DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY MARCH 13:
WORD OF WISDOM
If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a
problem.
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DAILY DEVOTION
Overcoming Criticism
"Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and
I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think
that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death:
for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We
are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye
are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised."
1 Corinthians 4:8-10
I heard about an elderly concert pianist who had been touring and playing
with leading orchestras around the world for decades. As he waited in the
dressing room before a performance, another pianist who was sharing the
program with him entered. He hurried over to the famed musician and said,
"You probably don't remember me, but some years ago I played for you and
when I was finished, I asked if you thought I had what it took to become a
concert pianist. You told me I didn't, but I kept on anyway, and here I am."
The older man responded, "I told everyone who auditioned for me that they
didn't have what it took. I knew the ones who did have what it took wouldn't
stop!"
Although I don't recommend discouragement as a great mentoring tool, it is
true that anyone who has accomplished anything meaningful and lasting has
had to face and overcome criticism and condemnation from others. This is
true in the world, and it is true in God's work as well. While it would be
nice to think that others would recognize the effort and motivation in
laboring for the Lord, often that is not the case. The reality is that
criticism doesn't matter. We should consider what critics have to say, and
make any needed changes. But we should never allow critics to determine our
direction or our attitude as we continue on God's path.
We must not allow critics and naysayers to divert us from the path God has
called us to walk.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Judges 7-9New King James Version (NKJV)
Gideon's Valiant Three Hundred
7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose
early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the
Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.
2 And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for
Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for
itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' 3 Now therefore,
proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and
afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'" And twenty-two
thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4 But the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them
down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that
of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with
you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the
same shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the
Lord said to Gideon, "Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a
dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on
his knees to drink." 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their
hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people
got down on their knees to drink water. 7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, "By
the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites
into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place." 8 So
the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. And he sent
away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three
hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
9 It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, "Arise, go down
against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you are
afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11 and you
shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to
go down against the camp." Then he went down with Purah his servant to the
outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 Now the Midianites and
Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous
as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the
seashore in multitude.
13 And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his
companion. He said, "I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley
bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so
that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed."
14 Then his companion answered and said, "This is nothing else but the sword
of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered
Midian and the whole camp."
15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its
interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and
said, "Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."
16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a
trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the
pitchers. 17 And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and
when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 18 When I blow
the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on
every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the Lord and of
Gideon!'"
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of
the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the
watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their
hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the
pitchers-they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their
right hands for blowing-and they cried, "The sword of the Lord and of
Gideon!" 21 And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the
whole army ran and cried out and fled. 22 When the three hundred blew the
trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout
the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia,[a] toward Zererah, as far
as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
23 And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all
Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites.
24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountains of Ephraim,
saying, "Come down against the Midianites, and seize from them the watering
places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." Then all the men of Ephraim
gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah and
the Jordan. 25 And they captured two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and
Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the
winepress of Zeeb. They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and
Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
Gideon Subdues the Midianites
8 Now the men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done this to us by not
calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?" And they reprimanded
him sharply.
2 So he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not
the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3
God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And
what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger toward him
subsided when he said that.
4 When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with
him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. 5 Then he said to the men
of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for
they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."
6 And the leaders of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now
in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?"
7 So Gideon said, "For this cause, when the Lord has delivered Zebah and
Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the
wilderness and with briers!" 8 Then he went up from there to Penuel and
spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men
of Succoth had answered. 9 So he also spoke to the men of Penuel, saying,
"When I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower!"
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor, and their armies with them, about
fifteen thousand, all who were left of all the army of the people of the
East; for one hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.
11 Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in tents on the east
of Nobah and Jogbehah; and he attacked the army while the camp felt secure.
12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them; and he took the two kings
of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.
13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, from the Ascent of
Heres. 14 And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated
him; and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders,
seventy-seven men. 15 Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, "Here
are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you ridiculed me, saying, 'Are the hands
of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your
weary men?'" 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the
wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 17 Then
he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you
killed at Tabor?"
So they answered, "As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a
king."
19 Then he said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord
lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you." 20 And he said to
Jether his firstborn, "Rise, kill them!" But the youth would not draw his
sword; for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.
21 So Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise yourself, and kill us; for as a man is,
so is his strength." So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took
the crescent ornaments that were on their camels' necks.
Gideon's Ephod
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your
son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of
Midian."
23 But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule
over you; the Lord shall rule over you." 24 Then Gideon said to them, "I
would like to make a request of you, that each of you would give me the
earrings from his plunder." For they had golden earrings, because they were
Ishmaelites.
25 So they answered, "We will gladly give them." And they spread out a
garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. 26 Now
the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven
hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and
purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that
were around their camels' necks. 27 Then Gideon made it into an ephod and
set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it
there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they
lifted their heads no more. And the country was quiet for forty years in the
days of Gideon.
Death of Gideon
29 Then Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30
Gideon had seventy sons who were his own offspring, for he had many wives.
