Gideon – A Mighty Man of Valour
I want to use the
illustration of Gideon to show that it is all right, and in fact quite natural
to be a little afraid, and hesitant to go out and do some of the things that
God asks us to do, but we must learn to trust God and do His will, His way, and
in the process expect and receive great victories for His Kingdom.
Gideon had qualities that we need to develop – even if these qualities come naturally to us – if we want to be used by God.
We find at the start of
Judges the children of Israel doing what they seemed to do best & that was
evil in the sight of the LORD.
And the LORD trying to sort
them out again, by delivering them into the hand of Midian.
For seven years Midian
prevailed against Israel.
We read that because of the
Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and
the strongholds which are in the mountains.
So it was, whenever Israel
had sown, Midianites would come up; also
Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they
would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza,
and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 5 For they
would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as
locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter
the land to destroy it. 6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the
Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
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.' "
THAT SEEMED TO BE A WAY OF
LIFE FOR ISRAEL – AS IT IS FOR MANY TODAY – EVEN CHRISTIANS – THEY WANT THE
TAG, THEY WANT THE FIRE INSURANCE, BUT THEY SDON’T WANT TO OBEY GOD UNLESS HE’S
SAYING SOMETHING THEY WANT TO HEAR!
Down to verse 11 where we
meet a gentleman that I can relate to and really admire –
GOOD OLD GIDEON
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.
It must have looked funny watching the wheat & rubbish flying into the air over the top of this winepress – normally wheat is threshed out in the open to let the rubbish blow away.
It would have been nice & dusty & sticky in that wine press as well – I reckon he would have been coughing & spluttering.
Gideon
was obviously a thinker & a tactician, he may also have been a little
afraid?
What
makes me think that – well, listen to his next statement when the angel of the
Lord speaks to him
"The LORD is with you, you mighty man of
valour!" So how does Gideon reply to the Angel of
the Lord 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."
14Then 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?"
I think that would have got Gideon thinking, “What on earth is he talking about?”
Let’s look at how Gideon reacted to all of this, and the qualities that made him great.
Judg 6:15
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."
HUMILITY
This is a bit of an excuse but it also shows that Gideon was humble – the Angel of the Lord has already called Gideon a mighty man of valour, but Gideon is saying he is the lowest of the low from a clan that is the weakest of the clans.
Gideon wasn’t ashamed of the fact that his father was a simple farmer – that is just the way it was, & Gideon accepted it.
We don’t need to be the biggest & strongest to win a fight for God – we do have to be obedient though.
Judg 6:16
And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will
be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."
CAUTION
Judg 6:17
Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favour in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me
Gideon was cautious – this is wisdom – to be sure that it is God’s word not just a fantasy.
Then we read on that Gideon asked the Angel of the lord to hang around while Gideon prepared an offering for Him.
When Gideon Came out with the meal that was to be an offering for the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of the Lord told Gideon to put it on a rock, and the Angel of the Lord stretched out his staff to the Meat and unleavened bread and fire rose out of the rock & consumed it. Then the Angel of the Lord vanished.
At that point Gideon had the presence of mind to consider that this must be the real deal, this was genuinely the Angel of the Lord,
SPIRITUALITY
Gideon was a man who believed in, and worshipped God.
Judg 6:22-24
2 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face." 23Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
At that point God told Gideon to cut down his fathers alter to Baal & use the word to burn a sacrifice to God.
Gideon obeyed & upset the men of the area badly enough for them to want to kill him, but Joash said to them why defend Baal – if Baal is a God he can defend himself.
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Judg 6:33-34
Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
DIVINE INSPIRATION
Gideon knew they could win the battle because Angel of the Lord had told him so, but Gideon was planning to do it in his own strength – and God had other ideas.
Judg 6:34-35
4 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
Gideon must have been
starting to get a bit anxious about now because he says to God “if you will
save Israel by my hand as you have said” then he puts the fleece out before
God.
