Motivation

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

MOTIVATION

Judges 8:1-9

8:1 Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, "Why have you treated us like this? Why didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?" And they criticized him sharply. 2 But he answered them, "What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?" At this, their resentment against him subsided. 4 Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. 5 He said to the men of Succoth, "Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." 6 But the officials of Succoth said, "Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?" 7 Then Gideon replied, "Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers." 8 From there he went up to Peniel and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Succoth had. 9 So he said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower."

NIV

We can see selfishness at work in the Ephraimites, the men of Succoth, and the men of Peniel. Gideon was following the command of the LORD, but it does not mean all those others cared about the LORD or Gideon. Both the men of Succoth and Peniel were from the tribe of Gad on the other side of the Jordan, and, of course, Ephraimites were from the tribe of Ephraim; all Israelites but Succoth and Peniel were nothing more than turncoats, turning their backs on brother Israelites who needed bread. That was in direct violation of the command of God. However, we believe their motive was not to violate God, but simply because they were selfish, not wanting to give Gideon and his three hundred men anything from their gathered or store up grain to make bread. We will see what Gideon promised to both of them happen, but for now, let us take this idea of selfishness to heart because we know it should never be a part of our lives. In fact, it is the opposite of what happens when we are motivated by love. We are aware that love is not self-seeking or envious, and yet that is what we see in these men from Ephraim, Succoth, and Peniel. Because we love our fellow believers, if they had such a need, we would not respond like those men did, for we are not a selfish people. We do not store up simply for our own future benefit, but are always available to lend a helping hand from whatever we have, or at least we should. We do wonder if we would if the case arises. It would seem, for the most part, that we all have more the plenty of whatever we need because of the provisions from the hand of God. It is not too often that we see someone in need of bread, so to speak, yet we have godly organizations that provide those in need with bread as well as much more. We can, as a church, do things to help others in need, and for the most part, we do. However, we wonder if the motive of love plays out in a personal way, each of us responding with love toward another who might be exhausted from some battle in life. We need to do some self-examination as to what our primary motive in life is. Could we be like Gideon, or like those Ephraimites who were angry because they felt they were mistreated, either because of jealousy, envy, or self-seeking or like those from Succoth and Peniel who were stingy or greedy and perhaps selfish that could have also been motivated by jealousy or envy, because of their responses to Gideon’s request. Let love be our motivation.