Follow God No Matter What
"Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, 'Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?' And they criticized him sharply." -- Judges 8:1
It figures. Do something wonderful and someone, somewhere will get upset with you because they weren't included in the glory. The Ephraimites weren't part of the 300 men who fought with Gideon. They were asked to seize the waters of the Jordan -- and they did -- but they were still mad.
Now Gideon was fairly smart. He attempted to soothe the Ephraimites' bruised feelings by explaining that their job was far more important than his. It didn't work. Nor did his accomplishments seem to matter to them. In their defense, few people want to take out the garbage when they could have been serving the meal.
God chose Gideon. It's that simple. No matter what you do, there's always going to be someone jealous of anything good that happens in your life. It's just like when something goes wrong, there's going to be someone around to say I told you so.
Gideon and his men kept pursuing the Midianites but others were afraid to even given them bread to eat. You would think they wouldn't be so afraid since God was so obviously with Gideon and his men. How else could the Israelites have managed to send the Midianites running? But sometimes our fear makes it impossible to see God's presence among us. Other times it's just a matter of not wanting to share when you're not part of the game.
Sometimes when I'm dealing with the petty jealousies of others, I try to remember that Gideon dealt with it as well. I remember that Gideon faced obstacles when others refused to help. God used Gideon and I pray that He will use me as well.
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