The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. 7 When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” 11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 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?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
At this point in time the Israelites were in a vicious cycle of “coming back to God” and “falling away from God” There was no King to guide them and the people governed themselves. Each time they cried out to be saved, God gave them a judge (translated “deliverer” or “savior” in Hebrew) a unique leader chosen to bring them out of the hands of their enemies. Each time a judge died, Israel turned back to their wicked ways. To give an example of just how much Israel messed up, there are approximately 15 judges recorded in the Old Testament. While the judges presided over legal hearings then much like the ones that sit in our courts today, they were most commonly defined as “a ruler or a military leader” in Biblical times. After Deborah’s victory over the Canaanites, Israel enjoyed 40 years of peace, but as usual, again turned to evil ways. As punishment, God delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, who for seven years raided their land at harvest time. It was so bad that the Israelites made caves in the mountains to hide. It is here that we find Gideon, a common man, a seemingly unlikely candidate to deliver Israel.
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
Gideon is threshing grain in a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. (A wine press is sunk in the ground in hole that had been dug out or hewn in the rock.) Traditionally, wheat is threshed by oxen out in the open so that the wind blows the chaff away. This shows just how depleted their resources were - the fact that he was threshing it himself meant there was little of it.
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon was no stranger to the ways of God. He knew about the God of Abraham. He knew about the God of Moses. He’d heard countless stories about how God delivered Israel before. So it’s no surprise that he responded in the matter which he did. After seven years of warding off the Midianites every harvest season with no relief in sight, hiding with his family in the mountains, threshing grain in a dark, dusty winepress, I imagine Gideon was over it. In other words, Gideon was saying “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that you are with us now after all this time?” Unfortunately, Gideon wasn’t thinking about the fact that it was not God who had forsaken Israel. It was Israel who turned their back on God. And yet, God, in His infinite grace, still chose to deliver them. Here we see that Gideon was suffering from a spiritual condition, in other words, weakened faith. His spiritual condition or, weakened faith, came as a result of having heard of God’s marvelous works, but not seeing them at work in his own situation. If God was with them, where was he over the last seven years? Where was God while the Midianites stole their food, sheep, cattle and donkeys?
Gideon also suffered from another condition. An emotional one. In verse 11, the angel called him “mighty man of valor” and in verse 14 He told him to “Go in the strength that you have, (in other translations, “Go in the might of yours”) and save Israel from the Midian’s hand. Have I not sent you?” But for Gideon, it was impossible for him to see this “might”.
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Gideon expressed that his tribe was the weakest and that he was the “least” in his father’s house. In some translations it reads “and everyone else is more important than me.” Gideon could not see himself as someone who could do what God had asked. He thought of himself as a nobody - not only was his tribe the weakest, he was also the least in his own house! His family was already poor and the plundering of everything they had at harvest time only made matters worse. He had to live in fear, hiding in caves, threshing wheat in a hole to hide from the Midianites. I could imagine that his life was filled with worry and frustration. Have you been there? Have you ever wondered where God was, why He forsook you, why he didn’t come see about you? Didn’t He see what was going on in your life? I don’t know about you, but I've been there plenty of times!
Faced with this very raw and I’m sure expected human emotion, God offers Gideon assurance
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
I will be with you. The same words of encouragement he gave to Moses when he called him to go to Pharaoh.
Gideon’s faith was so tattered, he needed a sign on three separate occasions from God, which you can read in Chapters 6-8 in your spare time. But what I love about this particular story is that despite his conditions, Gideon still said yes to God. He still answered the call. In the end, his obedience enabled him to become the mighty warrior God predestined him to be!
In 1982, Nick James Vujicic (pronounced 'Vooy-ee-chich') an Australian preacher, motivational speaker and author, was born with a rare disorder that left him limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, as well as legless. His feet were toeless except for two toes on one foot.. Being bullied at school, Vujicic grew depressed and by the age of 8, contemplated suicide. At age 10, he tried to drown himself, but did not go through with it out of love for his parents. He prayed to grow arms and legs and eventually came to the realization that God had allowed him to be that way to be an inspiration to others and became grateful for his life. He began to master the daily tasks of life. He learned to write using the two toes on his left foot with a special grip that slid onto his big toe. He learned to use a computer and type using the "heel and toe" method. He learned to throw tennis balls, play drum pedals, get himself a glass of water, comb his hair, brush his teeth, answer the phone and shave. When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group and eventually started his non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group and eventually started his non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. Despite his spiritual, physical and emotional condition, he travels the world preaching the good news, fully functional on his own with God on his side.
If this man can move past his circumstances to be mighty in God, how much more can you do? Like Gideon and Nick, you may have a spiritual condition. Like Gideon and Nick, you may be suffering from an emotional condition. Like Nick, you may have a physical condition. The trials of life that come to weigh you down can be so hard to bounce back from! But like our examples, you can say yes to the call, yes to the will of God. Say yes, through the pain, through the hurt. Even though Gideon had limited faith, constantly seeking reassurance, he answered the call. He was afraid, but he did what God called him to do, right through his fear. Gideon realized that he had to lean on God’s strength, not his own, trust in God’s ability, not his own, rely on God’s wisdom, not his own!
God will call us precisely when we feel the most unimportant. He will call us when we feel the most inadequate. He will call us when our faith is at its lowest point! He called Moses who said he couldn’t speak. He called Jeremiah, who claimed he was too young. The Bible is filled with accounts of God using imperfect people to do His perfect Will... the common thread throughout them all is that they were obedient! Through their fear, they said yes. Through their worn and battered faith, they said yes! Our condition says we are inadequate, God calls us capable! Our condition says we are unworthy, God says we MORE than worthy! Our condition says we are weak, God says we will do mighty works in Him! He sees us for who we are GOING to be, not what our current condition tells us we are now!
Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
We are predestined, or Proorizo in the Greek, meaning he determined before, ordained, predestinate. He decided beforehand; he foreordained, he appointed. He purposed and determined previously BEFORE we were in the womb.
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." - We are called according to His divine purpose. We were set apart to do the work before we were even born!
Family, if you believe the word of God, if you believe Him to be the author and finisher of your faith, if you believe that He is a God that cannot lie, you have also got to believe that you are equipped to do the thing He has called you to do! Your condition might say no, but God says YES!
Until next time, be blessed!
Sue
