Gideon - One Small Step
Judges 6:22-27
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!” Judges 6:22
The Lord had convinced Gideon was convinced that the LORD was giving the command. He was also convinced he would die because he had looked upon the face of the angel of the LORD.
The Lord is awesome, mighty, wonderful great, and above of all of those word descriptions He is Holy. Fear is a natural response of anyone when meeting with holiness. Why, because we are not holy, we are sin-filled disobedient human beings and deep down we know it. Judges 6:23 says,
But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
Thankfully the Lord responds with a phrase that is very common in scripture whenever someone comes into contact with the Lord God. Judges 6:24 says,
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’s response is common of those who had met with the Lord. The Lord’s peace, grace, and mercy are met with worship. Now the Lord gives Gideon his first task to accomplish. It is the beginning of a long list of accomplishments.
That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
1. A Small Faith Step
Gideon accepted the Lord’s call and had worshipped Him so you would think at this point he would be off to destroy the Midianites. The Lord did not immediately ask Gideon to go destroy them. He began leading Gideon with small steps.
Perhaps this small step of faith, in comparison to his ultimate task of defeating the Midianites, was to grow Gideon’s faith in the Lord. Gideon’s faith was obviously not very strong, after all, the nation was being punished for their sin and God’s demonstrative power had not been seen lately. Gideon wasn’t sure if the Lord was with Israel any longer.
He was at the bottom of the well, the pit, separating his wheat so the enemy wouldn’t see him. He was hiding. He doubted and questioned every one of the Lord’s statements and command. Even after the Lord’s consumption of the offering by fire, His demonstration of power, Gideon was still gripped with fear. He though the Lord was going to kill him because he had seen the Lord’s face.
Gideon was also fearful when he received his next task, to destroy the Baal alter and Asherah pole. Notice it was shortly after he finished worshipping the Lord and acknowledging His power. What caused his fear? Gideon was afraid of his own family and the men of the town that were a part of this Baal worship. If he acted on the Lord’s command he would be killed. Verse 27b says,
But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
The Lord would also have an opportunity to demonstrate His power by taking care of him. Perhaps Gideon could overcome his fear or better yet, serve the Lord in faith regardless of his fear.
He would have to be willing to trust in what the Lord had said, all of it, to accomplish what had been put before him. The Lord could then, and only then, demonstrate to Gideon He was with him in power and authority.
Can fear and faith exist together? Yes! Understand that no faith is exercised without the possibility of failure. There must be that little bit of doubt going into a situation in order for faith to come into play. If some action brings the same reaction every time, is positively for sure, then there can be no faith. Hebrews 11:1 says,
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Also unless faith is exercised in an action there is no faith present. We accept the Lord based on faith. Certain behaviors change in our life, we obey the word, we like to worship, we pray, we want to know about God and His promises. James 2:17-19says,
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds. ”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
The Lord was going to grow Gideon’s faith a little at a time. Gideon had already acknowledged Almighty God, the LORD. He had also heard the message to overthrow the Midianites. Often in scripture the first command of faith is simply to follow. Gideon had accepted the Messenger, the message and now, he was to accomplish part of the mission given. But he was still afraid.
Before anyone casts dispersion on Gideon’s level of trust, his faith, let’s take a look at our own. We have the full set of scriptures, the Bible. The Lord has revealed himself in all 66 books.
We can, if we choose, read it every day to remind us of who God is and how much He loves and cares for us. The Bible also contains His promises to comfort us during life’s good and bad times.
We have the person of Jesus Christ as testimony of who God is and how much He loves us. We see through Him that the Lord is kind, gracious, merciful, and forgiving.
Once we receive Him as Lord of our life, He will never leave or forsake us and nothing can separate us from His love. Ultimately, he desires the best for us in everything. By trusting and obeying Him we will receive only the best.
Now, let’s ask a question to us to see how strong our faith has been. How many of us doubted and worried in 2008? Why would you worry? The Lord has promised to supply all your needs. He even has proven he will supply abundantly more than your needs. But, when news comes we tend to waiver, look at our circumstances and doubt in the very promises we have been given. Our peace that surpasses all understanding goes out the window. Why, "O Ye of little faith" was Jesus’ response to His disciples.
2. Start with Your House
Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
Gideon’s father must have been an idolater. He was involved, along with the rest of the town, in Baal worship. It seems that the alter to Baal was built on his property because there is no other person mentioned connected with the alter. You might say that Joash had the towns alter to Baal built in his front yard. Gideon’s home, his land, was dedicated to Baal worship.
It is no wonder Gideon had trouble faith issues. He grew up for at least seven years in a household dedicated to Baal. Did his family also worship Jehovah God? Yes, but understand that any other god worship, no matter how minor, is completely unacceptable to the Lord.
Gideon must have had ten men he could trust to follow him, perhaps his servants. Again, Gideon was afraid of getting caught and killed but he did the Lord’s will in spite of his fear. Gideon’s "little" faith was stronger than his "great" fear.
