A Snare to Beware

(Read Judges 8:22-27)    

We love to tell our testimonies. I love to hear them from those who were on the Salvation Army's front line in years past when the Army culture was a lot different. Not necessarily better, but different. It is interesting to see the different ways in which God is moving compared to how He moved in the past. What is not good is when those who were there, stay there. Their testimony and plea is to always ..."go back, go back to when things were done right and we were a real Army!"

I believe there is a real danger in that kind of thinking. Of course every generation pines for the return of the glory days of their own prime, so there is nothing new about that. What concerns me is when Soldiers and Christians look only to the past for their victories and can't embrace the new ways in which people are touched by God.

 Now, remember the Scripture from the beginning (in Judges). So, Gideon took his accomplishments and made a true object of worship out of it. It was supposed to be a reminder of what God had done for them by giving them so many victories over the Midianites. Instead, all of the people went to Ophrah to worship the Ephod instead of God. The reminder of God's victories became a snare when they took their eyes off of God.

We as Salvationists love to look back at the grand old Army and it can become an idol to us. Some often wonder why God isn't moving like he used to. Might the answer be that we have begun to worship the Salvation Army instead of the God of the Salvation Army? Have we turned the old days of the Army into a golden ephod and it in turn has become a stumbling block to us?

May I suggest to you that the "old Army" only had the voice and the word of God to follow and only the future to look forward to and no Ephod to worship?

Dear friends, get rid of your ephods and idols. Look to God alone and listen for his leading. Embrace the ways that people are being reached today and then get involved. God has not changed, but our culture has. The victories will come. There's nothing wrong with celebrating the victories of the past. But when we look back and lament that it will never be that good again, we create a golden ephod and we shackle ourselves with the sin of nostalgia. Follow God's leading and look to the future and be amazed at what He has in store for the "Brave New Army"...and you.

What a blessing it is for me to be in the company of the Saints of God who appreciate the past, but who are active in the present and look forward to the future with anticipation and a willing spirit to do whatever it takes to see the lost won.