Today's Bible study topic is on trust. We may remember Gideon as a mighty man of valor. We may remember he was the head of the army that God used, only 300 men, to defeat a mighty army that waged war against them. We remember the triumph and the favor, but Gideon was not always a champion. When God called him from under an oak tree, Gideon was insecure and doubtful that God could ever use a man like him. We may not be able to understand what it looks like to have success and favor on our lives like Gideon, but can we relate to feeling like we are not smart enough, strong enough, or good enough to be used to do mighty things for God? I certainly can. I have battled insecurities for years, but God has been teaching me that I don't need to have confidence in myself and my abilities. I need to have confidence in God and what He can do through me. Let's read the text.
JUDGES 6:11-24 (11)And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (12)And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. (13)And Gideon said unto Him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (14)And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? (15)And he said unto Him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. (16)And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. (17)And he said unto Him, If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then shew me a sign that Thou talkest with me. (18)Depart not hence, I pray Thee, until I come unto Thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before Thee. And He said, I will tarry until thou come again. (19)And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto Him under the oak, and presented it. (20)And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. (21)Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. (22)And when Gideon perceived that He was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. (23)And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. (24)Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezerites.
The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. This chapter opens up telling us that the children of Israel were not concerned about God, but now that they are suffering the consequences of turning their back on God and they do not like it. Now they need Him! The Bible tells us in verse six of that same chapter that Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. Because of their circumstances, they cried unto the LORD to deliver them from the bondage.
The first thing we see in this passage is the angel of the LORD sits under an oak tree. He sees Gideon. He does not announce His presence with a trumpet or loud fanfare. He sits beneath the oak and observes Gideon hiding out by the wine press, trying not to be noticed by the enemy: the Midianites. He has a job to do, but he cannot do it in the open. He is hiding.
The angel of the LORD appears to Gideon. Note the greeting Gideon gets. "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" He was greeted in the way God saw him. Gideon had no medals, no shiny armor, no big following. God called him a mighty man of valor. The salutation is that "God is with you, Gideon." I am here to tell you that God is with you today, mighty man or woman of valor! It does not matter who you think you are, God is with you and with me. He calls us men and women of valor.
What is valor? It means to have great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle. Gideon did not feel like a brave man in the face of adversity. We may not feel brave either, but God called Joshua to be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might and He put the same call on Gideon and on you and me. (Joshua 1:9)
Gideon's jaw must have hit the ground! He no doubt turned and looked behind him. He couldn't believe that he was the one being addressed. He was no war hero. He was no one special. At least those are the lies the enemy planted in his mind. And immediately insecurity rears its ugly head and makes him doubt. Friends, do not doubt your worth and potential inside of you. If you are a child of the Most High God you are a child of THEE CHAMPION and you have no other choice but to be victorious! It's in your bloodline!
God gives a declaration of power and truth to Gideon and he is so beat down by the enemy, so oppressed by his circumstances, he cannot receive it. He says the same thing many ask today when things get hard. "Where is God?" He says, "If God is really with us then why are we suffering?" Are you looking at your situation and your circumstances and asking, "Where is God in all of this? If God is with us why are we in this pandemic? If God is really with me then why am I sick? Why did he let my loved ones die?" Gideon said, "Our parents and grandparents told us that God performed miracles and freed us from slavery before when we were in Egypt. But now God has forsaken us and we are at the mercy of these awful Midianites."
Do you remember what God has done for you in the past? What about in January this year? What did God do for you in January? Can you look back and see God's hands all over your life and how He delivered you from addiction and bondage and slavery to sin? Maybe like Gideon you can see great in the rear-view mirror but when you look out the windshield of your life you don't see Him anywhere. You see the roadblocks, the dead-ends, the danger and the despair. God already answered this question when He greeted Gideon. He said, "The LORD is with thee." That is the same answer He is telling you and me today. God is with us!
God did not repeat that phrase to Gideon. He did not put His arm around Gideon's shoulder and tell him how important and special he was to Him. No, God gives him a job to do. He reveals Gideon's mission. We do not need a pep talk. We need to know what our assignment is. What are we here for? God tells Gideon to "go in your own strength and save Israel. Am I not sending you?" He is telling us the same thing. Use the strength and the energy you have and you will be successful in the thing I am calling you to do because I AM sending you! I AM is sending you and I AM is sending me. We have been told to go and do the thing that God has put in our hearts to do. What is He telling you to do?
Gideon did not grab his weapons of war and rush off to the battle. He did not stand a bit taller and throw his shoulders back, ready to face the Midian army. He did what you and I often do when we are asked to do something we don't think we can handle. He made excuses. He talked about his flaws and shortcomings. He asked God, "How can I save Israel? I am from a poor family and even in my family I am the weakest, the youngest, the least important person. Why would You choose me to do something so important? I will fail." Don't we do that too? Our first reaction is to check our toolbox and see if we have what it takes to do the job. When we see the toolbox is empty or full of things we don't see value in, we shrink back in fear. We tell God, the creator of heaven and earth, that He is wrong! He picked the wrong person. We have the audacity to argue with the King of kings and Lord of lords and tell His Majesty that He is asking the wrong person to do this job.
