"Your Bed Never Looked So Good"

Judges 8.4-5 NASB

“Then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing. And he said to the men of Succoth, ‘Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.’”

Gideon was a man with a mission. He was fully intent on the capture of “Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” Nothing could deter him. With total abandon, the judge of Israel would not rest until the leaders of Midian were brought to justice.

Yet rest he must. His energy had limits. Even if he could go on, Gideon had three hundred troops to think of. These men were absolutely exhausted. They had the vision. They were invested in the mission. They shared the dream. Gideon’s warriors wanted Zebah and Zalmunna as badly as Gideon did. But they were tired and exhausted. Gideon and his soldiers were driven by a mission embedded in their corporate soul, but they were also at the end of their physical strength. 

The Bible describes Gideon’s experience as “weary yet pursuing.” Did you ever fall into bed entirely exhausted? You couldn’t even brush your teeth or put on your pajamas. You were so utterly spent you fell asleep before your fully clothed body hit the bed. You ran out of strength and were forced to quit by the sheer absence of energy. Your mission was too far out of reach, your resources depleted, and the pursuit of your dream was beyond your capacity to perform. 

Gideon and his band of three hundred were done, but they would not quit. They could rest later. But for now they had a job to do, a mission to complete.

You can rest later. Embody the spirit of Gideon. Capture his motivation… “weary yet pursuing.”

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Photographer Salbjörg Rita Jónsdóttir (Dalla) from Iceland captured this wonderful and cute shot of a child sleeping and called it "exhausted". She graciously gave me permission to place this image on my blog. View her work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dallaportfolio/ and http://www.dalla.is/.