Judges 6 — Gideon: “It’s complicated”
In contrast to the idea of the Judges…
In spite of the the vision of,
ㅤ the hope for,
Justice that Judges brings to mind…
We live with a sense of Injustice.
We struggle through life battling against,
ㅤ often feeling overcome by,
The lack of Justice we see around us.
For we look at our circumstances,
ㅤ we look at the misery that surrounds us,
And we question why.
Why have we been abandoned to this misery?
Why have we been sentenced to this misery?
Why would this be allowed by…
God?
For he has said he is with us.
That he desires good for us.
That it delights him to bless us.
So “Why?”
Why is life like this?
Where is the Good News?
But…
We see in ourselves the reason.
We see our failures.
In our hearts we recognize…
ㅤ the one we desire to be is not the one we are.
Our present reality collides with who we desire to be.
Our brokenness denies the dream in our hearts.
We consider our history,
ㅤ and find a string of crises.
We think back on who we have been,
ㅤ and realize that is who we are still.
We have not,
ㅤ cannot,
Make ourselves better.
Make ourselves whole.
And we succumb to hopelessness.
And in that hopelessness…
As we meditate on the loss of hope…
We recognize our loss of hope points at the existence of what we think we lost…
Hope
For if there was no hope,
ㅤ it could not be lost.
If there was no image of goodness imprinted on our hearts,
ㅤ we would not recognize the badness surrounding us.
The tension in our minds,
ㅤ in our hearts,
Points directly at our assumption that God,
ㅤ that absolute good,
Exists.
Ignoring this conclusion,
ㅤ we tell our story.
We recite the justification for our hopelessness.
We present this to those around us.
We hold this picture up before God,
ㅤ accusing him of being other than who he is.
Claiming we are other than who we are.
But God responds.
He presents his own picture.
A picture of us.
Not of what we have done,
ㅤ but of who we are.
Not of the shame with which we label ourselves,
ㅤ but the picture of who we are becoming.
The picture…no, not just the picture,
ㅤ the reality…
The reality of who we are to him.
Of who we are in him.
When we deny his picture…
When we consent to our own feelings of worthlessness…
We submit ourselves,
ㅤ our lives,
To the authority of a lie.
But when we open our hearts to his truth…
When we open our minds to his love…
We begin to admit his hope to our lives.
And rather than denying the misery of our past and present,
ㅤ rather than hiding our own misery from those around us,
ㅤ when we step into our reality while recognizing God’s truth,
We experience growth.
Growth in relationship with others.
Growth in our understanding of who we are.
Growth in…
Hope
Psalming as Performance Art — written in real time, as I sat in church listening to a sermon preached by Pastor Phil on 7/29/18: Gideon: “It’s Complicated
