Gideon Judges 6-8 Gideon s fear
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- Brett Davidson
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1 1 Gideon Judges 6-8 When our children were very young, Marlee liked to play a little game with them, where she would ask, How big are you? This was started even before they could really respond with words. Then she would give them the answer by stretching out their arms and saying, So big! It was really cute. I m not really sure there was a point behind it all, but I imagine the idea for the child is to give him or her a sense that they are growing, getting bigger and able to handle life as it comes. Regardless of what it meant specifically. It was wonderful affirmation of their significance. That s what we want for our kids. To know as they grow that they are significant, that they matter. Because there will be plenty of times in life when others will seek to cut them down When circumstances will make them seem small, weak, insignificant. So we want to instill in them that they are big enough to handle what comes their way. That their lives matter, that they matter in spite of their struggles and insecurities. The consequences of seeing yourself as too small and insignificant are not good. But what happens when your focus on yourself and your own abilities or lack there of finally lead you to realize that you really are not big enough to take care of everything and everyone? What do you turn to when life gets out of your control.? When your self focus has shrunk down the significance of God life can be pretty frustrating and frightening. Pastor John Ortberg writes. So often we are not truly convinced that we are in the hands of a fully competent, ever present, completely loving, powerful and infinitely big God. i (Just a few of the wonderful adjectives that describe our God by the way.) The reality is that the fullness of our lives, depends not on how big and significant we are but on how big our God is. Our story from Judges brings this point home as we see God at work through Gideon. Now, if you remember learning about Gideon in Sunday School, you probably remember a story about a good Judge and a great man faith. But if we look at the story closely we learn it is really more about a story of a not so bad Judge, by comparison, and a faithful God. Let s dig into it. Gideon s fear As we have already learned, the people of Israel were living in the Promised Land, but were caught up in a cycle of repeatedly turning away from the God who brought them there to following false gods. So once again God has chosen to discipline his people. This time the discipline was in the form of the Midianites. The Midianites had overrun the Promised Land, and the text says they were like swarms of locusts taking over all of the crops. The Israelites began to take refuge in caves and holes in the ground, to hide themselves and what little food and belongings they still had. And though they had not paid attention to God for a long time, they now cried out to God for help. Well the angel of the Lord came to where Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. A winepress was a small stone pit in the ground. Normally wheat would be threshed on a threshing
2 2 floor out in the open where the wind could help separate the chaff from the wheat. But threshing wheat in a winepress would be a very difficult and slow process. Any farmer of the day would think it ridiculous a process. But, Gideon chose to do this because he was terrified of the Midianites. At this point, Gideon was not some bold leader; he was not a confident, so big kind of guy. Let s keep reading. The messenger says to Gideon The Lord is with you mighty warrior. I imagine Gideon looking around to see who is behind him that the messenger is talking to. And get Gideon s reply, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders of God that we have heard about in the past. Wow, you see Gideon was so out of touch with God and his Word he didn t even know why they were in the mess they were in. God for him was small and distant. This is not a picture of a guy with great faith. The Lord s reply to Gideon: Gideon, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian s hand. Am I not sending you? This is God s first indication that it is not really about Gideon but about God. But Lord, Gideon replies, How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family (Judges 6:14-15). Notice Gideon here is allowing the circumstances and his own self-image to influence his image of God. God sees the great warrior Gideon will be. God has confidently placed this great call on Gideon, but Gideon cannot see it. He is ready to settle for just existing, and for not knowing what his God is like and what a real relationship with God is like. And how did God respond? Did he say, Go Gideon. Your natural good looks, charm and leadership are all you need? No. That s not what God said. And that s not what God says to you and me. God said to Gideon, I will be with you and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were but one man. (Judges 6:15-16). This is one important key to the story. What is unthinkable and undoable on my own becomes unstoppable thing when it s God idea and it s God and me together. Which begs the question, do we believe that our God is that big and that faithful? Does our faith in the size of our God actually change the way we approach life? Let s come back to that question after we look at more of Gideon s story Gideon s first challenge Gideon does well with the first challenge God gives him. He tears down an altar that was built to Baal a Canaanite god whose worship was associated with prostitution sexual immorality and tied up in the notion of fertility and making the earth fertile by pleasing Baal. There was no connection between the worship of Baal and virtues that Yahweh would have his holy people practice. How far the people of God had fallen into the darkness of idolatry. And this Idol had actually been put up by Gideon s father. But Gideon, now emboldened and empowered by God s message of hope, follows God s instruction to tear down this blasphemous thing. Of course, he did it at night so as not to get caught. But still he
3 3 follows through on the mission. Surprisingly when Gideon is found out and threatens to kill him, his father seems emboldened by Gideon s step of faith. He tells them to leave Gideon alone, If Baal is really God, let Baal take care of himself. Gideon s step of faith was contagious; it touched even the heart of his father. God takes little steps of faith and builds on them. The big test Now Gideon s small step of faith prepared him for a bigger test. God called Gideon to go up against the Midianites to free his people. But Gideon was again scared and responded to God s command by saying, Lord, if, not when, but if you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said. You may have heard the phrase setting out a fleece used in the context of discerning God s will. What I want to point out here is that setting out a fleece was not a positive thing. God had already promised Gideon he was going to save Israel. The fleece was not an expression of trust it was an expression of a struggling faith. Sometimes people use this fleece idea in a manipulative or superstitious way. Ken Davis talks about a guy on a diet, who is driving down the road, sees a bakery, and says, Alright, Lord, if there s a parking space in front of that bakery when I drive by, then I ll know