Strengthened: By Faith
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Gideon
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
Whose weakness was turned to strength
From weak to strong.
Faith can operate in the life of any person who will dare to listen to God’s Word and surrender to God’s will. What a variety of personalities we have here! Gideon was a frightened farmer whose faith did not grow strong right away (Judg. 6:11–7:25).
1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
So impoverished / they cried out to the Lord for help
The people were crying out to the Lord for help (6:7), as people usually do when they’re in trouble. The Israelites gave no evidence of real repentance, but their affliction moved God’s loving heart.
Even though hitting rock bottom is not mandatory for change, it is understandable why this phrase exists. Popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous, hitting rock bottom means a person has reached a point where they have nothing else to lose. Therefore, they are willing to accept help and work toward change.
7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
God in His mercy doesn’t give us what we do deserve; and in His grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve.
Now He came down to help them.
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
mighty warrior
Threshing wheat in a wine press / under a oak tree / He is hiding
Mighty warrior? Who me? “You talking to me?
When you consider the kind of man Gideon was at this time, you wonder why God selected him; but God often chooses the “weak things of this world” to accomplish great things for His glory.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
think of what you were when you were called
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?
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?”
go int he strength you have
Here was Almighty God telling him that He was with him and would make him a conqueror, and Gideon replied by denying everything God said!
Gideon was living by sight, not by faith, and had he remained that way he would never have been named among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
My clan is the weakest / I am the least in my family
Gideon’s family worshiped Baal (Jdg. 6:25–32), although we have no reason to believe that Gideon joined them. When Gideon called himself “the least in my father’s house” (v. 15), he may have been suggesting that his family treated him like an outcast because he didn’t worship Baal.
Gideon wasn’t a man of strong faith or courage, and God had to patiently work with him to prepare him for leadership.
God is always ready to make us what we ought to be if we’re willing to submit to His will.
Gideon’s negative response to the Lord’s words indicates his lack of faith and spiritual perception.
“God would have to spend time with Gideon turning his question marks into exclamation points.” - Warren Wiersbe
Do you have a lot of question marks for God today?
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—37 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.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”
Gideon was fearful before he was faithful.
Faith takes time to build. It is a learning process.
1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
trains
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
cut down
Remove the obstacles / Bark beetle.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”
Worship before the battle
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
weakness, weakness, weakness, For when I am weak, then I am strong.