses the tearing of suffering to provide healing—a healing that goes far beyond the wound that is claiming our immediate attention.” He begins with examples from the lives of Abraham , Hosea , Gideon , Joseph, and Job. He shows that God fulfills his promises, but does so in ways that seem (to us, anyway) counterintuitive. Then, in the heart of the book, he shows two ways Christians can get things seriously wrong: dualism and  stoicism . Both ways of thinking are faulty, both are partly correct, and both come in semi- Christian versions that run rampant in the church and do great harm. The dualistic Christian acknowledges that evil is something to strive a

Jesus  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon , and of Barak, and of Samson , and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel , and of the prophets." ( Hebrews 11:32 ) Hebrews 11 is a thrilling catalog of the faithful servants of God in all the ancient ages. There were Abel, Enoch, and Noah before the Flood; then Abraham , Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in the patriarchal age; followed by Moses , Joshua, and Rahab in the time of the exodus and conquest. Finally, today’s verse summarizes the periods of the judges (Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthae), the kings (Samuel, David), and the prophets. All these were men and women of great faith, though each had to endure great testing. They, as the writer says, "stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword . . . had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they

Charles Robert Darwin. A copy made by John Collier (1850-1934) in 1883 of his 1881 portrait of Charles Darwin. According to Darwin's son Erasmus, "The picture is a replica of the one in the rooms in the Linnaean Society and was made by Collier after the original. I took some trouble about it and as a likeness it is an improvement on the original." Given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1896. See source website for additional information. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In thousands of classrooms all over the world teachers are indoctrinating naïve and impressionable students with the notion that they are an accident, the result of millions of years of random anomalies and lucky deformities, or that what they do with their lives is just a matter of preference and there is no divine designer who created them.  But the Bible tells us that God designed us with a purpose in mind. Psalm 139:14 says we have been “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  It is only in re

Gédéon (vers 1550), huiles sur bois de Martin van Heemskerck, au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. A l'origine, un tableau (perdu)avec la Vierge était placé entre les deux panneaux. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the winepress we find a trembling, perspiring coward hiding for his life when the Angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and calls him a “mighty man of [fearless] courage.” At first those words almost sound like cruel sarcasm, but there was no smirk on the angel’s face. God was not mocking Gideon, nor did He have Gideon confused with someone else. God saw something in Gideon that no one else saw, including Gideon himself. How comforting it is to know that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Oh, my friend, when you understand what God sees when He looks at you, it will change your life. Let me explain it this way. In the early 1500s a twenty-five-year-old artist and sculptor labored tirelessly with hammer and chisel over a colossal blo

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judg. 9:22–23a). Abimelech reigns for three years, and not just as king of Shechem but as king of Israel! His coronation by the Shechemites seems to be accepted by the nation as a whole, though his enthronement in Shechem on the Manasseh-Ephraim border may mean little to the far-flung tribes. In any case, as Matthew Henry notes, “It is not said, ‘He judged Israel,’ or did any service at all to his country, [only that] he enjoyed the title and dignity of a king.” Then God makes His first—and, indeed, His only—appearance in the narrative of chapter 9. He sends “a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem … that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and o

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “If then you have acted in truth and sincerity … then rejoice in Abimelech.… But if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!” (Judg. 9:19–20) Jotham does not leave the men of Shechem to puzzle out the meaning of his parable. Before fleeing into lifelong exile, he gives the interpretation, publicly charging Abimelech and the Shechemites with their heinous crimes and warning of the dire consequences that are sure to flow from their unholy alliance. The emphasis here is on “ ‘truth and sincerity’ ”; this is the salt with which all of life is to be seasoned in Israel (see Josh. 24:14). “ ‘If’ ” Jotham says, ‘ “you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and … if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, the