Out of our Comfort Zones



Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior." Gideon answered him, "But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian." Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you." He responded, "But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." The LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them." Then he said to him, "If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay until you return."

 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, "Help me, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die." Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it, The LORD is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. ~ Judges 6:11-24
We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds. ~ Roger Ebert

Anything can happen when you are just minding your own business beating out wheat in the wine press! Or sitting at a baseball game...or driving to work. Or vacuuming the house.

Just living your life.

God can come calling (note here how the text moves back and forth from the Lord to an angel of the Lord).

It doesn't matter if you consider yourself small. Or weak. Or from a family that is dysfunctional or in your eyes small and inconsequential. It doesn't matter if you don't think you can speak in public or if you don't know scripture all that well.

 It doesn't matter if you are comfortable just where you are.

Maybe then God has the most use for you.

We see God call the unexpected all the time and moves them out of their comfort zones:  Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Mary. God's not interested in the limitations we put on ourselves or our desire to stay where we are. That we have them is a given. For each one of us.

 I would add an addition to Roger Ebert's quote: it isn't just a crime against our minds to limit ourselves to the familiar. It's also a crime against our hearts.

 It's a crime against our whole selves because it is our whole selves that God wants and needs and loves.

 It's our whole selves that God calls. It's our whole selves that God uses to build relationship and community, setting us loose from our limitations to show God's unfathomable love for the world.

 And sometimes that will mean moving us into the unknown and out of the places and things we've always known.





God of extravagant love, you seek us out over and over, setting us free from the limits that we and others put on ourselves. Remind us constantly that in you we are freed from those limits to love as extravagantly as you do!  Freed to be your people!  Amen.
Thoughts for engagement:

- Have you noticed a theme in this week's devotions so far? What is the connection?
- Where is God calling you out of your comfort zone? Or have you already found yourself there? 
- Think about the Biblical character that was molded by God that you looked at a couple days ago. How did God call them? What was their initial reaction?

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