Unprecedented Faith: "gideon: A Faith That Challenges Life"

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.