I started a new Bible study with two of my closest friends, yesterday, which walks us through Gideon’s story in the book of Judges. It’s only three little chapters long, yet Day One of study has already started to unsettle me. Bible study does that. It can shake you out of complacency, and move you out of areas where maybe you’ve spent a little too much time. It digs deep and sheds light on places in your heart that you’ve kept a little dark and dusty, cleaning house in the very best of ways.

When the story starts, God has given Israel the land He has promised them. It’s been a long, hard road getting there, and now they’re poised to walk in, but God is very clear about what they’re to do. They are not to just walk in. They are to completely remove the idolatrous people who are wrongly possessing it. It will require a huge battle…a great conflict and struggle against a military machine with cutting edge chariots and war horses, that left them feeling inept and inadequate. This is the part that got to me:

Israel was making decisions based on their limited supplies instead of on the boundless resources of their God…they thought having access to some of the promised land was better than having to fight for all of it. They chose comfort instead of commitment. ~ Priscilla Shirer – Gideon

See what just happened there? Bible study got right up under my skin. It’s not just Israel that does this folks. It’s me. And, if we’re all being honest, maybe you, too.

All the time – ALL THE TIME – I make decisions based on my own limited supplies, skills, courage, instead of the boundless, never-ending resources available to me in God. My nature is to choose comfort over jumping into something that seems too hard. I can have something wonderful sitting right in front of me – something that is mine for the taking – but if it is surrounded by the unknown, or it requires risk and any sort of struggle, I’m likely to sit comfortably and look at it, settling on enjoying it as a possibility. It sounds ridiculous even as I type it, and I’m not proud of it, but it’s true.

Here’s the deal, though: I know I’m not the only one.

We are a society that has shifted completely over to complacency, comfort and the status quo. We want things to be handed to us now, instead of fighting for them. We shy away from commitment, in favor of options. We no longer want to work hard or pay our dues to achieve our goals, so we settle for less…all the while grimacing over how “the man” doesn’t know what he’s missing.

If you, like me, have a tendency toward this, you might be thankful to learn that there’s always a new day to change. If there’s a land of milk and honey out there for the taking, a personal promised land for each of us, I, for one, am getting antsy to see it. I’m tired (exhausted, really) of sitting in the land of skim milk and saccharin. It’s a weak imitation of the real thing, and it’s certainly a lot easier, but if there’s more for me, I think I might be ready to do a little fighting for it. I might be ready to tap into the strength of a victorious God and stake a claim on what’s already mine…possess it…enjoy it. You, too?

Join me.

“Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord.” Psalm 20:7 NIV

“So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.” 1 Peter 1:14 MSG

“For simpletons turn away from me—to death.Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.” Proverbs 1:32 NLT

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 ESV