it s your will for me to go inside and eat a donut. Sure enough, on his fifth time around the block, he sees an open parking space. We do that kind of testing sometimes, and Gideon did something like that in this passage, but God is gracious and did with the fleece as Gideon requested not once but twice. ii (Judges 6:36-40) In chapter 7 Gideon and his men get ready for battle against the Midianites. Gideon recruits soldiers to join him. When you do the math, Gideon was outnumbered by the Midianite Army by a ratio of about four-to-one. So, God came to Gideon and said, you have too many troops, we have to get rid of some. Gideon must ve said something like, God, I m so glad to hear you say that! I was afraid you were going to send me in with too many guys and that would be embarrassing, But God s point was to show Gideon and Israel that this was his battle. It did not depend on how big or strong the people were, but only on how big God is.. So God has Gideon send home everyone who is afraid. Maybe not a terrible idea, except when you remember how badly they are outnumbered and how out of touch with God they had been. Who wouldn t be afraid? So about twothird of the troops head for home. Praising God I am sure. Now Gideon s outnumbered more like thirteen-to-one. God came to Gideon again, and said there are still too many. So he has this fascinating way to thin out the troops some more, by how they drink water from a stream. The ones who hold the water up to their mouths and lap water like a dog are in. Three hundred men are left and God says, With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. (Judges 6:7) I have always found this part a bit confusing, and why Gideon was supposed to choose the so called dog lappers is not clear from the text. We do know that the Bible is not
4 4 sentimental about dogs, like we are with our dogs today. Dogs are usually referred to in a derogatory way. So cat lovers take heart. Regardless of the reason, what we know is that Gideon is left with 300 not so elite troops. The whole point of God winnowing the troops down was to create a test of faith and to make clear that victory was God s alone. Israel might then see how big their God is and break their cycle of sin trusting in little gods that are not gods at all. Fear not The Midianite soldiers now outnumbered the Israelites about 450-to-1. Now here is where God shows his amazing grace again, at the same time that He tests Gideon s faith, He knows that Gideon still has a struggling faith. So he helps him out by letting him in on a dream that He has sent to some soldiers in the Midianite camp a dream that is obviously interpreted that the Midianites will be routed. ( Judges 7:10-14) God gave Gideon one more sign, to help his little faith be strong enough to take another step forward. At the sound of blaring horns, smashing jars and shouting along with a sudden appearance of 300 torches, the Midianites go into fear frenzy and even turn on each other. Miraculously God uses Gideon and his men to win the day. Israel is free, and once again they experience the might and wonder of their God. Now there are a number of things we can learn from this story. But let me ask this. Do your ever find yourself plagued with worry? Does anybody ever get anxious? Do you ever think that you can barely do what is required day to day. Let alone take on something big for God? I think these kind of feelings are pretty common, even among Christians. Life is not easy and it is hard not to be anxious or worry. Now here is the problem, worry and fear go together. And they have a way of taking control of life. And they have a way of shrinking faith. When our faith shrinks, our God shrinks, at least in our hearts and minds. When we think that we have to deal with life s struggles on our own power, because God is far off, our attitude is molded by our circumstances, and we can easily miss out on what God is up to in our lives and in the world around us. Like the nation of Israel, when we face temptation to do things our own way or give into the culture, that is what we likely will do. I know that I can end up like Gideon hiding away from problems, just surviving. I sit at and think about all the problems I don t know how to solve and all of the really important outcomes I cannot control my kids, my friends, the ministry I m a part of My prayers can become weak if I even pray at all because I m not convinced that God is really going to answer in a significant way. And sometimes I even forget to pray because I am so caught up in making my significance known as I deal with the issue. But the truth is that God is not bound by what we think of Him. When our faith is little He is still as big as ever. And one thing we learn from the story of Gideon is that God works with people of little faith and does great things. In fact our God is so big that He works with and for people with no faith at all. We know this because of Jesus and the cross. God came down into a sinful faithless world simply out of love. Jesus came to save before we even had little faith. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, NIV)
5 5 That is how significant you are to God! God became human, and that one man gave his life for you, for all of the faithless sinners in this world. He defeated the Satan and his armies that would seek to control and destroy us. And at the empty tomb we see that God is bigger than death itself. Like Gideon and the people of Israel, all we need do is believe in God s power, trust in His promise. God knows all about the Midianites in your life. He knows about your worries and fears. Your struggles with faith. He knows about failures, your relationship issues. He knows about the people who are making your life difficult. How the devil whispers in your ear and makes you feel small and insignificant. He knows when you struggle with finding meaning in life. In the midst of it all, he promises that you don t need to spend your life hiding and just surviving. His strength is with you, his love is with you and he has important plans for you. And today Jesus says to you and me remember what I have done for you, remember that I am here with you by my Holy Spirit. I am bigger than your problems. I am bigger than your failures. I am bigger than your regrets, as many as they may be. I am bigger than your sin and guilt. If you will let me, I will fill your life and I will be your strength day by day. iii If you are struggling with having the faith that sees God as big and as close as that, don t hang your head in shame. Don t try to do it on your own. Call out to him anyway. God works with little faith and builds from there. Remember the words of the man who brought his son to Jesus for a healing miracle. Jesus said. Everything is possible for one who believes. Immediately the boy s father exclaimed, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:23 25, NIV) God is big enough to do great work with even a little faith, and He builds from there. You have a great big God, so big that your life is completely in his hands. He is seeking to be a bigger presence in your life day by day. The Lord is with you! The Lord is with you Mighty Follower of Jesus. The Lord is with you in power and love. The Lord is with you, follow calling you to follow him with confidence. The Lord is with you. Go out and live powerfully in his name. i ii iii Thanks to John Ortberg for his influence in the direction of this message.
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