Gideon - Are You There?
Judges 6:11-24
Introduction
The New Year is here. We do not know what the future will hold but so far it looks like the year will be filled with turmoil. Unemployment is high and will probably go up, credit card debt is out of control, people are loosing their homes, credit is very tight, illnesses are running rampant, and of course there are wars and rumors of wars, global warming, and the list goes on..
I think all of us planned on having a better year than the last one but the circumstances don’t look very good. What do we do? Some are looking to the government to find a solution to the problems of the nation. Everyone is looking to someone or something to help.
The nation of Israel was in a similar circumstance. Israel was reaping the seeds of disobedience and rebellion toward God Almighty. God had lifted His hand of blessing and the nation was suffering terribly. They were under the oppressive Midianites. The hunger, poverty, and pain was so great that they finally called to the Lord to free them.
The Lord had allowed their chastisement to go on for seven years. Now He was going to answer their cries but not with a mighty stroke of His hand but from an unlikely source, Gideon.
1. Gideon - The Man - v. 11- 12, 15
The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
The raiding parties of the Midianites must have prevented many from harvesting the grain. The wheat would be threshed by throwing it in the air and allowing the chaff to be blown away by the wind. The grain, which is heavier, would fall to the ground at their feet. This was done over and over again until the only thing remaining would be the wheat.
It may be the very reason the angel of the Lord finds Gideon at the bottom of the wine press, a pit, threshing his wheat. The Midianites would be unable to see the chaff blowing in the wind as long as he didn’t throw it too high. The grain would collect at the bottom of the pit and no one would be the wiser. Gideon may have even been hiding from his neighbors at this point but we can not be sure.
The angel of the LORD came and sat down. The phrase "angel of the LORD", YAHWEH, translated by many versions, Jehovah, signifies the personal, powerful, presence of God Himself. Many believe this "angel" is the person of Christ who came to Gideon. After all, "In the beginning was the Word." Whoever you believe the angel of the LORD to be, we do know the LORD was about to speak to Gideon.
I can not imagine Gideon’s surprise by not only the angel of the LORD but the statement that was made about him. He actually called him a "mighty warrior". As far as we know Gideon had not even been in battle. Gideon was at the bottom of the pit threshing wheat which leads us to believe he was a farmer at least for the time.
Gideon knew who he was and what he was doing threshing wheat and I am sure he considered himself many things but not, "mighty warrior." Gideon may have even thought that the Lord was mocking him as he hid threshing his wheat in the pit of the winepress. Mighty warrior, I think not, and so did Gideon.
2. Gideon - A Mighty Warrior? - v. 13, 15, 17
Gideon knew he was not a warrior and was taking appropriate action so he would not lose his food to a superior force of men and so like all of us do, he asked the LORD some questions.
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
Is the LORD really with us?
Gideon had heard all of the great accounts of Israel and the Lord. He knew the promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He knew the story of Joseph and his rise to power over all of Egypt second to none except Pharaoh. He also knew of the slavery and captivity in Egypt and "the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph".
The Exodus account was in his memory. The plagues, parting of the Red Sea, the cloud by day and fire by night, water from rocks, manna and quail, and the eventual arrival in the Promised Land were all taught to him.
The conquering of the land and the victory of the people over superior odds were fresh. The walls of Jericho had fallen. The LORD and His people had prevailed by wondrous and mighty miracles. Recent history wasn’t so great or inspiring. Seven years of oppression had taken its toll on Gideon’s spirit.
Gideon looked around and saw the state of the nation. He saw the poverty. He knew the fear and oppression of the people. He experienced it all personally. He saw the desolation of the land and he wondered if the Lord was with the nation.
Are you really with us? Really he was asking are you still our God, have you forsaken us, why have you let this happen to us, why am I standing in the bottom of the pit instead of on the mountain top?
How can I do anything?
“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Gideon saw himself not as a big and powerful warrior, or even a mediocre warrior, he saw himself as a small man in a pit trying to stay out of trouble in a world filled with trouble all around him.
Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh. It was the smallest of all the tribes. Gideon goes on to say that his clan, within the smallest tribe, is the weakest clan. Basically he said he was the smallest of the small.
From a practical point of view Gideon was absolutely right. He was small in comparison to others, at least in his mind’s eye. He didn’t have any battle experience much less a reputation as a "mighty warrior". He obviously wasn’t a leader based on his position at the time. After all, you can’t lead from the bottom of the pit. He was afraid he would lose his food supply to the Midians.
Warren Weirsbe said Gideon was a coward for being in the well. I say absolutely not! Gideon had every right to be afraid of the Midians. They were a danger to everyone! Gideon was simply thinking in his limited capacity as a man. He was afraid when he was supposed to be afraid.
He saw his life as small, his resources limited, inadequate for the job he was being called out to do. Could he save Israel? The answer is no. He was right about being small in comparison to the problem.
A passage in the New Testament reveals how we all react to life’s obstacles. Jesus was preaching to a crowd of approximately 5000. More likely the crowd numbered between 10,000 and 15,000 with women and children. The hour was late and Jesus’ disciples brought up the BIG problem. Matthew 14:15 says,
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus looked at the disciples and said to them,
“They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
Jesus commanded his disciples to give them something to eat. You feed the multitude. Of course the disciples looked at the problem, looked at their resources and could not imagine feeding the number of people present.
How could they do anything? It’s impossible. After all, they only had five loaves and two fishes. As we know Jesus took the loaves and fishes, looked to His Father in heaven, gave thanks, and the people were fed with food left over.