Many Medal of Honor winners, those still alive, have been interviewed about their feats of courage. Most say they were just doing their job they were trained to do. Almost to a man they admit to being scared, fearful during the combat situation. They go so far as to say if someone says they were not afraid they are either a liar or crazy. Faith overcomes fear.
Gideon went to accomplish the Lord’s task at night and destroyed the Baal alter and Asherah pole. He tore them down and cut up the pole to be used for fire wood.
The Lord always begins with the one he calls out before any other step can be taken. Gideon was told to start at home. Get your own house in order before you go any farther. The nation was to turn to the Lord but first, Gideon’s home needed to turn from idolatry.
Jesus told us the same thing. It is so easy to see the faults in others. It makes us feel better about ourselves. We never have the freedom to judge others, Never. It is our individual responsibility to make sure, by God’s power, that our own life is right with God. Jesus says in Matthew 7:3-5,
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
3. Start New Worship
Both of these, the altar to Baal and the asherah pole were built to vile gods. The altars are built on high places. The higher elevation meant the closer to their god. After all, gods lived in the heavens above so to get closer you had to get higher. Their worship appealed to the base instincts in man. Worship of these so called gods centered on fertility and prosperity.
Worship of Baal and Astarte was common place. These were old gods of the Canaanites. They were also the gods of the people all around the nation of Israel. Worship of them relied on acts the people would perform. It was very ego, self centered worship. Naturally it was appealing and relatively easy. It appealed to man in every way.
Sexual acts, perversions of all kinds, sacrifice, even child sacrifice was involved. It was the worst of all combinations of idolatry. It is easy to see how people would find it appealing. It was a free ticket to do anything you wanted. You became the god, Baal was secondary.
A new beginning was about to start in the nation. It was time to restart worship centered only on the Lord God. Gideon was told to build the new alter for new worship. It was to be a basic alter of stone, nothing elaborate, because there was not enough time. The importance of the altar was not that it was elaborately decorated but it was an alter dedicated to the Lord God of Israel.
Today we see the same worship in our society. Was our nation founded by godly men on godly principles? Yes., but we have long since departed from His ways. The claim that we are a godly nation, a Christian nation is no longer true. Freedom of religion has been misinterpreted as freedom from religion. We have progressively kicked the Lord God out of every area of society and in many churches as well.
We are now a celebrity driven society. Worship of the "beautiful athletic people", they pervade and persuade our nation. Billions are spent just to get a peak of these individuals on the screen, internet, print, or in person. Why, they are worshipped, idol worship.
Pornography is now and has been a trillion dollar industry. Yes, trillion with a T. Images on the internet, pay sites, free sites, all designed to take your money and destroy your relationships. Pornography is the number one plague in our churches. People believe they are safe in their homes. But again, the damage to marriage and home is evident in divorce, affairs, etc.
We worship those who can get and maintain the most money. The rich and famous are followed everywhere. Paparazzi follow them everywhere just to get one picture. Why, because it sells for the thousands if not hundreds of thousands to magazines so people will buy them just to get a glimpse of them.
Child sacrifice is rampant. Abortion has claimed millions of lives. This nation has legalized child sacrifice. We have become a nation of Baal worshippers and we wonder why we are having problems.
The reason is simple God will not bless a nation like ours. Sin is at the root of our problems. We are idol worshippers. I only hope He will allow us sufficient time for revival. But any revival must begin now and it must begin at home, with you and me.
All idols, all other icons, must be torn down in our life before we can reasonably believe the Lord will use us powerfully. "True believers can’t build an altar to the Lord unless first they tear down the altars they’ve built to the false gods they worship. Our God is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5) and will not share His glory or our love with another." (Weirsbe)
4. A Sacrifice for Sin
It was time to be rededicated and revived. But before Gideon could tackle the Midianites he had to get rid of Baal worship. He had torn down the altars. He had built the Lord’s alter and was ready to make the sacrifice the Lord had commanded.
Gideon was to gather the wood, the wood to sacrifice the bull. Gideon was to take the bull, the one seven years old and sacrifice it on the altar. It is significant that he took the bull that was seven years old to sacrifice. The nation had been under judgment for seven years because of sin.
The bull represented the sins of the people and the forgiveness available to all who would follow the Lord God. It was the "second" chance for the people. The nation could at this point, turn from worshipping Baal, and return to being God’s people. They would again be blessed by Him. They would again enjoy the success and prosperity only He can bring.
Do you want a second chance? Are you concerned about our nation? Do you look around and wonder where the Lord has gone and why is all of this happening to you?
Everything begins at home and must start with you, getting rid of your idols, getting rid of your sin, and making the choice to follow the Lord God. Throw out your idols and place the Lord first in every area.
What about a sacrifice? Thankfully the Lord God himself has already taken care of our sacrifice. The sacrifice for our sin was made some 2000 years ago at a place call Golgotha, place of the skull.
He took the world’s sins upon himself, past present, and future at that point in time and paid for them all. The Father turn His back on Him and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me."
All we need do is receive the free gift of salvation, restoration, that the Lord offers us and simply follow Him. We will be forgiven of our sins and restored, revived, made alive in Him to receive His blessing and peace. Begin today by trusting in the Lord and obeying his commands.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
