Gideon

Judges 6:11-16 (NASB)

11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” 13 Then 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 the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 And the Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 But he said to Him, “O Lord, how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 Yet the Lord said to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will defeat Midian as one man.”

Our text for today is the story of Gideon when he is visited by “the angel of the Lord.” I think most Christians have heard of Gideon. He is someone who is mentioned in Hebrews 11’s list of people who acted “by faith.” He’s become a pretty-common Sunday school story character. There is even a world-wide ministry organization named after him: the Gideons, who distribute Bibles to hotels and other places. But who exactly was Gideon, and is he someone we should seek to emulate?

When we are first introduced to him, he is thrashing out wheat in his father’s wine press. He’s not outside, for the text tells us he’s trying to save the wheat from being stolen by the Midianites. They have been attacking the Israelites and plundering their land. As verses 5 and 6 tell us, “For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts in number, and both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to ruin it. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.”

Because the people have cried for help from God, He answers their cry. First, He sends them an unnamed prophet who tells them God’s message to them: God is the one who rescued them from bondage in Egypt and drove out other oppressors, but they have not obeyed God. Then, after that, the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon. When Gideon first talks with him, he does not realize this was no ordinary angel. It wasn’t until the Lord disappeared that he realizes who he had been talking with. Verse 22 tells us, “When Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, ‘Oh, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!’”

But, we readers know right away that this angel is the Lord. The Lord says to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” That is not who Gideon was, though, was he? Was he walking with the Lord? Was he a ‘man of valor’? I don’t think he was those things, at least not yet. He was going to be those things, though. The Lord was describing him as He wanted Gideon to be. He was speaking what He wanted Gideon to become. He was calling Gideon into being someone he wasn’t yet.

God can create ex nihilo. Which is Latin for “from nothing.” God can create something from nothing. He can do as Romans 4:17 says: “[God] calls into being things that do not exist.”

Looking at that verse in context, we see the perfect illustration for this concept. Romans 4:17-20, in describing Abraham states, “(as it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

If you know Abraham’s history, you know that God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. According to the NASB footnotes, Abram means “exalted father,” and Abraham means “father of a multitude.” God was speaking into Abram that which didn’t exist yet. Abram and Sarai didn’t have any children yet. He hadn’t yet become the father of many nations when God changed his name.

I think that is what God is doing here in Judges with Gideon. He wasn’t a man of valor. He was a young man who was simply helping his father. As verse 11 tells us, Gideon “was beating out wheat in the wine press” and not part of those fighting the Midianites. But God was calling him to a future that didn’t exist yet.

God does the same with us. For example, when we first become born again, He calls us by names that we don’t fully embody. Some of those are: a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), His friend (John 15:15), set free from sin (Romans 8:2), a masterpiece of His handiwork (Ephesians 2:10), and His beloved for He has loved us even before we loved Him as 1 John 4:19 says.

God also calls into being things that do not exist in our lives yet. He has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. He wants us to step into that future that He has desired for us. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

So the Lord is calling Gideon to walk with Him and be a valiant warrior. Gideon’s response is not to agree with Him, but to disagree. He asks Him, “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 the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Have you ever cried out to the Lord, asking Him that same question? Have you asked Him, “If You are with me Lord, why then has all this happened to me? Where are all the miracles?”

A long time ago, an elderly neighbor of mine expressed to me that she was disillusioned in her faith. She said she had watched, over her many years, other people seeing God move and act in their lives, and she felt like she had been overlooked. She said she had “never seen any miracles.” After talking with her more about her faith, I discovered that she really did not know the Lord, nor did she ever read a Bible. She attended church her whole life, but it was nothing more than a social club for her. I mention that conversation for I think it perfectly illustrates Gideon in this moment. He’s asking, “why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles??” And yet at that time, neither Gideon nor the other Israelites were following God. Both Gideon and my neighbor, when confronted with pain, were complaining about the inaction of a God they had not bothered to follow. It makes me think of a quote I read from the musician Peter Gabriel. He said, “When I’m thinking of God I’m a Buddhist, when I’m in pain and despair I’m a Christian.” (https://hollowverse.com/peter-gabriel)