Gideon wanted to be sure
he was in God’s will - & apart from that he didn’t want to start something
he didn’t think he could win.
Then God says to Gideon the number of men you have with you are too many – if you win the children of Israel will say that we did it by our own hands & won’t give the glory to God.
God wants to be recognised by us as our saviour, and we need to be careful to give Him the glory in our victories.
God told Gideon yell out to the people “If you are scared – go home I don’t want you.
And guess what happened – 22,000 out of 32,000 – picked up their gear & went home – they didn’t want to play.
That left 10,000 for Gideon to fight with, next thing God told him there were still too many – take them down to the water & tell them to drink & if they lap at the water like a dog – that’s the ones you want – that left a whole 300 men.
What was the lapping all
about – they were the ones who were vigilant, cautious watchful.
Do you think that is a word for us today – be vigilant, be watchful –
Remember the words of Peter in 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
DON’T LET HIM DEVOUR YOU!
God knows our fears – in Ch7:9 God tells Gideon go down to the enemies camp & have a listen to what they’re saying, But if your too afraid to go alone, take your servant Purah.
It says Gideons enemies were in the valley, and they
were as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number – in other
words there were truck loads of them – and Gideon had how many left to fight
with – a whole 300.
A daunting task in the natural.
When Gideon went down to listen to what the enemy
was saying as God had told him to – what did he hear?
He heard the enemy
telling of a dream about a loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp and
knocking down a tent – and his companion interpreting the dream saying Judg
7:14
"This is nothing
else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand
God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."
When Gideon heard this he rejoiced and worshipped God, because God had revealed the key to victory over the enemy to him.
DIVINE STRATEGY
He divided the men into three group of 100 each and gave every man a trumpet, a torch & a pitcher to hide the torch in until Gideon blew his trumpet – they sneaked down to the enemies camp – Gideon blew his trumpet then all 300 hundred of his men who had surrounded the camp broke the pitchers so there were torches blazing everywhere & blew their trumpets & yelled ou “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon” – God put such a fear into the enemy that they all turned on each other & killed each other & the remainder fled in terror.
LOYAL TO GOD
After a long chase and capture of the Midianite kings and routing of their army – the Israelites wanted Gideon to rule over them but Gideon said no – God must rule over you.
WEAKENED BY PROSPERITY
Gideon became very prosperous – but unfortunately the prosperity weakened him – as is often the case – look at Solomon as another instance.
There is nothing wrong with prosperity – as a matter of fact it’s a good thing – God wants us to be prosperous – but we must use it wisely for His purposes not for greed.
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So what can we learn from Gideon;
HUMILITY – don’t think that because you are not some superstar, that God can’t use you – He can probably use you more because your not!
CAUTION – be careful that it is God’s will when you set out on a task – not some flight of fancy.
SPIRITUALITY – trust God – listen to, and be guided by the Holy Spirit – give God the glory.
DIVINE INSPIRATION & STRATEGY– get divine inspiration, listen to the word of God – pray for guidance – ask God for strategies and plans to help you to break down the strongholds in your life, or the strongholds that you are praying to break down on the island, to win that friend or neighbour for Christ. – God can use us to perform miracles if we will let Him.
LOYALTY TO GOD - When the enemy wants you to come & play his game – say no – I am on God’s team.
When you get lifted up to a high position – remember it was God who put you there – the people who did it only did it under God’s direction whether they realised it or not.
(Give examples of jobs at NQN & Officeworks).
God makes the way.
WEAKENED BY PROSPERITY – Don’t let prosperity become a stumbling block – the better you do the more you should be praising God and giving Him the glory – although you should do that in whatever situation you are in.
We are God’s mighty people of valour – each one
of you has God’s army behind you.
He is not a tool for us to use – but we are His
people and he uses us.
Use the strategies He places on your heart to win
the lost on this island – there are thousands of them literally – we have God’s
sword in our hearts and our hands – The Bible.
Amen
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