Unprecedented Faith
Gideon: A Faith that Challenges Life
Judges 6
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This morning, we continue our series on Unprecedented Faith. And today, will be looking at Gideon, and what I am calling “A Faith that Challenges Life.”
When our faith seems to come up short or breaks down, yes, there will be breakdowns. We can turn to the lessons that the men and women of faith as found in Hebrews 11 teach us about the type of faith we need to face these troublous and unprecedented times that we live in.
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, which 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 that he is a lot like us. He didn’t start out with strong faith; 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 in God’s Hall of Faith. Although, it seems he didn’t have time to tell us why, along with some others, who were found on his list.
Let’s look at what he said, “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 to the book of Judges and see what was going on at that time, and how God built up Gideon’s faith that allowed him to accomplish great things. His story begins in Judges chapter six.
“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. 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 Israel against local enemies. Now, the fact that they had to fight these enemies was due to their own disobedience to God and His word, and as a result, the surrounding nations, and even those within the boundaries of the Promised Land, put them in bondage.
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 about 300 years, and every 40 years or so, a new cycle would begin: disobedience, bondage, misery, and people crying out to God for help.
And God was gracious, providing the leadership they needed to get them back on track. And He did so my sending 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.
And as I thought about that, I realized that we are no different. We’re continually fighting the enemy of our soul, Satan and his demonic forces, because of our own disobedience through not driving out, and allowing to remain within our hearts, minds, and souls these forces of evil.
Now, Gideon was one of these judges God raised up to deliver the people, and this time it was from the Midianites. The Midianites would wait until the people of Israel finished harvesting their crops, then come in and steal whatever 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 we could all 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)
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 a military leader. But God had a different plan for his life.
That is not much different from us. We don’t want to be anything more than who we are, and the last thing any of us wants is to be used by God in ways that 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.
Now, Gideon was not exactly a picture of strength and courage. He was hiding what he could from the harvest and threshing it in a winepress. Normally, they used a flat, elevated piece of ground with a fire built below. To thresh the grain, they would toss it into the air, and the husks, which were lighter than the grain, would float on the wind and into the fire.
So, the picture we see is not of a courageous hero but of a defeated, discouraged man, filled with doubt and fear. Not only was Gideon in the winepress physically, but also emotionally and spiritually.
Gideon was a bitter and disappointed man. And we’re not all that different. We can all give plenty of reasons and excuses as to what has happened and why we are in these winepresses, pushing ourselves away from God. But this is not the life we are called to live. And this is what I want us to see as we look at Gideon's faith.
The first thing we need to do is See Ourselves as God Sees Us
Look at how God saw Gideon. Gideon is threshing grain in a winepress when the Angel of the Lord appears and says, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12 NKJV)
It is at this point that I can see Gideon looking around to see who might have come up behind him, and then, seeing no one, he probably pointed at himself and said, “Who me?”
God didn’t see Gideon as he saw himself. Gideon said, “Who am I? How can I save Israel? I am the least in my father’s house, and my father’s house is the least in Israel.” (Judges 6:15 paraphrase)
Far too often, we see ourselves through the eyes of worldly standards. We see ourselves through the labels others have put on us, like when we’re told we’re not good enough or that we’ll never amount to anything.
But God sees us through His own eyes and sees the faith that lies hidden within the winepresses of our souls. He sees us as kings and queens, princes and princesses, men and women who love God with our whole being, body, soul, and spirit. Therefore, like Gideon, He sees us as mighty men and women of valor, or of faith.
Next, we need to understand that God isn’t calling us to big things until He gets us past the smaller things that are holding us back.
And so, our second point is that God Starts Us Off Small
After God tells Gideon to lead Israel and defeat the Midianites, as found in verses 14 and 16, He tells him to offer up a sacrifice, and in the process, tear down the altar and image of Baal that is in his father’s backyard.
“Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it.” (Judges 6:25 NKJV)
Baal was one of the chief Canaanite gods. According to Canaanite lore, he was the ruler of heaven and the god of the sun, rain, thunder, fertility, and agriculture.
