With this entry, we will finish our look at Gideon's life, which has been a treasure trove of insight into all five of the Goldmine Principles. In this final lesson, we once again look at Gideon's creativity:
And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.) They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it. . . . Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town (Judges 8:24-25, 27).
When Gideon led the people, he did so without charge, but then he asked them for one thing as payment: an earring they had taken from the spoil of the enemy from each person. The people were only too glad to comply and gave Gideon a small fortune in gold earrings. After that, Gideon took the earrings and made them into a golden ephod, a garment the priest was to wear.
We don't know why Gideon chose to create the ephod and we don't know what it looked like. But first Gideon had to see this ephod in his mind and then asked for the resources he would need to create one. After that, he either fashioned it himself or secured the services of someone who could make it. The lesson is that Gideon used his creativity to make a memorial of his and his family's service during this period in the country's history. (Even though Israel went on to worship this ephod, we are not told that this was the reason Gideon created it.)
How are you using your creativity these days? Are you envisioning something that doesn't exist and then taking steps to make it a reality, like poetry, clothing, a book, a business, or a painting? Are you using your creativity to memorialize God's goodness, something like a family celebration, a special outing or trip, or some tangible item like a sculpture or room decoration?
God gave you your creativity to use—creatively. Gideon went from a timid farmer to a mighty leader and used his creativity along the way to ask God for unique confirmations and then to devise never-heard-of battle strategies. The result of all that was a great victory for God's people. Now it's your turn to do the same—deploy your creativity in the service of your God-assigned purpose. It's time to make your own ephod.
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