Are you surviving or rising?

A peeled orange sinks easily in water, but it will rise to the top if you swirl the water. 

Even when we think we’re in a freefall, endlessly sinking, we can rise with God’s help. But we do need to submit to God and God’s ways for that to work. 

Judges‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭says, “Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.”

It’s tragically sad that Israel didn’t let God rule over them whether they had a judge or not and later whether they had a good king or a bad king often enough. 

We either submit to God or the best we can do is try to survive one battle at a time 

And we aren’t meant to just survive. 

Today’s Bible reading is Judges 8.