The Original 300: "To God Be the Glory" - A Series on Gideon (Judges 7)

THE ORIGINAL 300: “TO GOD BE THE GLORY!”

 

This is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament: Gideon and the 300. There is something about a small band of warriors taking on overwhelming odds that stirs the heart. They may win; they may lose; but there is something heroic in their stand. Think of the Alamo, Rorke’s Drift, and other stories. Gideon’s tale stands above them all.

            Another 300 warriors took a legendary stand in 480 BC. You may have heard of the movie “300” that tells the story of King Leonidas of the Spartans defending Greece against 300,000 Persians at the battle of Thermopylae. It is an incredible story of 300 versus a horde of enemies. Their defense of a mountain pass was holding strong until another Greek betrayed them and they were slaughtered. 

            Dillos, the narrator, commented on Leonidas’ farewell to his wife before battle. He says, “Goodbye my love,” he doesn’t say it. There’s no room for softness…not in Sparta. No place for weakness. Only the hard and strong may call themselves Spartans. Only the hard, only the strong.” 

            The world we live in appreciates that sentiment. We admire the strong. We applaud the independence and ingenuity of a hero to go it alone. Even the Theory of Evolution teaches us that in the history of the world only the strong shall live. It is the survival of the fittest, the strongest. You may even see this attitude in the church where only the best and brightest are called to serve. This is the way we think.

            Seven hundred years earlier than Thermopylae, in 1184 BC, at the Spring of Harod, a contrary lesson was taught. Yahweh demonstrated that he preferred man’s weakness to man’s strength. In fact, God delights in our weaknesses for a very specific reason we will explore in this study. It flies in the face of the “strong shall live” perspective and challenges us to find God in the small things. 

            Gideon’s story teaches us that you cannot be a person of faith without first of all recognizing your own weakness.

1. The Necessity of Weakness (7:1-8)

 

We are on the cusp of battle in this story. Gideon has led his 32,000 volunteers of Israel to face 135,000 Midianites and other mercenaries. But there is a problem: God says Gideon has too many men. 

            “The LORD said to Gideon, ‘You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me,’” (2). We know this story so well we take for granted the impact of this declaration. Military thinking tells us that an army attacks from a place of advantage or superior weaponry. Even Jesus used an illustration like this when talking about the cost of discipleship in Luke 14:31. But God sifts Gideon’s army.

            In the first sifting or test, God tells Gideon to send anyone home who is afraid. Can you imagine giving that option to soldiers today? During World War One, the British executed over 300 of their own soldiers who demonstrated cowardice in the face of the enemy. Over 3000 were similarly charged. 

The law of Moses actually gives this provision to those who are afraid (see Deut. 20:8). 

 

“Then the officers shall add, ‘Is any man afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too.” 

 

As a result, 22,000 men leave the camp and go home. Ten thousand remain. But the LORD says that’s still too many.

            In the second sifting or test, God has Gideon tell the men to take a water break. At the brook, the LORD says, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink,” (5). Of these, 300 lap like dogs. Take those! And here’s where it gets tricky.

            There are those who say the ones who kneeled down took their eyes off of the enemy. They even say that these are ungodly men, men of the flesh, spiritually ignorant. Those who lap like dogs have kept their eyes vigilant and are aware of the enemy. They are disciplined and self-sacrificing. 

            Then there are those who say the exact opposite. This is the danger of reading too much into the text. The Bible doesn’t say anything about the qualification of the 300, spiritual or otherwise. We miss the point of what God is doing if we try to interpret the drinking test. All God was doing was sifting. He was thinning the army down for his purposes. If we go back to verse 2, we see the key to God’s plan. There was nothing special about these men except that they were few. 

            But what God was teaching Gideon was important for us too: there had to be a breaking of false faith and false security and false reliance before true faith and true victory could be realized. Simply put, sometimes you need to be broken so that God can build you up. Our false illusions of ourselves must be removed so God can work. If you know your own weaknesses, you know where you need to trust the Lord more. That’s not an excuse to give up though.

