God Blesses the Faithful...Gideon's Obedience

Anchor…Ruth 1:16

Ruth 1:16 AMP

And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God.

Gideon was an unlikely hero. He wasn’t a warrior, and he was filled with self-doubt, but when he obeyed God, He saved Israel. If we’re willing to obey God, He can use us for great thing as well.

Spiderman - Superhuman strength, can climb buildings, shoots spider webs.

Batman - Doesn’t have superhuman abilities. He’s smart and athletic. He uses his abilities to fight crime.

Captain America - Superhuman strength and quick reaction are a couple of his strengths. He pretty much represents the peak of human potential.

These characters are all considered heroes because of their powers. Gideon was chosen by God to be a hero, not because he had amazing powers. In fact Gideon was very much just a normal guy. What made him amazing was that he chose to be obedient to God, and by doing so, God would use him to help save the Israelites once again.

We find Israel struggling to be faithful again. When Joshua was alive they had vowed to be faithful to God...

Judges 2:7 AMP

And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He did for Israel.

Joshua has passed and his influence is gone. The people find themselves now serving god’s of other people...

Judges 2:10–15 AMP

And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, or even the work which He had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods of the peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal [the god worshiped by the Canaanites] and the Ashtaroth [female deities such as Ashtoreth and Asherah]. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the power of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their foes. Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were bitterly distressed.

Israel, like us cried out to the Lord when everything falls apart...

Judges 6:6 AMP

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the Israelites cried to the Lord.

God Always has a Plan...

Israel cries out to the Lord, and He hears them.

Amplified Bible Chapter 6

7 And when they cried to the Lord because of Midian,

8 The Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites, who said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage.

9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you and gave you their land.

10 And I said to you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice.

11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak (terebinth) at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon was beating wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

The Lord sends an angel to a very unlikely hero, Gideon. He finds Gideon hiding, like the rest of Israel. In the same way He did with Joshua, He reminds Gideon of His great works for His people.

He found Gideon at a winepress threshing the wheat. It’s the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. They would toss the wheat in the air and the wind would blow the chaff from it.

It should be noted Gideon isn’t anyone special, just a normal guy, a farmer. What he was though, was a guy that would be obedient. Listen to the way the Angel greets Gideon...

Amplified Bible Chapter 6

12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage.

I’m forever grateful that the Lord recognizes by His purpose. Here’s Gideon, a farmer, doing a farmers work. Mighty man of valor, mighty man of courage and warrior says the Angel.

He Questions God...

Amplified Bible Chapter 6

13 And Gideon said to him, O sir, if the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us? And where are all His wondrous works of which our fathers told us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.

It’s an honest question. A question that we should be asking today. Where are all the miracles? It’s not a bad question, however it does fail to acknowledge the fact that Israel had brought the suffering on themselves. They were disobedient. We should ask the same question, with self reflection in mind. God hasn’t changed, He’s the same miracle working God He has always been.

Is my love for Christ genuine? Do I truly appreciate who He is and what He’s done for me? Or do I serve Him only for what I can receive from Him?

My love for Christ is genuine if I will follow Him at any cost. This may include trouble, suffering and loss. We must commit to Him plan and purpose!

Judges 6:14–24 AMP

The Lord turned to him and said, Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? Gideon said to Him, Oh Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. The Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man. Gideon said to Him, If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You Who talks with me. Do not leave here, I pray You, until I return to You and bring my offering and set it before You. And He said, I will wait until you return. Then Gideon went in and prepared a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them to Him under the oak and presented them. And the Angel of God said to him, Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock and pour the broth over them. And he did so. Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and there flared up fire from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. And when Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face! The Lord said to him, Peace be to you, do not fear; you shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord is Peace. To this day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

It’s not about what you’re doing now. It’s about His plan and purpose for your life. Gideon had to say yes and be obedient. The Lord saved Israel once again because that very normal guy said yes.

Like Gideon we’ll have to sincerely and persistently depend on the Lord. If we can do that we’ll experience God’s presence and peace in our lives, no matter where or what we find ourselves doing!