Direction... and RE-Direction (A Connection Group Lesson)

Verse: Take the … sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17


1 year from today, where do you think you’ll be living? Working?


Are you making any current plans? Maybe small plans – like for the weekend or a future trip.


Have your plans ever been broken by someone or something other than you? How did you feel?


2 Chronicles 25:1-9: Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. … 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. … 5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men ready for military service, able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel--not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow." 9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?" The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."


Amaziah made what appeared to be great plans. He made certain the men were ready for battle and gathered plenty of them – even extra from Israel. But this was not God’s will. Chances are, you won’t have a “man of God” come to you and tell you face-to-face that your plans are or are not God’s will. So, how do you know if your plans line up with God?


Amaziah sent home the troops, but it made him unpopular. The troops were furious. Amaziah turned from God, back-talked and stopped listening to the prophet from God, and eventually was killed. Listening to God can be unpopular: but not listening to God can cause earthly and eternal consequences.


From Judges 7: 1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, 3 announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. 4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go." 5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. 7 The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.


God gave Gideon a talent – he was a mighty warrior of God (Judges 6:12). What if Gideon had thought that just because God had given him direction, that he would never need direction from God again? What if he hadn’t listened to God when God told Gideon to get rid of over 31,000 warriors and leave him with an un-thinkable 300? God will never give you more wisdom than He has.


Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp."


Think of a time you were scared to do the right thing.


Is it wrong to ask for a sign from God?
Don’t feel guilty for your emotions. God made us. He made our emotions. He knows we may doubt. He knows we may be scared. Do you think He expects us to hear his word and, with total confidence and joy, act on it?

So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. 13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." 14 His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." 15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."


God wants to give us direction. For what do you need to ask for direction now? In the future?

Isaiah 55:8-9: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”


Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.


James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.