            People of faith are willing to be known for what they are: weak. When you admit that you are broken and weak, that’s where blessing emerges. The Apostle Paul said as much to the Corinthians, “… I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

 

2. Encouragement in the midst of Fear (7:9-15)

 

Now you have 300 men after 31,700 have left. How do you feel? How do you think Gideon felt? It doesn’t say. But the theme of Gideon in this series can be reduced to one word: Fear! And God knows it. 

            Fear doesn’t leave us alone. It follows us up to the microphone when you speak in public. It bothers you at night when you should be sleeping and reminds you of your diagnosis, of your children’s decisions, of past traumas. 

            If you Google coping strategies for fear, you can read a lot of helps. Face your fears gradually; practice relaxation techniques like deep breathing; challenge your fears (i.e. identify the fear, what triggers it? ID it’s origin/past experiences, etc.). Get therapy. 

            What does God prescribe? Gideon, take Purah, your servant, and go down into the Midianite camp and stand in the middle of the enemy. Go and listen. That’s nuts! The Google strategy was face your fears gradually; God sends Gideon straight into the fear factory itself. Then what happens?

            God speaks through the enemy, as it were. One soldier tells another soldier a bizarre dream. A round loaf of barley rolls into the Midianite camp and knocks over a tent. Barley loaves were the food of the poor. It’s food for cattle. So, it’s absurd that a humble little dinner roll of poor quality would have enough power to knock over a tent.

            The other soldier immediately interprets the dream. “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands,” (14). The humble loaf is identified as Gideon and the tent as the Midianites. Fear is now transferred to the enemy. Did you catch this little detail? They know his name. Gideon hears his name mentioned by the enemy and they are afraid of him and his God. 

            God speaks through the enemy. Sometimes God reveals himself through the unbeliever. Just like Caiaphas in John 11:49-50 when he prophesied that Jesus’ death was good for the nation for it was better that one man die than the whole nation perish. God meets us in our fears, he is with us in our dark valleys, he gives us what we need to trust him. 

            For the first time in this story, Gideon worships the LORD. He had to be broken down so that God could build him up. Do you need to be broken down? I know you don’t welcome the idea. But in a strange paradox, you are proud of the fact that you are insignificant. You are too small for God to use, and you love it. And some of us are too big for God to use and we need that pride broken down. Are you discouraged because you don’t have prominent gifts? Praise God, he’s going to use you. Who does God use? The broken and the weak. 

 

3. Victory through Uncommon Warfare (7:16-25)

 

You know how the story ends. Do you see how the timid Gideon suddenly becomes a leader? He says to the 300 men he has left, “Watch me. Follow my lead…” 

            I imagine that the 32000 men Gideon had at the start weren’t really well armed. They had farm implements, pitchforks and scythes, but no armor, no swords, no spears. And the 300 had even less. We are told that they had a torch, a trumpet or horn, and a clay jar. They circle the enemy camp, smash the clay jar, exposing the light of the torch (we assume was sitting in the jar, and blow the horns. Then the enemy turn in fear and kill each other. 

            You know God’s involved when the strategy is unconventional. You know God’s answer to your prayer when it comes from an unusual source. You know God is speaking to you when a simple but profound thought comes to you through your competitor, or a movie/TV show. 

            There’s no mention of a sword in any of the 300 men’s hands. We want a sword. The sword represents power; it represents confidence in a fearful advantage. The guy with a gun in his hand commands the room, right? 

            But again, Paul gives a different word, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Gideon stood unarmed before the enemy horde and through faith believed that God would give the victory he promised. Can we through faith believe that God has armed us with his Word to give us the victory over all the lies and philosophies of this world? Every theory that denies God, every lie and deceiving spirit that says Jesus is a myth, every self-improvement technique that subtly tells you you are not enough – Do you believe the Word of God is enough?

 

The average Canadian, we assume, rejects the Christian faith because, as they say, religion is for the weak. And no one wants to be weak. But is being weak a weakness? In God’s math it is not. For Gideon discovered that being weak allows God to demonstrate his power. To deny your weakness is to deny the truth that we are all weak, helpless to help ourselves.

            As I studied Gideon’s 300 this week, I discovered an amazing parallel in 2 Corinthians. Paul speaks of weakness a lot in that letter. As Gideon was made aware of his weakness, God revealed that through him a victory could be won.

