Getting Back to God
Notes
Transcript
Some of you may have heard this story and if you haven’t this story is still not that suprising for you because a few years ago me and my friends got lost in down town Chicago. (I get lost a lot…)
And it was actually late at night and we took the train into the city so we had no cars.
But the night started great it was new years eve and non of us were from the area.
So we were just exploring. (look how happy we are in the picture)
But as the night went on we ended up loosing track of time and of where exactly we were.
And I remember there was this point during the night we had no idea where we were.
And to make it even worse we the last train to get out of Chicago was leaving with in the next hour.
So I need to paint this picture because we look really happy there, but that changed quickly.
Because it was 10 degrees in Chicago and if we do not find the train station in the next 10 minutes we get to spend the night in Chicago.
and so we just started running, we didn’t know where but we were running any direction we could find that would get us out of the city before the train leaves.
And I remember there was this point where we were just exausted from running, we were cold, tierd, it was snowing a little.
And we were pretty defeated.
And we did get out of Chicago, but that feeling we felt during that moment was just awful, because we were just defeated.
But you know today we are looking at a story that talks about a nation called the Israelites who were in a place like this.
Where they just felt defeated.
So we will be in Judges 6:1-17
but before we dive into the text we are in, I just want to provide us with some background information on where the Israelites are right now.
Because at the very begining of the chapter we are in it says the the Israelite people have done what is evil in God’s sight
And because of this it says that God actually gives them into the hands of the Midianites for 7 years
And the Midianites actually treat the Israelites terribly
Because we are told the the Israelites are so overpowered by the Midianites, that the Israelites were forced out of the area they lived and were forced to live in caves up in the mountains
And not only that but the Isralites are starving. Because whenever the Isralites would plant any crops the Midianites would come with their animals and eat everything so their was almost nothing left.
And the worst part is that there is no end in sight. Because not only are they taking their food, but if the Isralites can’t eat, they can’t build strength, which means it is almost impossible to overthrow the Midianites.
I mean if you thought the year 2020 was bad so far it was nothing compared to these 7 years.
But you know because all of this it gets to the point in verse 6 where it says:
Judges 6:6 (ESV)
6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian...
Have you ever been there? Where something in life has just hit you and all of the sudden you have been brought very low.
whether its your fault or not.
where You feel defeated, you feel tired, you are beat up, and you are just in a low place with little hope.
But I want to look at the second half of verse 6 because they are in this dark, low place, but in the middle of this something happens. It says
Judges 6:6 (ESV)
...And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
And whats so amazing is this changes everything for the Israelite people, but not initially how we expect.
Because they cry out to the Lord and they are probably thinking okay God is about to send someone to deliver us,
Because thats what God has typically done.
Throughout the Old Testament God’s people would wonder away from God, and because of this they would find themselves in bad places and after awhile they would finally cry out to God and God would send someone to help deliver them.
But whats so neat about this passage is its a little different
because verse 7 and 8 says
Judges 6:7–8 (ESV)
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel...
So the people cry out but before God sends a deliverer, this passage actaully says He sends a messager.
You know so often when we are in a rocky period we just want to get out of their right?
No one wants to remain in a difficult spot in your life, but so often we ask God to get us out (which there is nothing wrong about that), but we forget to ask God is there something you want me to learn in the middle of this.
It almost like this the other day we did a youth group trip to a pumpkin patch and we were in the corn maze at one point and we split into two groups that were racing.
And my group was running all over aimlessly trying to beat the other group,
And we kept either doing circles or hitting dead ends and finally Grace was in the back and she found a map of the corn maze
And but I did not want to stop and try to figure out the Map, so we kept circling and hitting dead ends, but once we listened to Grace we were out in a few minutes.
But so often we do that where we are just wanting to get out, but what if in the middle of the mess we are in God is redeeming that mess where he is sending us a message.
Well look at God’s message for the Israelites in the second half of vese 8 through verse 10 because it says this
Judges 6:8–10 (ESV)
… And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
You know I love this because you think God’s message would just painful and He would chew them out, but a large part of this God basically says “look I was with you through all these other times where you went through a difficult period, why would I abandon you now?
You don’t need to fear the Midionites because I am with you.
But here is the really hard part, because at the end God says “But you have not obeyed my voice”
Basically God is saying “But what did you expect?”
Did you expect that living a life doing bad things would lead to good things?
You know I really believe this is relavent for some of us today, because so many times we might find ourselves in the middle of a rough situation but if we were honest and looked at what caused it we contributed to it.
And this is some really hard love but for some of us this morning God is saying look I have not abandon you, I will not abandon you, but what did you expect to be happening when you were living a life doing things that are not glorifying to God.
God is not the one who dug your whole
Chances are your neighbor is not the one who dug it,
but often times its ourselves
But so often we like to shift the blame. It would be like if I went to Walmart and while I was their I decided to spray paint the walls, I shop lifted a few items
And not only that but I get caught so I am chewing out the employees and are screaming at them,
And then I am venting to all of you and I am telling you what happened and I am telling you about those jerks at walmart.
And you are probably thinking are you crazy?
What did you expect?
It is so important for us to realize when we have dug are whole.
And this is really hard, because it can be painful,
But what I love about this is the story does not end here.
because a huge component of this story is redemption, but in order to be redeemed it is so important for us to know where we are.
And what happens is a new person enters this story, and he his name is Gideon and he is a coward, but it the middle of Him being a coward God uses and redeems him.
Look at the rest of this passage starting in verse 11. It says:
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to 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.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
So there is this guy Gideon and it says Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press which sounds pretty normal,
but whats so odd about this is you don’t thresh wheat in a wine press,
Because when you would thresh wheat you would go outside to a place that is high up and windy and you would do it there because it would blow away the the stuff you do not want from the wheat.
But whats weird is a wine press would be in the ground where there is no wind at all.
So this is not some sort of secret Biblical hack
But whats happening is Gideon is hiding from the Mideonites.
And as we read on we learn that this guy Gideon i a complete coward.
And not only that but he can’t even accept that he is part of the problem.
Because like we read it say the angel of the lord (most people believe this is Jesus because of the language) but He comes to him and finds him in the middle of his hiding.
And He says look the lord is with you Gideon, (I am with you).
But you know what Gideons response is? He basically says please the Lord is not with us, He has abandon us, (He is almost saying God is dead)
He has forsaken us,
And He even says “Even if he was with us why would I be the one He would choose?”
Because he says I am from the weakest clan of Israel and not only that I am least in my clan.
Basically I am the weakest person in the nation.
But I really want us to get a couple things from this because when we are in the middle of our messes, that often times we cause God still sees us for who we can be in Him and not who we are without.
Because verse 12 The angel comes to this cowardly disgrace of a man saying “O mighty man of Valor”
God saw His potential and He was ready to raise Him up to it from this hole He dug.
But heres the other thing I want you to get because God’s plan here sounds awful, He is going to choose the biggest wimp in Israel to deliver the nation.
Even Gideon tells God this is a bad idea,
Because Gideon Keeps saying do you realize who I am God?
But here is Gideons mistake, and truthfully its often our mistake as well.
Its not about who Gidion is but its about who God is.
because Gideon can’t do it, but God can.
and this morning there are some of us who might be in a hole that we dug.
And we are looking at our life saying what good could come from me? How could God use me in my brokenness?
But can I just say when we are in the middle of our weakness often times that is when we are also in the middle of God’s strength.
I believe God see’s you this morning not as a hopeless person caught in sin, but as His child that He loves.
And God want’s to use you to accomplish things that you can’t even imagine.
But it all starts with crying out to Him.
Will you pray with me?
