Scripture
27Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family. Judges 8:27
Observation
The elephant in the room for so many of these Judges and so many of God’s servants is that they start well but don’t finish well. As David sinned with Bathsheba when he should have been out to war, Gideon sinned with pride when he should have been serving the Lord. Both were mighty warriors for God when younger and yet stumbled at the end of their race. Gideon’s first act of obedience for God was to pull down the family idol and build an altar to the Lord in its place (Judges 6:25-26). Gideon’s last act for himself was to build a symbol of spiritual superiority for his family. Essentially, Gideon built back up what he had originally torn down. Notice the scripture says this golden ephod “becomes a trap for Gideon and his family.” The Hebrew phrase for “trap” is the picture of a noose or snare used to trap animals as they run through the overgrowth. It’s the picture of an iron ring through the nose of an animal so it must follow the direction of its captors. It also means the “cause of an injury”. Gideon had conquered the Midianites outside of Israel but had never conquered the snare of insecurity within himself. Insecurity presents as pride when unaddressed. He wanted people to remember him and what he did so he took their gold and gave them something beautiful to behold with an ephod representing the spiritual authority of a priest who hears God on behalf of the people. Yet, God had never asked him to do this. God had asked him to tear the family idol down not put one back up. Sometimes the hardest battles to win, are the ones at home. The snares hardest to spot are the ones that have been there for generations.
Application
Small elephants grow into big elephants over time. I know. An earth-shattering truth right? How the elephant in the room is addressed or ignored creates a culture in that family, business or church. Yesterday, President Trump announced social distancing will continue at least through April 30th. It’s a race whose finish line keeps changing. The elephant in the room is that this COVID-19 crisis is going to last a whole lot longer than any of us previously believed. The snare or trap for my family isn't the virus outside as much as the unaddressed lies inside. I don’t want to make it all the way through and then stumble at the end because I’m tripping over unaddressed elephants in the room. One of those family elephants for the Burgess side of the family has always been a spirit of poverty. This was a belief system that crept in over generations that lied and said we would never get ahead financially. I remember hearing my parents as a young boy arguing and tense over financial situations and unpaid bills and clients who wouldn’t pay and I took that elephant and let it climb right on my back. I brought it into my marriage with Cyndi. Thankfully, she didn’t have that same hang up. She called it what it was and we walked in the promises of God’s provision. Just this past week though I saw that elephant trying to sneak back in. It was small but I saw it. Being that everyone is in the house at the same time all the time it's easy to let worries slip out in front of the boys. I was talking about the record growth of online attendance at our New Hope services compared to the rapid decrease of online giving. I was talking to Cyndi about my concern for our church staff. I was letting that elephant walk right up to my boys like a family pet as I talked out loud about the uncertainty of our financial future. Then, when I heard their voices and saw their eyes following my fearful cue I took that elephant and I gave it the boot. I told my boys our God would provide. He always had and He always will. Not too long after that we found out that a part of the stimulus package from the President included financial relief for churches to keep their staff on payroll. This was such a timely answer of prayer to our church and so many others. It was God’s bold reminder to trust Him all the way through these times of uncertainty because He is certainly trustworthy.
Prayer
No doubt there will be other elephants trying to sneak in and trip me up so I don’t finish this race well. The best way to address the elephant in the room is to invite You, Holy Spirit, to fill this room, to fill the rooms of my heart, to be ALL that I need. Help me to finish well. I don’t want to start out strong and then stumble at the end. I don’t want to win the battles out there but lose the wars in here. Reveal any elephants that I’ve let sneak into my home so I won’t give them any room in my home or my heart. I’ve got to name the elephants in order to send them packing in the Name of Jesus!
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