Are You a Gideon?

The other day at church, during pre-service prayer, I was reading through Judges 6 and 7: the story of Gideon. The verses that stood out to me, 6:12-16, are what really made the story, I think. Just to give some background to this story, the Israelites, after being saved under the hand of Deborah, began to do evil (once again) in the eyes of God and they worshiped the gods of the Amorites. So, to return the favor, God handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites hid in mountain caves. When the Israelites cried out to God for help, he reminded them how he brought them out of Egypt and slavery and gave them the land of their oppressors, and commanded them not to worship false gods, "But you have not listened to me." (6:10b)

And finally Gideon comes into play. An angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a wine press, hoping to keep it from the Midianites.

"When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' 'But sir,' Gideon replied, 'if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.' The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?' 'But Lord,' Gideon asked, 'how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.' The Lord answered, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites together.'" Judges 6:12-16

The verses that first stood out to me were 14-15, when the Lord commands Gideon to go save Israel and Gideon replys by saying he is of no worth. Not only was his clan the weakest in his tribe, but he was the least in his family. Gideon's family was not known for being mighty warriors. They were worthless and Gideon was at the very bottom of the foodchain. Still, God commanded him, "Go in the strenth you have...am I not sending you?" That's a pretty powerful statement. God's telling Gideon, "Look, I know you're the least of your family and your family is the least of your tribe, but I want you to go out and save Israel anyway."

Remember verse 12? "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Before the dialogue in verses 14-15, the Lord approaches Gideon with the promise of "I am with you" and refers to Gideon as a mighty warrior, despite the fact that Gideon's family was known for their weakness. And he gives this promise again in verse 16, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Moving along to verses 36-38, Gideon, after summoning an entire army together, asks God to show him a sign, proving he'll deliver the Israelites, as God had promised. "'Look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.' And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew-a bowlful of water."

Going back again to verse 13, Gideon asked the angel of the Lord why God had abandoned them and he asked where all the wonders were that their fathers talked about. Well, just to prove that He was legit and still performed miracles, God does this simple task for Gideon. Not only was the ground dry, but the wool was drenched in dew, "a bowlful of water." That is awesome!

You'd think at this point that Gideon would be convinced, but he asked God to do the miracle again, except reversing the effects, making the ground wet, and the wool dry. Verse 40, "That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew." So cool!

And now we come to chapter 7. Remember, Gideon has an army at this point, but God has a different plan. "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian inot their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" As a result, 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 to take on Midian. But God still said there were too many men. He told Gideon to take the men to the water and separate the men who lapped water from their hands from those who lapped water from their tongues, like dogs. 300 drank the water from their hands and the rest got on their knees to drink. With the 300, God promised to give the Midianites into Gideon's hands, and the rest were sent home.

Uh, 300 men...taking on the oppressive army of Midian. I'd be like, "Well thanks God. This is awesome." God, however, gives another command telling Gideon to go down to the camp of the Midianites, listening to what the men say, so that they may be encouraged. So Gideon goes down with his servant and they overheard some men talking (oh and by the way, Gideon couldn't even count the Midianite's camels any more than the sand on the seashore). A man was telling another about his dream. "'A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.' His friend responded, 'This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon....God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.'" (7:13-14)

Well I'd certainly be encouraged after that! As was Gideon, and he worshiped God. What a response! So Gideon took his army of three hundred with trumpets and empty jars and torches. Once the 300 trumpets were sounded around the Midianite camp, the Lord caused all the men in the camp to turn against each other, and the rest fled. Gideon sends out a message to Ephraim, commanding them to pursue the Midianites as far as Beth Barah. They captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb, and killed them on their own land.

So now you can hopefully see why Judges 6:12-16 stood out to me so much. God calls Gideon, in his weakness, to save the Israelites from the Midianites and does it in an awesome way! 300 men, representing Gideon's lowly position, taking on an army as "thick as locusts." (7:12) I think this has to be one of my favorite Old Testament stories. I mean, how many times have we used out weaknesses as an excuse to not carry out God's plan? And how many times has God done crazy things to fullfill his call in our lives? Be encouraged by Gideon and worship God.