Gideon and the calling of God

Teaching on Gideon. Judges 6-8

Monday, October 5, 2020

4:36 AM

Seems that the story of Gideon is broken down into 4 distinct sections

1. The National Problem

2. The call of the deliverer

3. The Deliverance

4. Gideons Legacy

1. The National Problem

Sin and disobedience to God ushered in a period of extreme distress for Israel and it came in the form of an oppressing nomadic tribe called the Midianites.

Midianites in the Bible

According to the Book of Genesis, the Midianites were the descendants of Midian, who was a son of Abraham and his wife Keturah: "Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah" (Genesis 25:1–2, King James Version).

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Relationship with Israel

The Midianites traditionally have been identified as Ishmaelites, in part because of an unclear passage in Genesis (37:28) that refers to the traders to whom Joseph was sold by his brothers as both Midianites and Ishmaelites. In addition, the story of Gideon in Judges contains a verse (8:24) that includes an apparent interpolation identifying the Midianites as Ishmaelites.

The Nature of the Oppression Jud 6:1-6

1. The oppression was Because of Israel’s Sin

2. Starvation they left nothing for Israel to eat. Jud 6:3-4

3. They laid waste to the Land Jud 6:5

4. They hid in mountain caves they made hiding places because of fear Jud 6:2

5. Extreme distress because of Midian Jud 6:5-6

6. They cried out to God because of their extreme distress. Jud 6:6

In reading the narrative, it is inescapable to notice that the people of Israel were on the verge of annihilation. 7 years of Starvation, murder, & robbery, they were defenseless against the masses which were too numerous to count.

Like a great storm of locusts' camels without number. We should not lose sight of the actual condition of Israel this was not a minor issue they were economically ruined to the point of starvation.

Russia used a similar tactic on the German invaders in WW2 but in reverse, it was the invaders that found no food no sheep or cow, no grain, nothing was left to them to eat as the Russian people moved East deeper into Russia and when the Russian winter set in the German army starved. Napoleon suffered the same fate in 1812 entering Russia with 680,000 and returned with 27000.

Starvation has always been used as a means to bring a nation to its knees, people have to eat or there is no point in going on.

In this case it was a direct result of Israel's disobedience and walking away from their God.

Can you ever imagine a life that was solely made up of trying to save my meager food supply from an enemy without mercy or human kindness and that was bent on my annihilation. This is not life, but it is what people around the world do live with. Picture in your mind the walking skeletons you have seen from the death camps during world war 2. Yemen today is a case in point. Ruthless power-hungry tyrants who do not care about starving the general population in pursuit of their own glory and power.

2. The Call of the deliverer

a. Gideon hiding in a wine press to grind wheat to save it from the Midianites. He was taking care of his family at great personal risk.

b. The greeting "The Lord is with “YOU” Valiant warrior" why this greeting?

i. What was happening in Gideons heart?

ii. What did God see?

iii. He was defying the Midianites which would have resulted in certain death if he had been found out?

iv. He was at least doing something he was not just passively doing nothing.

v. He did not dispute the greeting or protest its veracity.

vi. He asked the same question we would ask if such peril came upon us. Where is this Lord that is supposed to be with us?

I am assuming we all know we are called we are all called to be a part of the great mission of God. If we accept that everyone is called, then we need to discover what that call might look like? Everyone’s call looks different but there are similarities when God calls. In our life time there may be many calls of God or one call that keeps changing with our age and circumstances.

a. Calls often come as a result of being frustrated with the status-quo or discouragement with a situation and a growing urgency to change that situation. Revolutions start with a deep revulsion to the current state of affairs or political climate or extreme oppression of the populous. But the call can also come when one is deeply abiding in the presence of God and we want more of Him. We don’t necessarily have a vision of what we could or should do we are just open to what God might want. We are available and are made willing.

b. The call of God does not depend on our training, our gifting our age our wealth or prior experience. It depends on our availability and our willingness to obey.

c. The Call of God is often a process with some smaller challenges first like putting our own house in order before we take on the world. The Baal and the Asherah Pole. Gideon shows his willingness to go and to obey by dealing with egregious idol worship in his own household. Even though afraid he did what was asked.

d. Calls are unique: Gideons call was exactly what he needed in this time each matched to the individual and the situation God wants us to be involved with. Paul's call was special to him, Saul why are you persecuting me? Peter's call was special to him, Feed my Sheep! Daniel, prosper where I plant you, Stephen take care of the people with needs in the church. Barnabas go and be an encourager to the saints, Moses go deliver my people from the Egyptians.

e. Calls are not always so clear as Gideon or Moses: We need to test, examine them, get counsel from those we trust, seek wisdom. Do not jump to hastily. Our call to Eastern Europe. Lots of influx of Petitions, guest speakers, and discussions on the persecuted Church in Russia.

f. Calls must be obeyed no matter how crazy it may feel or seem: I don’t think Gideon was afraid, I think he really wanted to do the right thing, but he needed a lot of affirmation, after all what God was asking was insane. After all his testing Gideon went with God and did what was asked of Him.

