Day 10/1 – Trying to Help God

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Trying to Help God
Day Two Hundred Seventy-four

“And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.” Judges 8:27

God commissioned Gideon, the fifth judge, with the task of driving the Midianites out of Israel. The job was so great that God allowed Gideon to test Him three times, and then encouraged Gideon with a fourth test of His own choosing. Once convinced, Gideon was willing to face the enemy with 300 men.

After a complete victory, the Hebrews wanted to make Gideon their king. Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”354 After this wise decision, he did something foolish. He gathered from the spoils of the Midianites enough gold to fashion an ephod, which is a breastplate worn by the High Priest when carrying out the responsibilities of the Tabernacle. We don’t know precisely the way this caused sin, but we do know that Gideon infringed upon the Levitical priesthood when he made it.

God does not want our help; He wants our obedience. What Gideon did illustrates the author’s statement, “He did that which is right in his own eyes.”355 Gideon saw the nation slipping toward becoming a monarchy. To check the tide, he improvised a solution that he thought appropriate, even though it violated the Law. He reasoned that a lesser evil is better than a greater evil. He was wrong. He sinned. Never try to do battle for God by compromising His commands.

354 Judges 8:23
355 Judges 17:6

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Isaiah 11-13 Ephesians 4 (New King James Version)

Isaiah 11-13
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring
11
There shall come forth a [a]Rod from the [b]stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall [c]grow out of his roots.
2
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11
It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the [d]islands of the sea.
12
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will [e]assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four [f]corners of the earth.
13
Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14
But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the [g]people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15
The Lord will utterly [h]destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over [i]the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over [j]dry-shod.
16
There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.
A Hymn of Praise
12 And in that day you will say:
“O Lord, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
2
Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’ ”
3
Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day you will say:
“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.
5
Sing to the Lord,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.
6
Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”
Proclamation Against Babylon
13 The burden[k] against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2
“Lift up a banner on the high mountain,
Raise your voice to them;
Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
3
I have commanded My [l]sanctified ones;
I have also called My mighty ones for My anger—
Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”
4
The noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts musters
The army for battle.
5
They come from a far country,
From the end of heaven—
The Lord and His [m]weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole land.
6
Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7
Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
8
And they will be afraid.
Pangs[n] and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.
9
Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.
10
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11
“I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the [o]terrible.
12
I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in the day of His fierce anger.
14
It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man [p]takes up;
Every man will turn to his own people,
And everyone will flee to his own land.
15
Everyone who is found will be thrust through,
And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16
Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ravished.
17
“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not [q]regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18
Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20
It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
21
But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of [r]owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
22
The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged.”
Footnotes:
• Isaiah 11:1 Shoot
• Isaiah 11:1 stock or trunk
• Isaiah 11:1 be fruitful
• Isaiah 11:11 Or coastlands
• Isaiah 11:12 gather
• Isaiah 11:12 Lit. wings
• Isaiah 11:14 Lit. sons
• Isaiah 11:15 So with MT, Vg.; LXX, Syr., Tg. dry up
• Isaiah 11:15 The Euphrates
• Isaiah 11:15 Lit. in sandals
• Isaiah 13:1 oracle, prophecy
• Isaiah 13:3 consecrated or set apart
• Isaiah 13:5 Or instruments
• Isaiah 13:8 Sharp pains
• Isaiah 13:11 Or tyrants
• Isaiah 13:14 gathers
• Isaiah 13:17 esteem
• Isaiah 13:21 Or howling creatures

Ephesians 4
Walk in Unity
4 I, therefore, the prisoner [a]of the Lord, [b]beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in [c]you all.
Spiritual Gifts
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also [d]first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [e]edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The New Man
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [f]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Do Not Grieve the Spirit
25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give [g]place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary [h]edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, [i]clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Footnotes:
• Ephesians 4:1 Lit. in
• Ephesians 4:1 exhort, encourage
• Ephesians 4:6 NU omits you; M us
• Ephesians 4:9 NU omits first
• Ephesians 4:12 building up
• Ephesians 4:17 NU omits the rest of
• Ephesians 4:27 an opportunity
• Ephesians 4:29 building up
• Ephesians 4:31 loud quarreling