Fatal Distraction

Scripture: Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. Judges 8:22-27

Observation: I had to do some Googling ... Gideon made a ceremonial robe out of over 42 pounds of gold!

But here is the point of this passage: Gideon had followed God's instruction, had defeated the enemies following God's plan, and in such a way that could only be attributed to God's power. He then resisted the temptation of being named king, pointing out that God was the king of Israel. However, the then collects a reward of gold, and turns it into an object designed to honor him ... something that is so impressive others will want it, they will strive just to come look at it, and he himself will fall into the trap of pride because he owns it.

So in the end, the people of Israel fail to learn their lesson about following God. Instead, they still learn to respect and fear Gideon - maybe due to the legend of his success in battle, maybe because of his majestic ephod - and so when Gideon dies they immediately abandon God again.

Application: I believe the issue here is that Gideon created a distraction. Instead of remaining focused on God - and keeping others focused on God by giving him the glory - he created an object of honor for himself which distracted everyone including himself and his family. All of Israel coveted it, sought after it, and he fell into the trap of pride as a result of that attention.

Things may have been different - or at least good longer - if Gideon had kept himself, his family, and Israel focused on the Lord and his salvation and redemption delivered through Gideon's battles.

We - myself and my church - do this today when God accomplishes something and we fail to give him glory. It is worse when we point to some other object and give credit and honor to some person. When buildings get built because of donors ... who had the money because God gave it to them in the first place. When people get healed because of doctors ... who had knowledge and ability granted to them as gifts from God. When careers are achieved ... as a result of experienced collected during a life guided by the holy spirit.

I must stay focused on God during the successes of life. I must explicitly give him honor and glory. And I must very explicitly not create some other reason, distraction, or object that removes attention from the great results of God.

Prayer: Lord, you have granted me with so much. May I always and continually use everything to point back to you. I don't want to point at my house, or my bank account, or my family, or my title - I want to point everything ... EVERYTHING ... back to you. Amen.