            Remember the jars of clay? Paul told the Corinthians, “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassing power is from God and not from us,” (2 Cor. 4:6-7). We are the jars of clay. And the good news of Jesus Christ resides in us in glorious light. If we are smashed, even destroyed, the light of Jesus shines even brighter. 

            God uses weakness to show his power. There is no greater demonstration of this than the cross of Christ. “…he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you,” (2 Cor. 13:4).

            Do you see it? The most profound expression of power in the history of the world was a demonstration of weakness. Jesus death on the cross! It’s so simple, but so profound. You have to tell God that you are weak. You have to tell God that you can’t overcome your fears on your own. Tell him you can’t win your battles on your own. Tell him you have nothing left to give. (Isn’t that how Moms feel sometimes? Nothing left to give? You give and give and feel like you receive nothing in return? Who’s pouring into you?). 

            It’s okay to be weak. It’s good to be weak. Now open up your heart to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. For when I am weak, then I am strong.             AMEN

Putting Out the Fleece: Discovering God's Will for Your Life (A Series on Gideon)

PUTTING OUT THE FLEECE:

DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE

 

You have a big decision to make! Who you will marry; where you will live; whether to invest money in a certain company. Each of us faces great and small forks in the road that leave us with decisions to make. As a church community, we have had to make decisions about adding to our facilities and hiring a pastor. How do you make those decisions?

            By one or a combination of methods, we make decisions on our major and minor issues:

·      By instinct – we just know or sense what is the right thing to do. Each has a measure of wisdom that is innate. You have a feeling that this is the right job or the best person to marry.

·      By experience – You’ve done it before; you’ve been here before. In the past it worked; it will work again.

·      By consulting a friend or expert – You know people who can help you to figure out the direction to go with a project or a major change in your life.

We make most of our decisions in this way, we don’t even give it a second thought. And the truth is, we don’t really include God in our decision-making for most of these forks in the road. We don’t! Or we do make a decision and then ask God to bless what we have already decided. 

            But if we were to ask God for his input into these matters, what would that look like? How would we know what his will is for us in these choices? Is there a chance that we are missing the mark in our choices, and we are not in God’s will?

            Many young adult Christians grapple with these questions. They are at the beginning of their journey and want to make sure they are heading the right direction. Older believers have gone through many of these forks in the road and are not as concerned about the right path. For both young and experienced believers, this is an important question: How do I make decisions in my life that please the Lord?

1. Gideon seeks God’s will with a Fleece (Judges 6:36-40)

 

I don’t hear this very often anymore, but Christians used to talk about “putting out a fleece” to make decisions. This practice comes from the story of Gideon in Judges 6. 

            Gideon was called by God to fight against the marauding Midianites. The people of Israel had sinned against God and were worshiping idols. So, God allowed these raiders to steal crops and livestock from Israelite farms until they cried out to God. When they did, an angel of the LORD comes to Gideon and says, “Hey there, mighty warrior!” 

            Gideon is afraid. Everybody’s afraid. They feel God has abandoned them. Gideon seeks some assurances that this is really what God wants of him. So, he puts out a fleece.

            A fleece is the coat of a sheep, the soft wool skin. It’s like a sponge. Gideon lays out a fleece on the threshing floor and tells God that IF (notice the big “IF” in this test) he will really save Israel using Gideon, make the fleece wet and the ground dry. Then he’ll know. 

            Sure enough the fleece is wet, the ground is dry, and a bowlful of dew is wrung out of the fleece. Gideon must have thought it was a coincidence. This is a natural phenomenon and remains unconvinced. He sets up a second test for God. This time he says to make the ground wet and the fleece dry. This is not normal. This is called a supernatural phenomenon. There is no reason for the fleece to be dry while the ground is wet. 

            John White writes, “Gideon’s fleece has become the basis of a practice among some Christians which is called ‘putting out the fleece.’ In essence, when you put out a fleece you say to God, ‘If you really want me to carry out plan A, then please make the telephone ring at 9:10 PM. Then I will know that plan A is what you want.’ You can make the fleece anything you wish, just as long as it serves as a ‘sign’ to you.” 