God is telling each of us to do something right now. It might be to talk with a friend or neighbor. Maybe it's to forgive someone who hurt us a long time ago and we are still hanging on to and nursing old wounds because we cannot forget. God might be asking us to use our skills and abilities to help someone else. Maybe it's to go on a mission trip, or give some money to an organization that desperately needs it. Maybe it's to help someone by writing a book, creating a video, starting a blog, doing the podcast, hosting a Zoom meeting. What is God telling you to do? Do not look at what you have and think you are inadequate. He told Gideon to go in his own strength and if he goes in obedience then God is going to give him the victory. It is guaranteed success. The same powerful promise is ours if we will just pick up the pen, dial the number, drive to the house, write the check, turn on the mic! God will guarantee us success. We will reach who He wants us to reach and we will not fail!
God responds to Gideon's list of Reasons I Cannot Do It by reminding Gideon that he is not alone. He promises him success. God said, "Surely I will go with you. I am not sending you alone. You are not doing this by yourself." He is telling us the same thing. "Go but do not think I am saying go alone!" God said, "Without question I am going with you!" Do you hear the heart of the Father in this? He wants to partner with us on a major undertaking to further His Kingdom on this earth. He says to us that He is going with us. We are not going to face this by ourselves.
He tells Gideon that he will defeat the massive army as if it were only one man, one opponent. God is telling us that the spirit of fear we face is our opponent and we are going to overcome fear because God did not give us that spirit. He gave us power, love, and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) We have everything we need to succeed. God just wants us to be willing and obedient.
Let's recap for just a moment. God came down to talk to Gideon and He manifests His presence to him. He declares who He sees Gideon as. He gives him a big task that Gideon would never have thought of doing. After listening to Gideon's fears and excuses of why God should find someone else to do the job, He encourages Gideon. He promises to be with him and to give him success. Now Gideon says to God, "Show me a sign You really are talking to me." He actually said that to God. He said in essence, "This is all too incredible for me to believe. Can You please show me a sign that this is really from You God? Can You please just give me proof that You are actually picking me?"
It's easy to pick on Gideon for doing that, but don't we have tendencies to do the same thing? Holy Spirit drops an idea into our heart and we think about it and we dream about it and it seems impossible and scary but exciting at the same time. Then we start asking God to prove that He really is the author of this big idea. When in reality we could never think it up for ourselves. So then Gideon tells God not to leave so he can give Him a gift and our Heavenly Father is so patient with His children that He says to Gideon, and to us, "I will wait."
Gideon comes back with some meat and unleavened bread and broth and takes it to God under the oak tree. God tells Gideon what to do and he immediately obeys. God tells Gideon to set the gifts on the rock. That is so important. When we are bringing our gifts we need to display them on the Rock - that is Jesus. We need to make sure our gifts are on that sure foundation! And when the LORD touched the gift with the staff in His hand, on the sure foundation of the Rock, the fire was ignited! Fire out of the rock! It consumed the gift. We need to make sure the Holy Ghost fire of God consumes our gift. We must do exactly what He tells us to do with our gift. If we drop the gift on the ground it is no good. If we forget the broth or spill it before we can pour it, we are missing the mark. We must carefully follow God's leading with our gifts and that will ignite His power within us and consume us!
Now Gideon's supernatural eyes are open! He sees that it is God. And then instead of remembering this is the sign he asked for, fear grips his heart again. He thinks he will now die because he has seen an angel of the LORD face to face. But God has not come to kill Gideon. God has called him to do a mighty, valiant work for Him. In the love of our Heavenly Father, He says to Gideon, "Peace be unto you. Do not be afraid. You will not die." God gave Gideon peace and He gives us that peace, too. He is saying to us, "Do not be afraid. Here is My peace. I am giving it to you. You will not die. You will not fail. I am going to do big things through you!"
Gideon named the place Jehovah-shalom. Literally it means The LORD Is Peace. That is true, too. God is love. God is light. God is peace. I cry out to Jehovah-Shalom when I need peace and He has NEVER failed to give it to me. Friends, let's go back to where we first felt our inferiority, our anxiety, our fear, our failures. Let's go back to that awful place and let's rename it, THE LORD IS PEACE. Let's receive the gift of Jehovah-Shalom as He offers us His peace and quiets our fears. And instead of listing all our flaws, let's rename ourselves a mighty man or woman of valor. Declare today, "I have great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle!" Then suit up according to the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20. God is with us. We will not fail. He is going with us. We will not go alone. We must go in our own strength and trust God to give us the victory because we know we cannot do it alone. We cannot succeed in our own strength, but when we have done all we know to do, we must stand and see God work!
I pray that something I have shared in this week's Bible study post today, has given you strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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