g. Calls always require courage and for us to count the cost: In the apostolic age the apostles counted the cost of what God was calling them too. After witnessing the death of Jesus, they were under no illusion that the walk they were about to take would be easy or pleasant. The litany of struggles Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 4 makes that very clear.

h. The call can often lead to things getting worse before they get better: When you try to do the right thing and then God begins to strip away the confidence in the flesh and the comfort of a big army and you realize this is not what I thought it would be.

i. The call of God has to be revisited and reconfirmed often; especially in time of difficulties and failures.

j. The call must be handled with Humility: often in the midst of success and the joy of seeing God work we can begin to take the glory for ourselves and we have to humbly constantly remember it was God who called and God who gave the victory not just lip service but

How should we then live if by chance God is still in the business of Calling people to participate with him in the battle?

· At a minimum we must ask God, seek for God to see if he is indicating that I should be involved somehow.

· We should stop hiding behind excuses, I'm too old, I have no training, I am too much of a sinner, God could not possibly want me!

· Any other comments around this?

3. The Deliverance

This was something I would have loved to have seen I would have loved to be there to experience the shear wonder of the moment and to see the enemy killing each other and panicking.

Trust God for the amazing moments in our faith walk is wonderful and we need to treasure those memories and remember what God was doing as we got the call and the thrill of hearing God speak with us asking us to do something. Unfortunately, these moments can be far and few between. The danger of course is that we can all get so caught up in just doing life living from day to day that we cease to believe that God could or would ask us to do anything out of the ordinary, we go through life without letting anything rock our world or disturb our comfortable life. Most of us do not go through life asking God to give us greater challenges or to use us to make a major change in the world because if we did, He might just take us at His word and then where would we be??

When Gideon started his campaign planning, he did what any leader would do he gathered the troops. Everyone knew the army with the most people usually won, so he began to recruit. Some estimates put his army at between 30,000 to 40,000. He must have felt pretty good at this point, I got this! When God began to whittle down the numbers to 300 he most likely was not feeling so chipper, good job he had the debate with God and the fleeces to look back on. Those moments of intense wrestling with God, are you sure Lord? Did I hear correctly? Are you going to stir up a hornets nest and then drop us in it, just like the people of Israel must have felt when caught between the red sea and the charging Egyptian army. We must have these wrestling matches with God because we then remember to whom the Glory goes when things pan out.

Imagine you are one of the 300 on the hill side, below you in the valley is the Midian army campfires spread out for miles in each direction. The weapons for the coming battle were a clay pot and a burning torch!! Oh boy we are going to be slaughtered, no way we are going home tonight, oh why did I not drink like the other 9700 men. Its interesting to note that Paul says we have been given the same weapons!! In 2 Cor 4:7 Paul says “we have this treasure in earthen jars that the extraordinary power may be from God and not from us” What extraordinary power is Paul talking about, I think it has to do with that no matter what the suffering we are going through, we are given the power of God to persevere and to press on. We do not give up even though our outward person is being destroyed our inner person is being renewed day by day.

Go back to chapter 4 and look at verses 5-6. Paul is talking about the light that has been shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of Gods Glory in the face of Jesus Christ. When Gideon led the three hundred to the rim of the valley he had no real understanding of the power and glory of God, He told his men, carry the torches inside the clay jars and at my command smash the clay jars, lift up the light of God and shout “For the Lord and For Gideon” as the light was revealed on the hill side around the Midian camp fear grip the Midianites and they began killing each other 120,000 men died that night and the Israelites had nothing to do with it but to show the light of the Glory of God in the face of the enemy. I believe we are often more aware of the cracked clay jar than I am of the awesome treasure or the extraordinary Power that God has put within us. I don’t know if Paul was thinking of Gideon when he wrote this portion of scripture but maybe he was. When the light of God has been shone in our hearts, we should not be focusing on the cracked clay pots, the vessel in which the spirit of God and the light of Christ is residing in but rather on the light and treasure within. Let that light so shine that the Glory of God can be seen. let that light shine so bright that the enemies around us see the light of Christ and the glory of God. Can you imagine how amazed Gideons army must have been all three hundred of them to see the enemy being so terrified of a few lights and a shout that they started slaughtering each other?

How shall we then Live?

· The deliverance comes as we move forward in faith.

· The Deliverance comes when we constantly confer with God and ask for confirmation when we hit a roadblock, in other words pray.

· The Deliverance comes when we believe God and not our own doubts and that of those around us in the battle with us.

· The Deliverance comes in the waiting, but we cannot wait forever there comes a time to commit to a course of action.

4. The legacy of Gideon

Gideon judged Israel for 40 years and even though he did not want to be King and wanted the Lord to be king things got out of hand. The Battle was won the Midianites were defeated and never bothered Israel again, life began to return to normal but Living in the normal and the mundane task of judging and leading was more of a challenge than the amazing battles for deliverance sometimes the normal life reveals the cracks in our clay pots more than the intense moments of battle.

How should we then live

· We cannot relax and glory in the past and in past accomplishments.

· Be on the alert for a lessoning in Zeal and Passion for God