            Now there are three views on “setting out a fleece” to determine God’s will: 1) People advocate it saying we should ask for a sign from God. Gideon did it and it’s in the Bible, so why not? 2) Others say it was a sin for Gideon to put out a fleece because it showed his unbelief. 3) The understanding approach: these people recognize that Gideon did lack faith, and he should have believed God. But they also recognize that we all lack faith, and we all need assurances at times. And God DID condescend to Gideon and do what he asked. 

            Which way do you think I lean?

 

2. Unpacking “The Fleece” (Signs)

 

I sit between option 2 and option 3. I lean to interpreting Gideon’s fleece as a sign of unbelief while being sympathetic to those who need assurances. But let’s unpack “the fleece.” 

            Look at what Gideon said in the text. First, he says, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised – “(36). There’s the big “IF” again which is followed by God’s PROMISE! And then he says, “…then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand as you said,” (37b). What we see then is that Gideon was not unaware of God’s will. He knew exactly what God’s will was for him.

            What did God say? “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior,” (6:12) and “Go in the strength you have and save Israel…Am I not sending you?” (6:14). And again, “I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites…” (6:16). There is a clear and direct command in these words followed by the promise of God’s presence. Gideon was not looking for guidance but for assurance. There was no decision to be made – just do it. In that respect, the fleece was not an act of faith but of unbelief. 

            Thirdly, Gideon was dictating to God how this fleece thing was going to work. I get that Gideon lacked many things we take for granted. He didn’t have a Bible. He didn’t have the experience of faith or faithful people as examples. And he didn’t have Jesus to shepherd him in life. But telling God what to do is pretty cheeky. And for supernatural signs, Gideon had plenty of them (the angel of the LORD; his offering consumed by fire; God speaking to him; the Spirit empowering him to call troops 35). 

            Fourthly, “the fleece” or sign didn’t solve anything. Gideon was still wrestling with his fears just before the upcoming battle with Midian. God sends him into the camp of the enemy to overhear them talking and to discover that they too were afraid. Fear had gripped Gideon and no amount of signs would solve that fear. 

            Yet God is not ashamed to stoop down and reassure us in our fears. Would we call out our five-year-old for being afraid of neighborhood rottweiler? Would we call her a sissy or chicken? He is patient with our weaknesses. But we have to be careful with sign-seeking and discerning if this is from God as we make decisions. Allow me to share three stories…

            When I was graduating high school, I invited a girl from church to be my date. I told her to think about it and get back to me Sunday (this was Friday). On Saturday at my sister’s farm, I was shooting at swallows with my air pistol and missing. I was anxious about the date feeling I had made a mistake. I said, “Lord, if it’s your will and Debbie says yes, let me shoot that bird off the wire.” I did nail the bird. Debbie said yes. And it was a horrible date. 

            My dad retired at 65 and was on limited income. But he loved cars. One weekend, dad bought a Pontiac 6000 and mom was angry. I confronted dad and asked why he did it when mom was opposed and worried. He said he prayed about it and God said, “yes.” I don’t know what the sign was, but the car turned out to be a lemon. It was a horrible car.

            I read about John Wesely’s love life. Wesley was the founder of Methodism. He was a missionary down south in Georgia and while there fell in love with Sophie. She was pretty and intelligent. But Wesely was a member of the Holy Club (one of their ideals was to remain single). So, a friend suggested that they write on three pieces of paper: “Marry” and “Think not of it this year” and “Think of it no more.” Like drawing lots, they pulled one of the papers out of a container. It was the third one, “Think of it no more.” Wesley wrote in his diary, “Snatched as a brand out of the fire.”

            He returned to England and met a woman named Grace. He discerned that she met seven qualities of a wife (housekeeper, nurse, companion, servant of Christ…). But his brother Charles did not agree. He thought the marriage would hamper his evangelistic work. He broke it off. 

            Wesley finally did marry, a wealthy widow named Mary. It was a very unhappy marriage, and they separated after 20 years. It was a horrible marriage.

            Seeking God’s will is seemingly risky when signs are involved. How can we know God’s will for our lives? 

 

3. How to know God’s will (Eph. 5:15-17)

 

A fellow named Gary Inrig suggested five biblical principles about finding God’s guidance in life. I believe they are helpful so I will share them with you:

a) God does not give guidance as much as he gives us a guide. He says to imagine you are in a strange city. Which would you rather have? A map or someone who knows the city? The word “guidance” does not appear in the Bible, but we do read about a guide, the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus. Some say that the angel of the LORD was Jesus – and that’s who Gideon met. I don’t know, but I do know we have the Spirit of Christ living in us. We are invited to walk with him and discover God’s will through him. 