How many times have we faced problems, obstacles in life not with courage but with fear? We look at out own circumstances, our own resources and say we’re finished, done for, I need to walk away or go hide for awhile.
If you are thinking this morning that you can’t do anything to overcome your circumstances, poor health, financial trouble, no job, etc., you are absolutely right! All of life is out of our control. It is simply a fact of life. Yes, we can plan, we can eat right, and we can do many things to hopefully, key word hopefully, live a better quality life but life is out of our control.
The year will bring great challenges to each of us. We can easily look at ourselves and our resources and conclude like Gideon, like the disciples, that we are helpless and hopeless.
Are you really the LORD?
Gideon goes one step further in his quest to see who is talking to him.
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
Gideon had another question of sorts, give me a sign. Gideon wanted to see something before he took this grand leap of faith. Show me who you are and let me see then I will do as you say.
Gideon simply wanted to make sure it was the LORD who was talking to him in the well. Thankfully we know the LORD by His commands and promises because we have His Word, the Bible. He "is the same, yesterday, today, and always". He does not change.
3. The LORD Answers Gideon’s Questions - v. 14, 16, 21
The LORD answers all of Gideon’s questions. Are you still with us? How can I do anything? Are you really the LORD?
Frankly the Lord does not have to answer any questions, He Is God. He does not answer to us, we answer to Him. He is God of all and we are not. When we do receive an answer from Him it is out of His love, grace, and mercy that He answers, not out of obligation.
I Am the One Sending
The Lord graciously answers some of the first question, "Is the Lord really with us?" is found in Judges 6:14.
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Gideon’s question gets no direct response. The LORD did not answer the accusation concerning the state of the nation. The LORD was still with the nation and that is why they were being punished for their sin. "The Lord disciplines those He loves."
The Lord does give Gideon his command, "Go and save Israel." God did not ask him to take classes, lift weights, take self defense, He said go like you are now with what you have now, "In the strength you have".
What about the rest of his question? "Am I not sending you?" was the response. Go like you are, no improvements, and I will do the rest because I am sending you. I am enough to accomplish the task because I am the LORD.
We are reminded of another calling. Moses gave a myriad of excuses to the Lord when he was call out to lead the Israelites. Exodus 3:13-14 says,
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Who are you? I am. I am the one. I am the One sending you. All you need to do Moses, Gideon, you is to follow my instructions and I will take care of the rest.
When Jesus called His disciples he simply said, "Come, follow me." The formula for success in 2009 is the same as it was at the beginning of creation, follow the Lord. Simply do what He says and you will accomplish great things for the kingdom.
I Will Be With You
Gideon poses another question to the Lord, how can I do anything, I’m just me? The Lord answers in Judges 6:16.
The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
A mighty warrior was not how he saw himself. Gideon could not look beyond who he was. He thought of himself as hungry, afraid, and unable to accomplish the great task the Lord called him to do. He was just plain ole’ Gideon.
The Lord answered by saying, "I will be with you." When it comes to the LORD His presence is enough to accomplish any task. We simply show up as is and the Lord does the rest.
It is a forgone conclusion that the Lord God will bring victory in the life of Gideon just as he had throughout the life of the Israelites. The Midianites didn’t stand a chance of winning because the Lord was going to defeat them through His leader Gideon.
We need to understand that the Lord God has all the power and authority there is in the entire universe. There is nothing and no one like Him. Everything else is under His power and authority because everything else is created by him. No one can stand against Him. God wins and everything/everyone else loses.
When Jesus gave us the great commission to go and make disciples He prefaced the command with His authority as LORD.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
The power and authority to make disciples, baptize, teach and obey the scriptures comes from the greatest authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus Christ.
The LORD told Gideon that what strength he had was sufficient for the task. The LORD called Gideon for who he was at the time. He called out Gideon right where he was, in the pit, and for who he was, afraid, and doubting
Billy Graham closes his crusades with the invitation hymn, Just As I Am. Truly, the Lord wants you to follow Him right now. The amazing love God has for you was demonstrated by the sending of His Son, Jesus.
I Am the LORD
Lastly, Gideon wants to know if the angel is really the LORD. He asks to bring an offering before the angel. He really was asking for a sign from the angel just to double check if all that had been said was true.
Judges 6:17-19 says,
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”
Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of the Lord does not disappoint Gideon. Judges 6:21 says,
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.
He demonstrates His power and authority to him by a great demonstration. He took the tip of His staff and touched the meat and unleavened bread, not the rock. I am sure Gideon had heard the account of Moses touching the rock with his staff and water coming forth. Not water but fire came from the rock, not the meat or bread, but the rock and consumed the offering.
When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Gideon finally was convinced that the angel of the LORD was who He said He was. But in acknowledging that fact he thought he would die for he had looked on the face of God. The angel’s response is that of many, "Do not be afraid".
Gideon’s response was to build and alter and worship. Worship is a natural response when anyone encounters the Lord.
A Mighty Warrior - v. 12
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
The answer to all of Gideon’s questions is in verse 12, "The LORD is with you". Whatever the task, the mission, the ministry the Lord is all anyone needs. Everything else comes from Him. He will supply all of our needs and beyond. The coming year will bring challenges of many kinds but our Lord is with us and He will provide.
The Lord saw Gideon for who he could be if he followed the Lord.
How could he become the mighty warrior, by simply following the LORD and obeying His commands. He will give the victory.
Nothing has changed. Our victory, security, and our year will be all it can be if we are willing to trust, follow, and obey. Are you the next mighty warrior? Are you ready for the Lord to use you for His purpose and plans?
