Gideon, Faithful and Useful to God, even in his weakness

Israel weakened by sin Judges 6:1-6

The people of Israel had been in the promised land for quite a few years, they were supposed to be living in a land of milk and honey.

Instead, every time they were ready to harvest their crops a huge bunch of rag, tag, nasty, mean camel riding tribesmen would come and help themselves to whatever they wanted.

Now you would think that the people of Israel would tell these nasty, mean, camel riding tribesmen where to go; after all, Israel had recently beaten all the local kings and their armies; you would expect that they would easily be able to handle an assorted bunch of roving tribesmen who chose to do their roving in Israel during the harvest.

But Israel was weak, they were weak spiritually and they were weak physically, they were scared of taking on tough fighting men who rode camels into battle.

If the Midianites didn't get you as you defended your crops, then the camel's breath would.

This is why the Israelites hid in the hills.

We also find Gideon hiding his wheat in a wine press, instead of separating the good grain from the chaff in the open where it would be easy, he is trying to do it in a hole in the ground.

The reason that Gideon and Israel were in this humiliating position was quite simple.

The Lord had said, "do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live".

Israel had blown it!

Instead of trusting in the Lord for their success, they had seen that the local people had good crops and apparently these crops were the result of worshipping the local gods.

So, Israel did the very thing that the Lord had told them not to do, they worshipped the local gods, the Baals.

Let's look at the stupidly of this action.

The Lord of Israel is a mighty God, he had led them out of Egypt, he had performed impressive miracles he had opened the Red Sea and stopped the Jordan river, he had pulled down the walls of Jerico, he had made the Sun stand still.

He had warned them not to disobey him.

So, what do the Israelites do?

They go out cut down a tree, they use half of the timber to cook their food, then they take the other half of the timber carve it into a statue then bow down and worship it.

Now how silly is that?

The problem is we do the same thing.

We may not bow down and worship a piece of timber but we do worship what we build, our house our job, the beautiful body, the education we get or the car we buy.

Do the tools that the Lord gives us, become the thing that we worship?

As you can see, Israel was in a bit of a mess.

As usual the Lord comes and bails them out.

First, he sends a prophet to stir up a bit of concern about their sin.

Then he seeks out someone to lead the people in the change of heart that was needed.

The Lord chose Gideon to be his champion. Judges 6:11-16

Gideon may have been the only one in town who was still faithful.

So the Lord chose him.

Gideon was a nobody by his own admission, when the angel of the Lord said to him "the Lord is with you mighty warrior" Gideon replies, "what who me"???? (verse 12) " I am certainly not a great warrior."

Partly in frustration he says to the angel of the Lord, “if the Lord is with us how can all this be happening”.

The Lord is not concerned with his frustration, but with his heart.

The Lord understands our frustration, but He can only use us if our heart is right.

In verse 14 The Lord commissions this nobody to save Israel.

Gideon is still very aware of his low position, his protest (v 15) at being given this job could be seen as a cop out, but it is more than likely that this is how Gideon saw himself.

Gideon's clan was not well known,

Gideon may have been the one to give his clan a good standing in Israel.

In man's eyes Gideon was not a mighty warrior, he was not willing to be fashionable and follow his people into idolatry, there is no evidence that he had proven himself in battle, he was a nobody.

The Lord chose Gideon because of his heart.

Gideon was faithful, in verse 17 he asks for a sign.

The Lord gives him this sign of favour, the favour that the Lord showed Gideon must have come from previous actions such as not worshipping the Baals.

Gideon was generous the amount of food that he offers in verse 19 would have been at great cost in such hard times.

Gideon was acceptable to the Lord, he must have remained true to the Lord as his offering was accepted by means of divine fire.

This miracle was very rare, it always demonstrated the Lord's acceptance of his servants’ efforts. (verse 20,21)

Gideon was humble and aware of his own sinfulness (v22,24)

When he realized that he had been in the very presence of the angel of the Lord he was afraid for his life.

He knew that the angel was a manifestation of the Lord himself, as a sinful man Gideon knew that he could not stand in the presence of the Lord and expect to live.

Just as Moses and Isaiah feared for their lives when they saw the Lord.

Gideon was a nobody in man's eyes, he refused to keep up with the expectations of the day, his family was not particularly noteworthy in Israel.

