‘Go in this might of yours…’  

Out of all the Old Testament faith stories, for me Gideon is one of my favourites; his call highlights the transformative power of God’s promise and helps us to understand how to respond to the working of God’s grace in our lives.

The New Testament promises declare that everything has become new for the one who is in Christ Jesus, all God’s promises are available to us and we bring glory to God as they are fulfilled in us.

In the Winepress

Judges 6:11-12  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. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valour!" NKJV

These words must have sounded somewhat strange to Gideon; he’s hiding in a winepress and for the last seven years the Midianites had cruelly impoverished his people. Nothing had changed but God’s word to him was about to change everything. It is the same for us, God’s word promises a victorious and abundant life and though our experience seems so contrary we can journey in rich fulfilment.  

Judges 6:13-16 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." 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?" 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." And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." NKJV

Gideon’s response to the Lord is typically human, our natural disposition is to judge our future by our experience. And when we hear God’s promises we are tempted to think or say to God…
However, from the stories we have in the Bible, it seems helpful when people realise their natural weakness and inabilities. For example, King Saul began so well, the scripture says, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?” (1Samuel 15:17).  It is evident the Lord prefers to use those who are conscious of their failures, perhaps this so that everyone can know that it’s by God’s strength we stand and only by His grace can good fruit proceed from our lives. (see 1Corinthians 1: 27-31). We are exhorted to believe God’s words over our experiences, and weakness. I like the King James translation of 1Corinthians 16:13…
 
God is not looking for the self-sufficient but those who are willing to be God sufficient. One thing we all need to believe God’s words over our natural weakness is COURAGE - courage to think and speak differently despite the familiar, this will ultimately transform our experience to mirror the Word of God. A ship must first leave port to begin its great voyage and we see how the Lord was able to Lord graciously work with Gideon’s faith after he was willing to accept God’s words. Rest assured, the Lord is able to work through your doubts and hang-ups. The desperate father coming to Jesus for his son’s deliverance said, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9: 24) And Jesus did.  

The promises we see in the word can sound too good to be true, Peter described them as, exceedingly great and precious yet if we’re willing to put aside our human reasoning God’s Spirit will help our believing.  As we will see Gideon’s calling teaches us that believing will be seeing for the child of God.
 

Responding Well

Gideon began to believe the words God and progressed towards seeing the amazing fulfilment.

Judges 6:17-19 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. "Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you come back." So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. NKJV

As the offering is presented the Angel of the Lord touched the sacrifice with a staff which caused fire to come of the rock and consume it, then the Lord vanished from view (20-21).

Gideon wanted confirmation of God’s favour; he believed God’s words, but he needed more. Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8: 16) and He also tells us we are loved by God (Romans 5:5). We need the Holy Spirit, like seeds need water to germinate we need Him Who makes the words of God spring alive in our hearts, believing without the Holy Spirit is like trying to run a car without oil in the engine!
 
Fresh revelations of God’s love by the Holy Spirit make the promises of God feel personal and within our grasp. Gideon initiated making the sacrifice and the Lord wonderfully responded – time and effort spent drawing near to God is all it takes to experience the Lord is fresh ways (no wonder the enemy tries to prevent this!)  
   

God’s Peace

Judges 6:22-24 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." Then the LORD said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." 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. NKJV
The closer we get to the Lord, the more aware we become of His holiness. Gideon feared because he knew Israelites had encountering the Holy Presence of God. However, the Lord reassured Gideon he would not die, because of this new found favour Gideon knew he had peace with God.
 
We serve a Holy God and sin is no joke, but it is crucial we understand our basis of acceptance is by faith and not of works. Getting closer to God will make us more aware of our shortcomings and it’s easy to think we must do something to make ourselves more acceptable to God.  God accounted righteousness to Abraham through him believing (Genesis 15: 6) and this was before He commanded him to walk blameless (Genesis 17:1). The Lord’s purpose is to transform us through our faith, spiritual life will produce the fruits of right living but if we try to live right without faith we actually disconnect from grace. We are saved by faith and remain saved through faith.
 

Tearing down the Wrong beliefs

Judges 6:25-26 Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; "and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down." NKJV

After Gideon believed God was with him, the next step was to deal with the matter of an idol in his house. His father had brought Baal worship into the home, and it was necessary for Gideon to decisively deal with this issue before moving on moving on with God’s call.

“and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10: 36-37

Family loyalties can sometimes stand against obey the call of Christ. Gideon risked upsetting his father to obey God yet as we follow the story his brave action helped his father believe too. The truths of Christ are transformative, and our response determines whether they are affective or not. We naturally believe things and the word of God will always challenge what we believe. We are to esteem Christ truth higher than the beliefs and expectations of others, even our own family, we make Jesus Lord.
 
There was a time I believe Jesus was risen from the dead, yet I wasn’t saved, I was still in my sins but the moment I repented and made Him Lord I was born-again and set free from besetting sins and habits. Making Jesus Lord aligns our life with Who He is, and then His grace will flow. Paul warned Timothy about a powerless form of godliness (2Timothy 3:5), God help us to be more than mere religious assenters! Jonah recognised his disconnect from God’s mercy because of the lies he was believing.
The Lord is true and ministers through truth, sometimes we must acknowledge and turn from mistaken beliefs.
 

The Fleece

Judges 6: 36-37 So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said-- "look, I shall put 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 shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." NKJV

Gideon radically obeyed the Lord which angered his neighbours who wanted to kill him but his father sticks up for him and his life is spared. Gideon’s confidence increased and he asked the Lord for a supernatural sign and the Lord graciously granted two. In our journey of faith God will grant us supernatural signs to encourage/confirm the path that we’re taking but note these confirmations usually come after we have chosen to believe His word. Many don’t venture to believe because they’re still waiting for God to do something - He has! He’s promised, and as we endeavour to go His way, He will help us.

Shortly after my family arrived in China my mother had a nasty fall which left her in a lot of pain, in our preparation to travel God had already wonderfully worked miracles of healing and provision in my mum’s life, however I was no longer close by to support her. The next day a Chinese lady visited where my mum was staying, laid hands and mum was miraculously healed! I felt tremendously reassured, we can trust God and will see His wonders as we pursue His purpose for our lives.

Judges 7:2 And the LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' NKJV

The ways of God are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9) and throughout the Bible we see how God will show Himself strong through those who are weak, however, we first need to recognise we are indeed weak. The Lord scaled back the fighting men who were with Gideon from 32,000 to 300 and that was against an army of 135,000. There was absolutely no way 300 men would be victorious. When I was teaching maths in primary, I believe the Lord used the ‘greater than’ (>) inequality symbol to help me visualise Christ reality. 
 
me + Christ  >  whatever the problem                     

When we make Christ primary and ourselves secondary the outworking of faith becomes easier. Paul knew this to be the key to powerful living:
‘I’ in it is no longer I who live comes from the Greek word ego. The victorious live can never be lived egotistically, rather we humble ourselves under His mighty hand, we do not exist for ourselves – it’s never about my will, my rights, my name etc but His will, His righteousness, His Name.
 

Conclusion

Gideon goes on to see God do mighty things through his life and he saw Israel delivered from her oppressors. In summary we can recognise he:

• Felt utterly helpless from past failures and current circumstances.
• But was willing to accept God’s word that promised victory and triumph.
• This was bolstered by supernatural confirmations.
• And he Knew God’s peace and acceptance.
• He was courageous to turn away from familiar wrong beliefs.
• And was willing to be week and vulnerable.
• This made him victorious.