Listening to Baal Worshippers

Our actions are a reflection of how we see God.

If we see Him as good, AND all powerful, and we we see ourselves as the son of a GOOD ALL-POWERFUL father, we will act, talk, pray, give, and obey, accordingly.

I don’t even have to ask you how you see God, I simply have to look at your prayer life, your giving, and how you talk about God. Out of the abundance of the heart… Good tree cannot bear bad fruit...

Judges 6:1–3 NKJV

1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

The oppression they were facing was the midianites were killing their crops before they could grow!

Judges 6:7–10 NKJV

7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, 8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you 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 before you and gave you their land. 10 Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ”

If the people were to fear the gods of the amorites, how would they behave? how would they talk? what would their prayers look like?

Judges 6:11–16 NKJV

11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order 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, you mighty man of valor!” 13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

It didn’t matter how Gideon saw himself. What mattered was how God saw him. THEN, Gideon had to see God correctly.

Gideon was listening to his fellow countrymen. They were saying, “why is God allowing this? If God is all-powerful, then why isn’t He doing anything?”

AND THEY HAD AN ALTAR TO BAAL!!! They were complaining against God while literally sacrificing to and worshipping BAAL!

Those voices you’re listening to, the ones full of examples of when God didn’t do anything, God wasn’t good, what did they have in their secret lives?

The voices of literal Baal worshipers, were shaping how Gideon saw God!

Gideon asks for a sign and cooks some food for the angel of the Lord.

Judges 6:20–21 NKJV

20 The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

Gideon destroys the altar of Baal and builds an altar to the Lord. The people had an ALTAR TO BAAL! They were crying out to God for being mean AND HAD AN ALTAR TO BAAL!!!

Judges 6:28–30 NKJV

28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. 29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

Gideon’s dad steps in and says, “Would you plead for Baal? Let Baal plead for himself if he’s a real god. Baal’s altar is what got torn down.”

The people KNEW they shouldn’t’ve had that altar. None of them would speak up in defense of Baal! They KNEW they shouldn’t be worshipping Baal!

But Gideon STILL DOUBTED!!! He asked for ANOTHER SIGN!!!

All the doubt he was hearing was coming from people who were literally worshipping another God!!!