Gideon – A Faith That Challenges Life

Gideon – A Faith that Challenges Life

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8MelhMY_qs

This morning we are continuing our study on the forefathers of our faith by looking at the highlights of several people God put into His Hall of Faith found in Hebrews Chapter 11. And what we see are living examples of the kind of faith we need to endure the trials and challenges we face in this life.

Therefore, when our faith seems to come up short, or breakdowns, yes, there will be breakdowns, we can go to the lessons these men and women can teach us as to the type of faith we need to face these troublous times.

Today I’d like to look at the story of Gideon, and maybe that’s because he’s always been one of my favorites. This is probably why his encounter with God is a major part of our maxim we repeat every Sunday morning saying that we are mighty men and women of valor.

Now, one of the reasons I like Gideon so much is because he’s a lot like you and me. He didn’t start out with strong faith, rather he started off weak, timid, and scared, but God still used him to do great things. This is why the writer of Hebrews records his name.

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.” (Hebrews 11:32 NKJV)

And so, to find out more, we need to go back to the book of Judges and see how God built up Gideon’s faith that allowed him to do great things. His story begins in Judges chapter 6

“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.” (Judges 6:1 NKJV)

Let me give some background as to what was going on at this time. After the Jews were basically settled in the Promised Land, Joshua died. But God never raised up another leader like Joshua. Instead, God raised up men and women who were called “judges” to lead segments of the Israel against local enemies. Now the very fact that they had to fight these enemies was due to their own disobedience, which resulted in their being in bondages to them. But God was gracious and provided the necessary leadership to get them back on track.

The last verse of the book of Judges says it all.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25 NKJV)

In those days Israel had no ruler, so everyone did whatever they wanted. Now, the Book of Judges spans a period of about 300 years, and every 40 years or so a new cycle would begin, starting with disobedience, resulting in bondage and misery, followed by the people crying out to God for help. Then God sent a judge to help, resulting in repentance, deliverance, rest, and revival. But the cycle would start all over again. So, for 300 years Israel bounced back and forth between faithfulness and unfaithfulness, and between obedience and disobedience.

Now, Gideon was one of these judges God raised up to deliver the people from the Midianites. What the Midianites would do is wait for the people of Israel to finish harvesting their crops and then they would come in and steal what they could.

And so, the Israelites were forced to hide in caves to wait them out. Well, after seven years this was getting a little old, so the people cried out to God for deliverance, and God called Gideon.

Now, remember when I said that we all could relate to Gideon. Look at where we find him.

“Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.” (Judges 6:11 NKJV)

(ay-bai-EHZ-rait)

Gideon was a farmer and had no desire to be anything more. In fact, he just wanted to stay alive. So, he’s hiding what little food he had from the Midianites. He had no political ambitions, nor did he dream of becoming military leader. But God had a different plan for his life.

We are like that. We don’t want to be anything more than who we are, and the last thing any of us want is to be used by God in ways that will take us out of our comfort zone. Delivered – yes – but to be used by God, not so much. But like Gideon, God has a great plan for us as well, if we would just believe.