At this time, the Jews had all but abandoned the Lord, and as a result, they built altars to the false gods of the nations that surrounded them. Then they wondered, as we do today, why they were in such a mess and where God was.
This is what we see in Gideon’s question earlier to the Angel of the Lord.
“O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about … But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” (Judges 6:13 NKJV)
The concept behind this second point, starting out small, is that God doesn’t start us off with the big stuff but rather with smaller tests of faith. This is what lies behind God’s reward for those who faithfully use the gifts and talents He has given them. Jesus used this very concept in his description of the faithful servant.
“Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.” (Luke 19:17 NKJV)
And so, God doesn’t ask us to do the big things until we first take care of the small things.
This brings me to the next point, and that is, we need to Take Care of Present Business
God wants us to take care of our present business before we tackle our future purpose. Concerning Gideon, what we see is that before he could deliver the people, he had to tear down the idols in his life. And remember, these idols were in his family’s household.
How many times has God said, “I want you to take care of that,” or “This is what I want you to do?” Yet we dismiss it. But God isn’t going to take us any further in our walk of faith until we take care of what He has already given us todo.
To Gideon, God said this needed to be taken care of first because it was at the heart of Gideon’s and the people’s disobedience.
God will never reveal any new truths until we obey the truths He has already given. Until we do what God has already told us, He isn’t going to take us any further into His kingdom purposes.
What I have found is that we’re so busy looking for all these new truths and revelations that we’ve forgotten the tried and true, that is, those truths and revelations that have already made a difference and brought revivals in the past.
I love what the Lord said through Jeremiah, but the tragedy is that the people refused to obey.
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV)
God has given us what we are to do through the teachings found in His Word, the Bible, but sadly, fewer and fewer people are walking in God's ways.
I came across this survey several years ago. From 2010 to 2020, among U.S.-born-again Christians, belief in the core doctrines of the Christian faith fell from 47% to 25%.
Lately, I saw a disturbing survey that said only 6% of all American adults, or only 15 million people, have a biblical worldview. It also said that over 90% of those who call themselves Christian and/or born-again now believe that all faiths are equal, that there are no moral absolutes, and that a person can be good enough to make it into heaven. By the way, all three of these are against what is at the foundation of our faith.
So, we need to get back to God’s word because we’re digging ourselves a hole and then finding ourselves stuck in a rut of our own making, never moving forward into all the fullness of God.
There’s an old saying that if you find yourself in a ditch, quit digging. But we continue to dig ourselves deeper into these spiritual ruts by not obeying God’s word and by not doing what He tells us to do to get out.
Next, God makes this call of faith to each one of us individually.
God Always Begins With Us
There’s an old spiritual hymn whose chorus says, “Lord, send a revival, and let it begin in me.”
But whenever we hear a good message or receive a word from God, we usually say, “Boy, if only my husband, wife, child, friend, or co-worker could hear that.” That is the wrong response. The change needed to move forward and overcome always begins with us.
I highly recommend a book by Evelyn Christensen titled “Lord Change Me.” It’s probably the best prayer we, as Christians, can offer because, when applied, I’ve seen miracles.
And so, what God was saying to Gideon was, “I’m not going to deal with the Midianites; rather, I’m going to start working on you and the idolatry you have set up in your heart.”
You see, Gideon was looking for the bigger picture. He said to God, “Where are all the miracles I keep hearing about, the ones that say You delivered us from the Egyptians?”
And isn’t that something we all do? Why aren’t we seeing the miracles we’ve heard about in God’s word? I believe God will deliver and perform these great miracles, but first we have to change and then, we have to obey what God has already said.
Now, most of us have attended church for years and heard hundreds of messages and biblical truths. But if we’re not following them, all this food designed to feed and nourish our souls will be stolen or swept under the rug, and we’ll remain spiritually malnourished.
What I have found, and I shared this in our message on Moses and the keys to effective faith, is that we’re famous for blaming others, the preacher, the denomination, the church, anything and everything except ourselves. So, what God is saying to us through Gideon is that we’re going to have to work on ourselves first.