It also makes me think of our nation after the Twin Towers attack in 2001. Suddenly, all of our politicians were Christians. I have a vivid memory in my mind of all the senators and representatives on the Capitol steps praying to God to help our nation. Their return to faith was extremely short-lived. Once it became apparent that there would not be any more immediate terrorist attacks, the cries for help died out. Say what you will about whether or not the Lord allowed the terrorist attacks because of our nation’s sins, in the case of the Israelites, the Bible is clear that their sin had led to the problems they were in. They wanted to blame the Midianites, but really, their sin was to blame. When Gideon contradicts the Lord by asking where the Lord has been, he fails to see it is their fault they are in the mess they are in.

The Lord responds to him in a very kind way. He doesn’t get angry or belittle him. He says, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” Again, Gideon argues, “O Lord, how am I to save Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” Then verse 16 concludes the Lord saying to him, “I will certainly be with you, and you will defeat Midian as one man.”

That conversation tells me a few things: Gideon is tenacious, the Lord is okay with us questioning Him, and God is forgiving and patient. He is willing to respond and rescue the Israelites the moment they cry out to Him. He is willing to see beyond Gideon’s arguing and accept his weak faith. He does the same with us; the moment we call to Him, He will offer His help. All we have to do is respond in faith.

If we continue to read Gideon’s story, we see he obeys what God tells him to do, but only after he has asked God to repeatedly give him a sign. Gideon is the one who asks God to show Him signs by twice laying a fleece on the ground. Verses 36 to 40 tell us what happened: Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one more time; please let me put You to the test only one more time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

Maybe you view this testing as I used to think of it: as a model of how to discern God’s will. I don’t think we should view this as such. For one thing, Gideon already knew God’s will. The Lord appeared to him and told him specifically what to do. So Gideon wasn’t asking God what he should do. He already knew exactly what God wanted him to do. Instead, he is asking for sign because he does not trust what God has said. Gideon even prefaces his ask by saying to God, “Don’t be angry with me” as though he knows that God isn’t thrilled about this asking. Maybe that is because God had told the Israelites not to test Him. Repeating what God told him to say, in Deuteronomy 6:16, Moses says, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” The Israelites lacked faith, they did not trust God. God wanted them to trust Him. Jesus quotes this verse in Deuteronomy when the devil is trying to tempt Him in the desert. Jesus says, as recorded in Matthew 4:7, “it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Gideon is testing God. He knows by doing this he might make God angry, but he does it anyway. We should not look at this example as an example to follow. Instead, we should do the opposite. When we read a directive in scripture or we feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to follow the Lord in a specific way, we should not think of Gideon as a model to follow and thereby lay out demands for God to perform to confirm something or not to us. For one thing, when we do that, we are attempting to tell God what to do. I think there is a big difference between asking God to confirm His will to us and making a specific demand of how He is to confirm it for us. For example, imagine you are praying about moving to another state. You want to do God’s will and move where He wants you to move. You could be like Gideon and say, “Lord, if you want me to move to this particular state I’m desiring to move to, please cause my boss to mention it to me this week in conversation.” Then when your boss doesn’t mention it, you think, “I guess you don’t want me to move there, God.” I don’t think God works like that. Does He have to do the things we demand of Him to do? Do we really think we can order Him around and give Him directives? Or is the better way to pray something like this, “Lord, if you want me to move to this particular state I’m desiring to move to, please open the doors for me to find a job there and buy a home there. If you don’t want me to move there, please close the doors and keep me from finding a job or keep me from purchasing a house there. I want to do Your will, please direct my steps.” In that second imaginary prayer, we are asking God to direct us, not trying to direct God. Do you see the difference?