He was afraid of the situation he found himself in.

Yet the Lord made him a somebody.

Because of his right heart.

God wants to use us, he wants to give us a job to do, you do not need to be perfect, just willing.

The Lord gave his mighty warrior a test to complete, a small but essential step to build his confidence before taking on the Midianites.

The Lord told Gideon to demonstrate the weakness of Baal, by destroying Baal's altar and using the Asherah pole for firewood.

Gideon the mighty warrior, doing it God’s way even if a little bit fearful. JUDGES 6:27-35.

Gideon did what the Lord told him to do.

He went and destroyed Baal's altar, he cut down the Asherah pole, he built a proper altar to the Lord and sacrificed the bull just as the Lord had told him to (v27)

Gideon was faithful to the Lord.

The men of the town, the Lord's own people were not so faithful, look at their reaction.

They were so far from the Lord that they sought to defend the very thing that he hated. (v28-30)

Now we could stand in condemnation of them but let’s turn this around and ask ourselves a very searching question.

How often in churches do we see people tearing down things that have become idols only for them to be attacked?

How often are people judged by attitudes of self-righteousness?

Or do we see attitudes of it is our way or no way?

It only took a generation for Israel to fall into idolatry.

How long does it take a church?

Because Gideon did what the Lord told him to, he was vindicated.

Even his father, who's altar Gideon had destroyed, stood by his son.

Faced with a choice between his son's life and worship of a god he knew to be false, Joash chose to protect his son. (v31)

The Lord vindicated Gideon because Baal really is not a god.

Nothing happened to Gideon.

The men said let Baal contend with Gideon, they had been challenged to allow Baal to fight for himself.

Baal lost.

Because the Lord is the only one with real power.

The Lord gave Gideon a job to do and he made sure that Gideon was able to do it.

The Lord achieved the thing that he wanted achieved.

If the Lord gives you a job to do, he will see you through.

He took Gideon from being a nobody to being a national celebrity.

Because Baal couldn't get Gideon, he became a national figure, this gave him the respect needed to lead the people.

The Lord equipped Gideon with what he needed to do the job that he had given him.

Gideon needed the respect of the people.

The Lord made sure that he had it.

When the Midianites came for the next harvest Gideon was ready Judges 6:33.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, he summoned the men of his clan to follow him.

They did, along with several other tribes.

For by now they had realized that the Lord was the only true God, Baal was nothing.

Gideon had all that he needed to do the job the Lord had given him.

Gideon was successful because the Lord was with him.

Gideon and his army of 32000 men prepared for battle.

But God wanted to demonstrate to the people of Israel thatit was not military power that would save them but his power.

If they would remain faithful he had promised to fight for them.

Judges 7:2–3 NLT

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’ ” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

Now I don’t know about you but if two thirds of my Army suddenly decided to go home on the eve of battle I would be feeling rather discouraged.

It is bad enough being a pastor and turning up on Sunday and finding that between one third to one half of the congregation isn’t going tobe there on any given day.

That is the reality in most churches

So thank you for being kind enough that most of you let me know when you are going to be away.

But to have two thirds of your army just simply go home.

That’s tough.

God was testing not only the people but Gideon as well.

Gideon you still have too many men.

Let’s go down to the spring and I will send some more home.

You get to keep those who cup the water up with their hands.

Gideon is left with 300 men and God says that is enough.

Gideon is given an inspirational tactic.

Listen to these words from Judges 7:15-25

Judges 7:15–25 NLT

15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!” 16 He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it. 17 Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do. 18 As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’ horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’ ” 19 It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. 20 Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. 22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled to places as far away as Beth-shittah near Zererah and to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath. 23 Then Gideon sent for the warriors of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, who joined in chasing the army of Midian. 24 Gideon also sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to attack the Midianites. Cut them off at the shallow crossings of the Jordan River at Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim did as they were told. 25 They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. And they continued to chase the Midianites. Afterward the Israelites brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan River.

Gideon won a great victory

Gideon had gone from being a nobody to a national leader.

He was ready and available for the Lord's service.

He had been obedient to the Lord's command.

When God gives you a job to do.

He will make it work out.

He will give you the strength and materials needed to do it.

He will reward you as a faithful servant.

God can change any situation to suit his purpose.

Will you let him work in your life as he did in Gideons.