                   Ephesians 5:15-17 reflects this calling: “Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is…” 

b) God has given us his Word. The fleece did not reveal God’s will to Gideon; God spoke to Gideon and shared his mind with him. God’s Word is God’s will for your life. He has shared his mind with you through the Scriptures. And through his Word, we get a clearer picture of what God wants. He is not as concerned about where I am (where I live) or what I am doing (doctor or plumber) than he is about what I am. God wants to transform my character so that wherever I am or whatever I am doing, it reflects his character in me.

c) Guidance is confirmed by the peace of God. Paul said, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” (Col. 3:15). If you are faced with a decision and both options are good, where you have peace will confirm your choice. God gives us that. It may not be about hitting the bullseye in life – whether you are in or out of God’s will by working at Novid or AGI – but about where you have peace about your work. Paul also counseled us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God… (Phil 4:6-7). 

d) Guidance is communicated through the desires God gives us. As we live by the Spirit of Jesus, God gives us gifts and desires and direction. He gave me a voice for speaking and I thought I would be a broadcaster, but in time he revealed another use for my voice. And I liked it. David said, “He will fulfill the desires of those who fear him,” (Ps. 145:19). When we talk about surrendering to the Lord, those unfamiliar with this kind of talk may hear loss or the negating of something we love. That may happen. Or it may be that when we give our desire to God, we find ourselves using those desires to accomplish his will.

e) Guidance can be found in the counsel of other believers. We have each other in the church. But if you want to be a surgeon, don’t talk to me, talk to Jason Unger. If you want a career in plumbing, talk to Randy. God has given us experienced and wise believing folks who have a lot to share. 

 

A woman wanted to go on a trip to the Holy Land, Israel, and she read a brochure outlining the itinerary. She looked at the guides, the activities, and the places the group would visit. Then she noticed that she would be flying on a 747. As she went to sleep, she prayed, “Lord, is it your will that I should go to Israel?” Then she fell asleep. The next morning her alarm went off and she looked at the clock, it was 7:47 am. Then she thought, it is God’s will to go to Israel. Hmmm

            You don’t need the fleece of a sheep to know God’s will, you need the Shepherd, Jesus Christ. What is the will of God? It is the voice of the Shepherd. It is not a mystical or mysterious process that requires several tests. It is simply a matter of walking with the Shepherd. And when you know his will, the next step is doing it!

 

                                                AMEN

What's Wrong With God's People? A series on Gideon (Judges 6:1-24)

WHAT’S WRONG WITH GOD’S PEOPLE?

 

The book of Judges is a strange book. It tells of Israel’s continuing struggle to live in the land God gave to them while constantly being harassed by their neighbors. They deepen their troubles by forgetting God and then crying out to God when they are at whit’s end. Then God saves them by sending a flawed hero to deliver them from trouble. The book ends with a very troubling word: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” 

            Why study this book then? 

            We can relate to the people in the stories, to their struggles with faith. We can relate to the feeling of living in a world that is against us. We can relate to the struggle of these people who feel that if God is on our side, why can’t we win one? We can relate to the flawed heroes. We can relate to their struggle to believe in God when there are so many problems in the world. 

            What’s wrong with the world? Even though the Israel-Iran conflict is a world away, we can’t help but watch and wonder what will happen. Our nearest neighbor, the US, continues to place tariffs on us. We can blame different people or groups for the problems we experience. Let’s blame the “woke” people, the liberals, the Republicans, the Trumpers, the lobby groups, the greedy rich, and the criminal elements.

            But, as Darryl Dash put it, Judges holds up the mirror and says, “The problem with the world is you.” In the book of Judges, the problem wasn’t the Canaanites or the people who didn’t believe in God. The problem was staring at them in the mirror. The problem with the world is us!

 

1. The Problem: We live in a messed-up World (6:1-6)

 

The children of Israel had been promised a land of their own. After God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea in a miraculous parting of the waters, God led them through the wilderness till they reached the Promised Land. All they had to do now was take it. God gave it to them. God said take it, I will help you. What went wrong?

