Faith Lessons From 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.’" —Judges 7:2

Is your faith being tested at this very moment? Has God called you to a task that you believe you’re inadequate for? Do you feel overwhelmed by insurmountable odds? Well then, this post is just for you. Let me encourage you by saying that God will never give you more than you can handle. If you feel like you’re the only one, let me reassure you, you’re not alone. God chooses to use broken vessels. I’m always surprised he continues to use a wretched sinner such as myself—and He will use you if you allow Him to. Gideon did!

Don’t think of Him as this mighty warrior like David. Gideon even questioned God’s choice with whom He wanted to use, almost a “I don’t think you have the right guy” attitude. God also chose to use 300 men rather than 32,000. God will give you the ability you need and weed out those whom He considered distracted, unconcerned or unprepared for His work.

When it comes to the account of Gideon found in Judges 6 and 7, I’m sure we’ve all read this passage many times. But it wasn’t that long ago that the Holy Spirit gave me fresh insight and perspective into this particular passage, especially as it relates the day and age we live in.

To some, what I’m about to write might not mean much. It might be “old hat”. Yet to others, it might be something they never noticed as they read through this particular passage in the book of Judges. At the end of the day, we can spend lifetimes reading His Word and still learn things about it.

The book of Judges is a fascinating book. It shows Israel’s constant apostasy from God in order to follow their own sinful inclinations. The flip side of the book of Judges is God’s grace and mercy towards His people. Though they constantly kept turning away from Him, He always welcomed them back with open arms after some “correction” was made. We read in Judges 6:1-2:

“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, 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.” (NKJV)

It says that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord delivered them, or allowed the hand of Midian (Midianites) to prevail against them—for 7 years. That’s quite a while to be oppressed in such a manner (Judges 6:3-6). Yet God in His great mercy, called on a man named Gideon to lead the charge as one of Israel’s judges so as to free Israel from the hand of oppression and once again help restore Israel back to God.

I don’t know about y’all, but I can relate to a guy like Gideon. Didn’t think much of himself. We can read about it in Judges 6 :15 when he said:

“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.” (NKJV)

It reminded me of what Moses thought of himself when the Lord appeared to him in the midst of the burning bush. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Again, sounds a lot like me. I was once told by an old boss of mine that excuses are like armpits, everybody has them and they all stink! Yet the Lord is still willing to listen to us put up every excuse under the sun as to why He wouldn’t be able to use us. Trust me family, I am a pro at this. Just being honest.

Jesus, the Angel of the Lord that is, addressed Gideon as the Lord saw him, and this is the way our Lord saw Gideon—Judges 6:12 says:

^“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Seems to me that God sees each of us in a way we can’t, or won’t. He sees a mighty man or woman of valor, we—more often times than not—see defeat and weakness. When we see ourselves as the least of all, as Gideon saw himself in verse 15, the Lord sees us as victorious. Why is that? It’s because our omniscient and omnipotent God sees each of us as He created us to be!

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend to tell you that it’s easy to look beyond ourselves and see something we cannot. It’s not an easy task. When the world around us is crumbling right before our very eyes and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, God assures us that in Him, nothing is impossible—nothing (Matthew 19:26). Think about it, Israel was under heavy oppression. They had been for 7 years. They were so oppressed by the Midianites that the Bible says they: “the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.” (v2b). Understandably, they made a b-line for the hills. They wanted to get as far away from the “oppressor” as possible. They were scared. And who can blame them? However, it was due to their own disobedience. Doesn’t that sound familiar? We turn our backs on God and then when things get “real—real tough”, we run for the hills instead of running to Him. But God, right?

In ‘Christianese’, we have a saying that goes something like this: “God doesn’t care about your ability. God cares about your availability.” Or, “God doesn’t call the qualified, rather He qualifies the called.” As much as I dislike ‘Christianese’, those two catchphrases are very much true, as in the case of Gideon, as well as in your case and mine. The bottom line is that the Lord knows each of us, especially when lacking in the faith department. I, unfortunately, often times lack (more than I care to admit). It reminds me of the father whose boy had a mute and dumb spirit whom Jesus healed. Jesus said the following in Mark 9:23 to the father:

“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Verse 24 is such an encouragement to me, and should be to each and everyone of us as well. Remember that Jesus already knew the heart and faith (or lack thereof) of the father. This is what it says:

^“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Sounds a lot like Gideon doesn’t it? And, if I’m gonna be honest with each and everyone of you—to my shame—sounds a lot like me! I guess it’s one thing to say we have faith, but clearly a whole other thing when it comes time for us to put our faith into action. After all, take a look at what James 2:18-20 says:

“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”

Faith requires exercise. It’s imperative it’s put to use. Praise God that He understands each of us. He knows us intimately and doesn’t come down on us due to our lack of faith as we clearly see in the account of Mark 9:14-29.

