Snares and the risk of Ministry Trophies

Gideon does pretty well in his story in Judges. The Lord reveals to him his commissioning, which he takes on. When the Midianites up the ante, Gideon does some discerning to be sure and then goes off to do battle. He allows his army to be whittled down, understanding that it is God's strength that will win through rather the raw military might.

Co-operating with the Spirit's lead he goes into battle and wins victory, and then goes on to mop up a few others. Blood and gore aside, Gideon is the victor that the people now look to as their leader. Gideon refuses this again understanding that the people should be a theocracy, ruled by God, rather than having any human king. All good for Gideon!

There is just one flaw though. Gideon asks for a wee share of the plunder. In itself surely not a big deal - they all took some plunder and that was okay right? Yet Gideon turns his gold into an ephod which became a religious symbol and object of worship. We are told the people worshipped it and it became a snare to Gideon and his family (Judges 8:27).

Now Gideon lived long and prosperous, but the ephod thing was unhealthy for him and all the people. How easy is it for us to inadvertently collect ministry trophies, which might become a snare to us? We don't need to say that we can never celebrate victory or success, but we must recognise that the line between God given success and something that actually replaces God in our worship is so very thin.

If in doubt, don't cast an ephod!