We have just read about the suffering of the people of Israel at one time in their history.
• They were badly oppressed by the enemies around them. They were suffering because they have deserted God and worshipped idols.
• The people fled to the mountains and were hiding in caves and strongholds. They tried to provide for themselves by sowing seeds for harvest, but when the harvest came the enemies moved in and seized everything.
• They were too weak to defend themselves. It brought them to such a low point that they cried out to God in desperation. They realised their mistake and repented.
God heard their cry and responded with grace. He called an unknown man Gideon to save the nation.
• If we read on to chapter 7, we know that Gideon eventually won the fight against the enemies. He was successful.
• They were few in numbers, limited in resources and with little confidence, but God was on their side. With God’s intervention, they won the fight.
• This is a good reminder for us today – when you face a problem, remember, it is not about how big your problem is but how big God is; it is not about how powerful your enemy Satan is, but how mighty God is.
• Apostle John reminds us, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4)
In Gideon’s experience, we see how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. There is strength in weakness, that is, God’s strength in human weakness.
• In order words, if we humble ourselves and trust God, He is able to do great things through us.
• Gideon is not a prophet, not a priest or a religious person. He does not belong to any royal family, the rich or the famous. He is just an ordinary farmer, but he is at the right place at the right time for God to use.
(1) GOD USES ORDINARY PEOPLE
God needed someone. He heard the prayers but He needed someone, and He found Gideon.
• God is doing the same in our generation. He looks at our situation, He hears the cries of the people, and He looks for someone.
• There is work to be done, and God wants to look for someone who is available and someone who can trust Him.
• You may be the person God finds, to be at the right place and at the right time. You may be the right person for a job – a work that God wants to do.
• God has placed us at different situations in life, with unique opportunities and privileges, and He expects us to respond to His call. If we trust Him and respond to Him and do what He says, we can be surprised to see what God can do.
• God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
So the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (v.12)
(2) GOD SEES THE POTENTIAL IN A PERSON
From what we see here, Gideon was far from being a mighty warrior. He was hiding from the enemies. He was afraid. He has no confidence and saw himself as “the least in the family belonging to the weakest clan” (v.15) He was doubtful the situation can change. He needed God to prove to him a few times.
• But the angel called him, “mighty warrior”. He wasn’t looking at Gideon in his present state. He saw what he could become, with God’s help. He saw what Gideon could become, if he trusts God.
• God sees more than what you can see. We see the problem, He sees the solution. We see our weakness, God sees the victory. We see the impossibility, God sees the possibilities. We need to learn to “live by faith, not by sight” Paul says in 2 Cor 5:7.
Gideon could not see himself as the mighty warrior who would save Israel. Just like us today, many of us cannot see ourselves doing anything great for God.
• How do you see yourself? Sometimes, the image we have of ourselves is not only unhealthy, it is not biblical. Some see themselves as a ‘nobody’, almost close to being useless.
• We need to re-align our understanding with the truth of God’s Word.
• You are precious in God’s sight. The Bible says you are God’s child (Jn 1:12), you are a joint-heir with Christ (Rom 8:17), God’s friend (Jn 15:15), a saint (Eph 1:1), you are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do. (Eph 2:10) You are a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20), and you belong to God (1 Cor 6:20).
• We are all equally important in God’s sight. There is no hierarchy in heaven! We are mistaken if we think that God uses only special people.
• God knows who you are, and He is counting on you to do His work.
(3) GOD IS COUNTING ON YOU
How is God going to save Israel? Who is going to fight the enemies? “You are,” He tells Gideon.
• That sounds scary but that’s the truth. Who is going to save the world today? You are.
• Paul says in 2 Cor 5:19-20 God “has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
Look at this interesting dialogue in Judges 6.
• In verse 13 Gideon said something like this: “I’m not so sure God is with us, look at the problem we have. Where are all the miracles the older believers tell us? We are suffering now.” It’s almost like: “Where are you, God? Why are you not doing anything?”
• And then the Lord responded in v.14, something like this: “I’m right here, and I’m sending you!”
• And then Gideon went on to say, “No, no… cannot be me!”
Does this sound familiar? We want God to do something, and when God says, “Alright, I’m sending you”, we say NO.
• We like God to do the work, solve our problems, but without our involvement.
• We say help the poor, but we are not giving; we pray save the lost, but we are not bringing friends; we say comfort those who are sad, but then we are not visiting them.
The truth is, God is counting on you to work with Him.
• God wants Gideon to trust Him and go tear down the idols; to trust Him and fight the enemies.
• God promises to stay with him and give him the strength he needs. God gives him assurance after assurance that His plan will surely succeed.
• But Gideon got to go, and do that which is necessary. It is not something he likes; it is not something he is confident about. But unless you go, you will not see the miracles of God.
• You see, the answer to the cries of the people, the answer to their prayers, comes when Gideon says YES to God. Gideon is God’s answer to the people.
What is the thing that God has been calling you to do? Can you trust Him and say YES?
• Are you going to wait and expect the answer to drop from the sky?
• Or are you going to do what is necessary, and be the answer to the prayers or cries of the people?
(4) GOD’S PLAN WILL SUCCEED, no matter how big your challenge
The key to success in meeting life’s challenges is to trust God’s way.
• Sometimes, we are very tempted to take short cuts, to use our own ways to solve our problems.
• But Gideon learns that success comes only when he follows God’s instruction, every step of the way.
God taught him this lesson through a very odd command.
• Chapter 7 tells us Gideon was able to recruit 32,000 fighting men.
• But the Lord says, “Tell any man who is fearful of fighting he can go back home.” 22,000 men left and returned to the safety of their homes.
• Gideon now had an army of 10,000.
And the Lord says, “You still have too many. Have the 10,000 men drink at the stream. Those who bend down and lap the water like a dog are to be sent packing. Those that bend down on their knees and cup water in their hands and drink, keep them.
• 7,700 men lapped the water and drank directly from the stream. They were sent home.
• Now Gideon had only 300 men in his fighting squad. They were the ones who cupped the water in their hands and drank, showing that they were more vigilant and watchful.
With 300, Gideon is going to fight his enemies.
• According to 7:12, the enemies who had gathered in the valley were “as thick as locusts” and “their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the sea-shore.”
• But the battle is the Lord’s. There is strength in weakness when God is in control.
• And with 300 men, Gideon won. It is “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty. (Zech 4:6)
God wanted Gideon to be very convinced, that the victory had nothing to do with human strength or strategy. It was all about God.
• “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)
CONCLUSION
You may feel like Gideon. You are the least of the least. You are below ordinary. You have many doubts. You lack confidence.
• The Lord has shown us through Gideon’s experience, that ordinary people (with all our weaknesses) and ordinary means (with all its limitations) can be used to accomplish extraordinary things.
• In the words of Paul, God can “chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.” (1 Cor 1:27-29)
God uses ordinary people like you and me.
• God sees the potential in you, and is counting on you. We are the bridge between a problem and its solution.
• Say YES to God and He can accomplish His great plan through you.
• We can all share the same experience as Gideon, if we are willing to trust God and say YES to His call.
God is still looking for ordinary people today.