31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, whose name he
called Abimelech. 32 Now Gideon the son of Joash died at a good old age,
and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again
played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. 34 Thus
the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had
delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; 35 nor
did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with
the good he had done for Israel.
Abimelech's Conspiracy
9 Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother's
brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his
mother's father, saying, 2 "Please speak in the hearing of all the men of
Shechem: 'Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal
reign over you, or that one reign over you?' Remember that I am your own
flesh and bone."
3 And his mother's brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the
hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow
Abimelech, for they said, "He is our brother." 4 So they gave him seventy
shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired
worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. 5 Then he went to his
father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of
Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left,
because he hid himself. 6 And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all
of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth
tree at the pillar that was in Shechem.
The Parable of the Trees
7 Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and
lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them:
"Listen to me, you men of Shechem,
That God may listen to you!
8
"The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them.
And they said to the olive tree,
'Reign over us!'
9
But the olive tree said to them,
'Should I cease giving my oil,
With which they honor God and men,
And go to sway over trees?'
10
"Then the trees said to the fig tree,
'You come and reign over us!'
11
But the fig tree said to them,
'Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit,
And go to sway over trees?'
12
"Then the trees said to the vine,
'You come and reign over us!'
13
But the vine said to them,
'Should I cease my new wine,
Which cheers both God and men,
And go to sway over trees?'
14
"Then all the trees said to the bramble,
'You come and reign over us!'
15
And the bramble said to the trees,
'If in truth you anoint me as king over you,
Then come and take shelter in my shade;
But if not, let fire come out of the bramble
And devour the cedars of Lebanon!'
16 "Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making
Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and
have done to him as he deserves- 17 for my father fought for you, risked
his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 18 but you have
risen up against my father's house this day, and killed his seventy sons on
one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the
men of Shechem, because he is your brother- 19 if then you have acted in
truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice
in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 20 "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!"
21 And Jotham ran away and fled; and he went to Beer and dwelt there, for
fear of Abimelech his brother.
Downfall of Abimelech
22 After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, 23 God sent a
spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of
Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, 24 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 on the men of Shechem, who
aided him in the killing of his brothers. 25 And the men of Shechem set men
in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who
passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech.
26 Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem;
and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. 27 So they went out
into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and
made merry. And they went into the house of their god, and ate and drank,
and cursed Abimelech. 28 Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech,
and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of
Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father
of Shechem; but why should we serve him? 29 If only this people were under
my authority![b] Then I would remove Abimelech." So he[c] said to Abimelech,
"Increase your army and come out!"
30 When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of
Ebed, his anger was aroused. 31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech
secretly, saying, "Take note! Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have
come to Shechem; and here they are, fortifying the city against you. 32 Now
therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in
wait in the field. 33 And it shall be, as soon as the sun is up in the
morning, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and
the people who are with him come out against you, you may then do to them as
you find opportunity."
34 So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night, and lay
in wait against Shechem in four companies. 35 When Gaal the son of Ebed
went out and stood in the entrance to the city gate, Abimelech and the
people who were with him rose from lying in wait. 36 And when Gaal saw the
people, he said to Zebul, "Look, people are coming down from the tops of the
mountains!"
But Zebul said to him, "You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were
men."
37 So Gaal spoke again and said, "See, people are coming down from the
center of the land, and another company is coming from the Diviners'[d]
Terebinth Tree."
38 Then Zebul said to him, "Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you
said, 'Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?' Are not these the people
whom you despised? Go out, if you will, and fight with them now."
39 So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.
40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded, to
the very entrance of the gate. 41 Then Abimelech dwelt at Arumah, and Zebul
drove out Gaal and his brothers, so that they would not dwell in Shechem.
42 And it came about on the next day that the people went out into the
field, and they told Abimelech. 43 So he took his people, divided them into
three companies, and lay in wait in the field. And he looked, and there were
the people, coming out of the city; and he rose against them and attacked
them. 44 Then Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward
and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city; and the other two
companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them. 45 So
Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed
the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with
salt.
46 Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered
the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. 47 And it was told
Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.
48 Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were
with him. And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the
trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder; then he said to the people
who were with him, "What you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have
done." 49 So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and
followed Abimelech, put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold
on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died,
about a thousand men and women.
50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took
it. 51 But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and
women-all the people of the city-fled there and shut themselves in; then
they went up to the top of the tower. 52 So Abimelech came as far as the
tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn
it with fire. 53 But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on
Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. 54 Then he called quickly to the
young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me,
lest men say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So his young man thrust him
through, and he died. 55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was
dead, they departed, every man to his place.
56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his
father by killing his seventy brothers. 57 And all the evil of the men of
Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of
Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
Footnotes:
a.Judges 7:22 Hebrew Beth Shittah
b.Judges 9:29 Literally hand
c.Judges 9:29 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Dead Sea Scrolls read
they; Septuagint reads I.
d.Judges 9:37 Hebrew Meonenim
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