So God sends Gideon home to take care of his own spiritual business before He can use him for His greater purposes. I guess where I am going with all of this is that God tests us with the small things He has already told us to do before He can continue to grow us and move us forward for His greater works.
This brings me to another point, namely that God Tests Our Faith
“You have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7 NKJV)
Five-year-old Johnny was in the kitchen while his mother was making supper. She asked him to go to the pantry for a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to. He said, “It’s dark in there, and I’m scared.”
His mother said, “It’s okay. Jesus will be in there with you.” So Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it, peeking inside. It was dark, so he said, “Jesus, if you are in there, will you please hand me a can of tomato soup?”
Now, this next statement, I believe, is a keeper.
God tests our faith to see which part of our hearts needs shoring up so He can give us the encouragement to obey. God doesn’t test our faith to see how badly we can fail, but to see how He can encourage us to succeed.
Consider the progression of Gideon’s faith. What I absolutely love about this story is how God strengthens Gideon’s faith before He even puts it to the test, which then encourages Gideon to move forward not only to obey God at each of these points, but also to strengthen him for the greater tests to follow.
When Gideon was told to knock down the altar and idol of Baal in his father’s backyard, God knew how weak his faith was. I mean, he’s hiding out in a winepress. In fact, when God tells him to go and wipe out the Midianites, He knows Gideon’s hesitancy and fear, so God tells him to go in the strength that he has.
Now, the people began to come, and so Gideon needed a second helping of courage to go and fight the Midianites, who were greater in number. So he went to God and asked for a sign. This is where we get the saying, “Putting out a fleece.”
First, he asked that the fleece be wet with morning dew while the ground around it remained dry, and it was so. Then he asked that the fleece remain dry while the ground around it became wet with morning dew, and again, God answered his request.
But then God tested Gideon’s faith by reducing his army from 32,000 to 300.
And so, Gideon wasn’t all that sure about how God was going to make it all happen. How could 300 defeat an army of over 100,000? To strengthen and encourage Gideon once again, God tells Gideon to go down into the camp of the Midianites and listen.
There, he heard one of the Midianite soldiers share a dream he had about a loaf of barley bread overturning the Midianites’ tents, and another soldier interpreted the dream as the sword of Gideon and as God’s deliverance of Midian into Israel’s hand.
That’s all Gideon needed to hear, so he divided the 300 men, each with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, and ordered them to attack, shouting, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18 NKJV). The Lord threw the Midianites into confusion, and Gideon won a great battle by faith.
Gideon started with little faith, but God encouraged and strengthened it along the way, and it led to a great victory in the end.
And so, we come to our last point, and that is God Offers Us A Choice
God gave Gideon a choice at the beginning: to run and hide or, by faith, believe God’s promises and move forward in God’s will. So it all comes down to the choices we make: we can go back to the way things have been, or, by faith, face the challenges and move forward.
God gives us a choice, and through these choices, God tests our faith. So we need to have our faith built up; otherwise, these problems will steamroll us, and like Gideon, we’ll start to wonder, “Where is God? Did He abandon us?”
Now, there is a key point I’d like to share with you regarding this.
Faith determines our choices, and the choices we make test the commitment of our faith.
Conclusion
When life's problems come, not only is our faith put to the test, but so is our commitment to God. Will we remain faithful, regardless of the outcome? Faith means saying, okay, we will serve God no matter how things turn out.
What we need to realize is that in God’s Hall of Faith, there are not only those who succeeded by faith, but also those who weren’t victorious, yet their faith was still rewarded by God. Look at what the writer of Hebrews says about them.
“Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword…persecuted and mistreated…These were all commended for their faith.” (Hebrews 11:36-39 NIV)
Sometimes we think only those who are successful win God’s approval. On the contrary, the secret of successful faith is to be like Job. When covered in boils, his wife said, “Curse God and die.” But Job later said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15 NKJV)
The secret of faith is that God may put us in circumstances where a miracle may happen, but it may not. Yet our faith should remain. When life’s challenges are bigger than we are, that is when our faith in God will see us through. That’s what it means to be a mighty man or woman of valor and faith.
