Judges 6:1-24, 33-40
Israel did evil in the sight of God, again. They worshipped the false gods of the Amorites (6:10) and were greatly oppressed by their enemies.
• The Midianites, the Amalekites and other Eastern nations came against Israel in big numbers, like swarms of locusts.
• They ruined their crops and spared no living thing for Israel, destroying all their livestock. The people were forced to hide in mountain clefts and caves.
This went on for 7 years and in their suffering, they cried out to God.
• God responded. God always does, because of His grace. God always responds, always delivers and always wins.
• He is going to raise one man for the task – Gideon, a farmer who feels that he is the least in the family and from the smallest clan in the tribe (Manasseh).
• He felt disqualified. That’s good. God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Don’t focus on your DIS-abilities; look to HIS-abilities.
The angel of the Lord declared: “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” (Jud 6:12)
• Frankly, under such circumstances, these words sounded jarring. Gideon was threshing wheat indoors, in a winepress, hiding from his enemies.
• It was an act of fear and cowardice, and God called him, “mighty warrior”.
• God sees something that Gideon could not. God sees what Gideon could become. God sees us differently from the way we see ourselves.
God tells him to “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Jud 6:14)
• God did not demand from him what Gideon does not have. Go in the strength you have, and that’s enough because I AM SENDING you.
• God will see to it that Gideon becomes Israel’s mighty warrior!
But to be mightily use of God, two things must happen for Gideon, and for us too.
• Two things Gideon needs to overcome, reflected in his words – the two BUTs he said in verse 13 and verse 15.
Jud 6:13 “BUT sir, 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."”
Gideon has to OVERCOME HIS DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD
If we are disappointed with God, we will not serve Him. And if you allow that disappointment to stay, it will affect your relationship with Him.
Gideon wasn’t happy with the current state of affairs. For 7 years they had been struggling with the most basic needs.
• God had abandoned them, he concluded. Where are you when we are suffering? If you love us so much, why didn’t you intervene? Why are we treated so unfairly?
• But these are the questions we ask God when we are suffering, when things are not going right. We expect God to do more.
THE TRUTH IS - Jud 6:7-10 7When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."
• It was Israel who abandoned God!
Many find it hard to tell God that they are disappointed and unhappy with Him. We keep it in our heart for years, like Gideon.
• We blame God but we do not want to say it out loud. We hide those feelings because we do not want to look irreligious. We may complain to close friends but not to God.
• But the compulsion to say only the “right thing” actually keeps us spiritually sick. We are not telling God the things that really matters.
• We are spiritually sick because we are not utterly honest with God.
Gideon poured out his true feelings, and God led him out of his discontent.
• Jud 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?"
Then came his 2nd BUT in verse 15:
Jud 6:15 "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 has to OVERCOME HIS DOUBTS IN GOD
This is a common problem we have when we starting serving God. I can identify with this. You look at yourself. There are many things I cannot, that I am not good enough, that I’m not like somebody else… and on and on it goes. You keep seeing your lack, and this cripples you. Problem? We are too preoccupied with self.
I’ve learn to look at what God calls you to. Look at the needs and believe that the God who calls you, will supply what you lack, to fulfil those needs. He will enable you because He called you. If not, He would not have called you in the first place.
We see how God walks Gideon out of his disappointment and doubt. Gideon needs to settle these before he can become the “mighty warrior” God wants him to be.
Jud 6:17-18 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you."
• And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return." God was patient with him.
• The angel of the Lord touched the sacrifice with the tip of his staff and fire flared from the rock and consumed it (Jud 6:21). It was a miraculous sign.
• God wants to assure him. He did it again in Jud 6B with the miracle of the fleece. For that He did twice (fleece wet, ground dry; fleece dry, ground wet).
God was taking a journey with him and helping him gain confidence and faith.
• God does that with us when we tell Him our disappointments and doubts.
• He heals our hearts when we confess to Him. He heals us by showing us Himself and by showing us the truth.
• He walks us through and out of our disappointments and doubts.
Two weeks’ ago we visited a sister, paralysed from the neck down, because a car accident, many years ago. She was sharing her frustrations with her domestic helpers and therefore with God.
She can only survive with the help of the helpers, depending on them for everything, literally. The recent helpers were not good; they showed bad attitudes and can sometimes be defiant. At one time, the helper put her arms by her waist and shouted at her, scolding her boss while she lie there helpless. She felt bullied.
She prayed for good helper but it turned out bad. She confronted God and poured out her frustrations. She cursed and swear at God, and even threatened that she is not going to believe Him anymore. And then she tells us, “That’s very bad, hor!”
After a few days, she is back with God. She says, “She needs God!”
God heals us when we confess to Him. In fact, I believe God can only heal us when we confess to Him.
• Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
• Don’t pretend that you’re alright when you are not. Don’t let disappointments drive us AWAY FROM God; let them drive us TO GOD.
• It took a while for Gideon to gain the faith he needs but God was patient.
Many people like to use Gideon’s method when they come to making a decision.
• This is a wrong application. Gideon’s problem is not about decision-making.
• Jud 6:36 “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised…” then give me a sign.
• Gideon had already gotten a clear direction from God. He was asking for assurance that God will help him.
Putting out a fleece is not a glamourous thing; it is a sign of a lack of trust in God.
• If I said something and you keep coming back to ask for proofs, that’s not a compliment. It only tells me that you don’t trust me.
Don’t ask for more proofs; ask for greater faith.
• The disciples asked Jesus in Luke 17:5, “Increase our faith!” That’s our prayer!
• If you have faith, you do not need proof. If you have no faith, no amount of proof is ever enough.
Confess to God and let Him lead you out of your disappointment and doubt.
• We can be mighty warriors only when these issues are settled in our hearts.