            The first thing we read in Judges 6 is this: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…” This is not a new thing. If you turn to chapters 1-2, you will see the constant refrain “they did not drive out the inhabitants of the land” and thus allowed evil influences to persist. 

            The result of their failure: Midian oppressed them so badly that they had to build hideouts in the mountains and flee to caves whenever these marauding gangs came to load up on groceries. They were like Vikings raiding coastal villages taking what they wanted and leaving nothing. 

            Our unnamed narrator piles up the verbs to express how devastating was the experience (see 3-6). This went on for seven years; every year after a crop was about to be harvested, the Midianites came and stole their hope. I don’t know if “seven” is metaphorical for a complete devastation or literally seven years. But it was bad. The ESV says that “Israel was brought very low because of Midian.” 

            It was depressing. Think about this: If God has promised us power through the Holy Spirit, why is the church struggling to survive in Canada? Why is the world winning our young adults to its godless ideologies? Popular culture is eroding our core values as a people of God so that we are being pressured to accept ideas contrary to our faith, to go with the flow, and abandon our outdated beliefs. We just want to go to church, raise our families according to the Bible, have good marriages, and live our lives. Why can’t we do that? 

 

2. The Real Issue: We have forgotten God (7-10)

 

The people of Israel cry out to God! This is nothing new if you have read Judges before. The cycle of sin in Judges is an ongoing story. Israel serves the Lord – Israel falls into sin – Israel is oppressed – Israel cries out to the Lord – God raises up a judge (a deliverer) – Israel is delivered. Then it starts all over again. So, you would expect that same pattern in this story. Not quite.

            This time the LORD sends them a prophet. Someone commented that sending a prophet was like having your car break down, calling for a mechanic, only to have a philosopher sent out to discuss physics. 

            The prophet speaks, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me,” (8-10). 

            And…? Did you finish your sermon preacher? There’s more, right? Shouldn’t there be a “therefore”? Yahweh reveals to Israel what he did for them (“I brought you up…”), reminds them of their part (“do not fear their gods”), then leaves them hanging. Or does he?

            Do you ever wonder at the answers God gives you? Or the lack of one? We have desperate needs, and God doesn’t seem to deliver. Like Israel, we want to escape from our circumstances while God wants us to interpret our circumstances. More than immediate relief, Israel needs to understand WHY they are oppressed. I know this is not a popular answer, but maybe you are left in your trouble to understand something about God. Understanding God’s way of holiness is more important than the absence of pain. Is God teaching you something? Is there idolatry in my life I need to deal with? 

            Dale Ralph Davis said, “We should not miss the kindness of God in all this. One of the kindest things God does for us is to bring us under the criticism of his word to expose the reasons for our helplessness and misery.” He does this through the Word of God and sometimes by a sermon.

 

3. When we forget God, we lose Perspective (11-22)

 

The people of Israel feared or worshiped the idols (the culture) of their neighbors. “Fear” is what we focus our attention on; that’s why worship and fear are kind of synonymous. If we focus on something constantly, we are worshiping it. And it consumes our thoughts. 

            Why were the people living in fear in caves? Not because of the Midianites. They were living in fear because they had forgotten the gospel of God. Why do we not experience the power of God in our church at times? Because we have forgotten the gospel. We don’t believe it. We don’t believe it will transform us. Then we lose perspective.

            Gideon is found by the Angel of the LORD in a winepress where he was threshing wheat. You don’t thresh wheat in a winepress. But he’s hiding. He’s afraid that the little bit of wheat that will feed his family will be taken away. The angel of the LORD seems to mock this saying, “The LORD is with you, might warrior.” It’s not mockery. Ironic, maybe.

            Check out Gideon’s response: “Pardon me, sir…” (13). He doesn’t know it’s the angel of the LORD. The key to this response is “Why?” If Yahweh were with us, why am I beating out wheat in a wine press? If Yahweh were with us, why do the Midianites keep coming down on us every year? If Yahweh were with us, why does it feel like he’s abandoned us? 

            See, we can relate to Judges. We ask “why” too. If God is with us, why doesn’t he answer our prayers? If God is with us, why are bad things happening to me? 

