Gideon

The book of Judges describes the time in Israel’s history after Joshua died and before the time of the kings of Israel. They had a hard time focusing and obeying God.

They would do ok for a while and then forget to follow God’s law or outright choose not to follow it and God would give them over to their desires. Their safety, security, and blessings were all tied to obedience to God. And when they didn’t follow the law, God would allow their enemies to take over and remind the Israelites what life is like outside of God’s protection.

Today we are talking about a specific judge, Gideon.

Gideon was not a great warrior or great leader or anything like that. In fact, Gideon himself said that his family was the weakest in his tribe and he was the least in his family. So Gideon is saying that he is the least of the least, the weakest of the weak, the worst of the worst.

Israel is being attached by the Midianites and the text says that there are so many of them, it was like locusts on a crop.

(picture)

So God sends and angel to Gideon to tell him that God is going to use him to drive out the Midianites. Can you imagine? Someone who sees themselves as lowly and weak fighting against that many people?

Gideon says - un, I don’t think you’re at the right house… he brings an offering and God accepts his offering. Gideon built an alter to the Lord, to remember the time when he saw God’s angel and worshiped God.

Gideon’s family was not obeying God, they had an alter to a false god. God told Gideon to tear down his fathers alter to the false god and build a new alter to the true God and sacrifice a bull on it.

This made the people angry, they wanted to kill Gideon for tearing down their alter to the false god, but Gideon’s dad said that if Baal was a real god, he would be able to take care of his own alter and would take Gideon out himself.

Gideon was ready and he started summoning an army, but he wanted to make sure he understood what God had said, so he asked for a sign. What was the sign?

1st sign - fleece wet, the ground would be dry

2nd sign - fleece dry, the ground would be wet

God did what Gideon asked and he knew that God was really going to use him to drive out the Midianites.

There was one problem with Gideon’s army, do you know what it was?

He had too many men, God said you need a smaller army for what I’m going to do. Well, that seems odd, you would think that if you are fighting an army that big you’d want as many people as possible. But that is now how God works. God uses things that are small and weak to defeat things that are big and strong.

Why do you think that is? (to show His power, to prove that He is the One doing the work not us) [look up verse about the weak confounding the strong]

Judges 7:2 NIV

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

1, anyone who is afraid can leave

2, anyone who did not drink water with cupped hands needs to leave

All that were left were 300 men to fight an entire army.

God tells Gideon that it’s almost time, get ready. But God also told him what if he wanted encouragement, go down and listen to what the Midianites are saying.

What do you think they were talking about?

Some men were talking about a dream that one of them had, that a loaf of bread rolled down from a mountain and knocked over his tent. His friends said that it must mean that God had given the Midianites over to Gideon.

How do you think Gideon felt after that? He worshiped God because God knew that he was afraid and he needed encouragement.

So Gideon went back to camp and said, get ready because its time!

They go out to the Midianite camp and Gideon says when I tell you to, blow your trumpet and smash your pot and yell “for The Lord and for Gideon!”

Can you imagine being asleep and then hearing all of that commotion and yelling? Well the Midianites got scared and starting running around and they all got so confused that they fought each other and defeated themselves!

Gideon sent out messengers to all the people saying come and take this land while they are gone and they chased the Midianites and brought their leaders back to Gideon.

They chased down the army until it was defeated and the kings were arrested. The people asked Gideon to be in charge and for his sons to be in charge after he died, but Gideon said no, I will not be in charge, God is in charge.

What made Gideon successful?

He listened to God - he didn’t just ignore the angel or the voice of God.

He did what God told him to do - he tore down the old alter and built a new one, he only took the men that God told him to take, he went down to the camp to listen, he didn’t stop until the enemy was defeated.

He didn’t try and do really big cool things, he did the small things that God asked him to do.

It seemed like God was asking Gideon to do a bunch of really silly things. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just get the biggest army you could get and go and fight the Midianites? Maybe, but God said to do it this way, even though it may not have made sense to Gideon, he obeyed.

Some of the most important things you will ever do in life are really just a bunch of small easy things that make up one great big thing. You don’t see the whole picture, but when you take small steps everyday and do what God wants you to do everyday, you will be ready when God tells you to do something bigger.

If we don’t do the small things like listen to mommy and obey and do our work and try hard, we won’t be ready when God says do this really big thing for Me! If we want God to use us to do big things, we have to first be good at obeying and doing the small things first.

Great big things are done one small step of obedience at a time. So be faithful in the small things and God will put them together and make a great big thing out of them.