Okay, back to Gideon! As if our Lord’s personal visit wasn’t enough, the Lord assured Gideon by telling Him he wouldn’t die. I guess even that wasn’t good enough for Gideon because in verses 36-40 of Judges 6 we read the account of Gideon asking the Lord for a sign via the fleece. Family, I know it’s not just me, but I see myself in Gideon’s constant need for reassurance even though the Lord had already given it to him. Our Lord truly is long-suffering with us—beyond patient!

But it doesn’t stop there. I love the Lord’s sense of humor! After gathering all the able bodied men in Israel, Gideon ends up with 32,000 men. These, after all, were the ones that Gideon thought were gonna go out mighty in number to do battle with the Mididanites. Well, God had different plans. We see through our physical eyes, but God sees things quite differently. For our Lord, the word impossible doesn’t exist. As we read in Mark 9:23 that all things are possible to those who believe, right? I’m sure at this point Gideon was feeling pretty confident. Puffed up in what he saw. Faith in the wrong thing!

So, the Lord tells Gideon, and I’m paraphrasing here: “We’ve got way too many men here. We need to whittle it down just a wee bit. If we don’t, the men will think that it was by their “might” that they won and in turn, not give Me the glory for the victory. Tell you what, I want you to send all the guys that are scared, fearful or afraid back to their tents—we won’t hold it against them.” So, 22,000 dudes made like bees and buzzed off. Only 10,000 remained. I can imagine Gideon starting to sweat by now.

Not Gideon

The Lord then says—again, paraphrasing: “Still too many my man, we’ve gotta do some more trimming of the fat here. Take the guys to the water. Whoever drinks water by putting his hand to his mouth set them aside. Whoever gets on their knees and puts their mouth to the water to drink you can tell them ‘hasta la vista’!” What do you think Gideon thought when 9,700 men drank water on their knees and were immediately “dismissed”? From 32,000 men, the Lord narrowed it down to 300.

If you want to see how it ended, then I would encourage you to read Judges 7. I love happy endings!

You might be wondering by now what the point of all of this is? Simple. Jesus tests our faith often times as a means to showcase His faithfulness and to grow our faith in Him. He stretches us to the point of discomfort. He gets us out of our comfort zones. In the case of Gideon and his 300, God was looking for men that would be at the ready, aware and mobilize for His sake at any moment. This is exactly what the Lord is looking for in each of us. You might not believe that God can use you. We can all come up with one excuse after another as to why we are unable to be used by Him, or, why this (or that) situation is too “impossible” for Him to remedy. The odds might be stacked against you, as they were against Israel and the Midianites.

Maybe you’re thinking that God can’t possibly deliver you out of the battle that you find yourself currently fighting. I’m almost certain that the faith of many believers in our country is being tested by America’s political, moral, religious and economic implosion.

Well I’m here to tell you, on the authority of scripture, that God is in the delivery business!

I’ll be the first one to say that from a surface level, the odds are stacked against America. Maybe the odds are stacked against you in life at this very moment. The Lord will call on each of us to either confront the “Midianites” in our lives or go to battle as we saw with the 300. The strength of our faith, the very substance of it is being tested, stretched and challenged in ways we never would have imagined. With that said, my question to you is: Are you putting out your “fleece” to the Lord? Maybe multiple times and in different ways? How are you “drinking water”? Are you distracted by America’s worsening condition? Are you unprepared for what’s coming? Has the Lord called you to a task you think you’re incapable of completing? What’s testing your faith? Gideon did not have rock solid faith in God’s calling for his life. However, his faith wavered, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. The faith of Gideon and his 300 men was tested against overwhelming odds and conditions. Yet, even under these conditions, they all had to trust in God's faithfulness, strength, power and might. They were fully aware of their surroundings and ready to act at a moment's notice. Are you?

In that God has called each of us to different tasks, just like He did with Gideon, may we trust Him and have faith that He will see us through, no matter what!

Jesus is coming at any moment for His bride—are you ready? Are you fully aware of the times we live in? Are you prepared to fulfill what the Lord commanded each of us to do as we read in Matthew 28:19-20 to:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

The unknown is something that can cause anxiety, fear and panic. But we don’t serve the God of the unknown. We serve the Almighty King of kings. He IS all knowing. So, you can rest assured that He knows the end from the beginning and in the end, we win!

😁Have A Nice Day!👍🏻

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