            Did God abandon them? Go back to verses 8-10 and we remember that Israel abandoned God. They forgot God. Moses said, “If God’s not in it, I don’t want it.” These people forgot God, lost perspective, and now they fear God has left them.

            The LORD says to Gideon, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand…” (14). To which Gideon says again, “Pardon me, sir…” He continues to argue with God that he is not the right choice. “…but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family,” (15). 

            When we lose perspective, take our eyes off of God and look at ourselves, we find another product of fear – inadequacy. I’m not enough. My family’s not rich. I’m the youngest in my family. I’m not cut out for this. Sound familiar? I say this to myself all the time. I struggle with my inadequacy as a husband, a father, a preacher…all the time.

            I think that’s a good place to be though. We are inadequate; we are insufficient. That forces us to rely on God. Paul hinted at his own inadequacy saying, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,” (2 Cor. 3:4-5).

            

4. God Shows Up Anyways (6:11-12, 23-24)

 

Gideon is fearful. He has forgotten God and the good news of God’s promises. Gideon represents the people of God in Judges 6. And in a sense, Gideon represents us. This chapter emphasizes Gideon’s lack of faith and hesitation to do what God tells him to do. He is an example of what the prophet said was wrong with God’s people. Gideon is us.

            But the wonderful grace of God keeps peeking through the negativity of this chapter. While fear grips the people of God, while they suffer for their lack of faith in God, God keeps showing up. 

            Look back at v. 12 – the angel of the LORD said to Gideon, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Yahweh doesn’t say how or what Gideon is supposed to do, the details come later. What’s important is that “the LORD is with you.” Then the LORD says, “Am I not sending you?” Isn’t that enough? And in answer to Gideon’s claim of inadequacy, insufficiency, and weakness, The LORD answered him, “I will be with you…” (16).

            Dale Ralph Davis wrote, “Nothing is more assuring than God’s “I will be with you’; nothing is more overwhelming than the fact that it is God who says it.” 

It’s very telling that Gideon does not recognize the angel of the LORD. That’s why he keeps calling the angel “sir,” not out of respect, but because he doesn’t realize who is standing before him. Only when the angel of the LORD (who is essentially the LORD himself) zaps the supper Gideon prepared, does Gideon finally recognize God.

            We may not recognize God when we are afraid and when the odds are against us, but God keeps showing up. He is present. God is sitting outside our hiding place and waiting for us to recognize him. 

            Why does God describe Gideon as a mighty warrior when he is anything but? Here is a mouse, a chicken if you will, hiding in dens like everybody else. Why does he honor Gideon with this status? Because God saw Gideon’s potential if he allowed God’s power to use him. God saw not what Gideon was presently, but what he could be. Where people see a shapeless hunk of marble, Michelangelo saw David. Where people see the least likely, God envisions a hero in you. Because when God shows up, anything is possible.

            Gary Inrig said, “One of the great truths of Scripture is that when God looks at us, he does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become as he works in our lives. He is in the business of taking weak, insignificant people, and transforming them by his presence in their lives.”  

 

What’s wrong with God’s people?

            Sometimes they forget God. And they forget that when hard times come God is with them. God is with us.

            It seems it is possible to believe everything the Bible teaches, how God delivered his people from Egypt, through the Red Sea, and all of that; it’s possible to believe that Jesus died for your sins and God has forgiven you and called you his child; it’s possible to believe this in your heart and still live as if it isn’t true. Our heads nod in agreement, but our hearts and the way we approach the problems of our world suggest that the head and the heart do not agree. 

            If we ask why God has abandoned us in our troubles, then we have forgotten the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have lost perspective, and we begin to fear. We are like Peter standing on the Sea of Galilee watching the waves instead of gazing into the face of Jesus. 

            If we forget the gospel, we forget the God who has been with us in many other troubling times. 

            In times of oppression and when fear grips your heart, I challenge you to:

            Remember – recount the times in the past when God has been very present, when he has answered your prayers beyond your imagining, and when he showed up.

            Pray – ask the LORD to reveal himself to you in your troubles and difficulties. He may not deliver you until you have understood what caused these troubles. 

            Believe – that God can use you even when you feel like the “least likely candidate” to change the world you live in.

                                                            AMEN