God will use signs and miracles sometimes to communicate His will to us. But I don’t think we should use Gideon as an example of someone who we are supposed to emulate. If you keep reading the story of Gideon’s life, you see that while he eventually did as God told him to do and he went to battle, later on, he makes a golden ephod and he and his family worship it as a false idol. Judges 8:27 says, “Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah; but all Israel committed infidelity with it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.” That means that God considered their worship of that ephod to be unfaithfulness to Him, the same as adultery is unfaithfulness to a spouse. And if you keep reading the book of Judges, you see the results of Gideon’s actions. They have dire effects on his children and all of Israel.

How could this be, since God had said to Gideon that He is with him and he is a man of valor? God had called Gideon into being a new man. What happened? As the book of Romans told us, God calls into being things that do not exist, but we still have a role to play in this future casting becoming a reality or not. Back to the example of Abraham and Sarah: they nearly jeopardized their future by needlessly making it more complex.

We see another example of this same scenario in King Saul’s life. He was chosen by God to be the first king of Israel. 1 Samuel 9:15-19 says, “Now a day before Saul’s coming, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel, saying, ‘About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him as ruler over My people Israel; and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have considered My people, because their outcry has come to Me.’ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people.’”

And 1 Samuel 10:9-11 says, “Then it happened, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, that God changed [Saul’s] heart; and all those signs came about on that day. When they came there to the hill, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he prophesied among them. And it came about, when all who previously knew him saw that he was indeed prophesying with the prophets, that the people said to one another, ‘What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?’”

God made Saul into a new person. He was changed and his future was called into being. Yet Saul strayed off that path. He did not do as God had charged him to do, and God said, as recorded in 1 Samuel 15:10-11b, “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ‘I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.’” God had chosen Saul, but now He regretted that He had chosen Saul. The future that God had wanted for Saul, it didn’t fully materialize because Saul was unfaithful to God.

God wanted a future for Gideon where Gideon would obey Him his whole life. He called him to be a man who walked with God and would be a valiant warrior for Him. Gideon obeyed for a time, and then he strayed away from that future. His story should stand as a warning to us all.

God wants to call us into being people who follow Him our whole lives. He sees that future for us. He desires that for us, the question is, will we stay faithful to Him? As the prophet Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.”

I love how the NASB translated that verse. God wants us to obey Him and pay attention to Him. At Gideon’s time, the Israelites had stopped paying attention to God and because of that, they stopped obeying Him. This happens all the time. So many people will stop paying attention to God when their life is going really great. They think they don’t need to pray, for they don’t need any help. Then, when trouble arises, they get mad and blame God for not helping them.

If today you are like Gideon and you wonder, “why is all this happening to me? Where are the miracles?” I want to encourage you to ask yourself if the problem is really God or if the problem is really you. Now, oftentimes, bad things will happen to us and they are no fault of our own. We live in a fallen, sinful world and bad things happen to good people all the time. That’s not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about finding yourself in a situation in life where God seems distant, prayers are going unanswered, you are trapped in addictions or despair. Is God the one who is distant and uncaring, or have you moved away from Him? Have you invited the problems you have into your life?

Instead of staying in a place of bondage and despair, come to the One who wants to set you free. Come to the One who calls you His beloved, who sees you the way He wants you to be, not the way you are today. Come to the One who can forgive you and set you free from sin. He sees a future with you that is blessed and full of abundant joy, found in following Him. As John 10:10 records Jesus saying, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

Let us not be people who only cry out to God when we are in trouble. Let us be people who walk in the ways He has called us to do. Let us be people who are changed into the people He has called us into being. Let us walk as His child and friend.

Pray: Heavenly Father, we confess that we have not always paid attention to You the way that we should. Please forgive us and help us by Your Holy Spirit to pay attention and obey Your word. Thank You for loving us enough to forgive us. We want to follow You our whole lives and not stray off the narrow path You have laid out for us to follow. Please direct our lives so we can follow You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.