Gideon's Fearful Faith? - Part 1 Series

Intro: Jesus told his disciples…John 16:33b In this world you will have trouble…

Paul remined his Thessalonian readership…

1Thssalonians 3:3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.

POINT? WE ARE DESTINED FOR TROULBE AND TRAILS,– AND OFTEN OUR FIRST initial human, natural, reaction and response is FEAR!

To which Jesus would say…

Matthew 8:26a He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"

Point being - Faith should overcome fear!

I read quite a few quotes on this…

Fear is actually faith in reverse. It's faith in the wrong thing...anything other than God. Face your fear if you want to replace your fear.

Fear ends where faith begins...

Fear is the contradiction of faith. Faith says, whatever it is, it will be okay because of God. -

Let your faith overcome your fear, and God will turn your worry into worship.

Worry is spiritual shortsightedness. Its cure is intelligent faith.

Fear and faith have something in common: they both believe in a future that hasn't yet happened.

Perhaps a man who modeled this struggle with faith and fear, and came out victorious is the person named Gideon! That is why I’ve entitled the message…

The Fearful Faith of Gideon? – Part 1

The statement sounds oxymoronic, yet the record of his life, and ultimate victory of his fear, shows us that a measure of faith and fear existed in the same man, yet they should cohabitate for long for one will eventually evicts the other, and it is up to the individual as to which one resides and which one is removed!

Proposition: Today’s life study will show us how God takes the faith of the fearful (Gideon) and help his faith to grow in order to conquer his fears!

Let’s consider first of all…

I. Gideon’s Circumstances?

By that I mean, not just the personal but the national circumstances he found himself in!

A) Circumstances?

1. After the time of Barak, Deborah, and Jael?

Judges 5: 31 “So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.

a) But after that as I mentioned last Sunday the cycle recorded in Judges kicks in!

B) Cycle?

1. Departure:

Judges 6:1a The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,

2. Discipline

Judges 6:1b and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

3. Devastation

Judges 6:2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

a) To put that into perspective one devotional writer put it this way:

Let’s say you have a garden, and you work hard all spring and summer to make that garden produce abundantly. But every year, just about the time you’re ready to gather in the harvest, your neighbors swoop down and take your produce away from you by force. This goes on year after year, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you can imagine that scenario, then you’ll have some idea of the suffering the Jews experienced every harvest when the Midianites made their annual raids. For seven years, God allowed the Midianites and their allies to ravage “the land of milk and honey,” leaving the people in the deepest poverty.

4. Despair!

Judges 6:6a Midian so impoverished the Israelites -NIV

Judges 6:6a So Israel was brought very low because of Midian

a) Literally means they were “made small” agriculturally, economically, and socially.

b) The idea is that they were led to live a beggarly life, of one who is destitute, poor and helpless.

c) Result? - Despair

Judges 6:6b that they cried out to the Lord for help.

d) The cry does not seem to be one of repentance, but rather a cry for relief!

e) And because I think that the cry was of that nature, the deliverance sent by God was two-fold:

5. Deliverance?

Judges 6:7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,

a) God’s response?

Judges 6:8a he sent them a prophet,

i. Breaks the pattern thus far in Judges:

ii. Unusual!

iii. God sends an unnamed prophet!

iv. Who rehearses their history!

Judges 6:8b who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: