From The Great God of Gideon series. 

It might be helpful to read Judges 6:1-16 before you go on.

Gideon has just protested God’s call to “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand….”( Judges 6:14 NIV)

Gideon has brought up 2 things he sees as disqualifiers.  (Which we discussed last week.)

• Weakness.  
  
• Least-ness.
  

How does God answer Him?  
                                         The Lord says:  “I will be with you…”

This is the second time God being “with us” has come up in this fairly short passage (Judges 6:11-16).  When God repeats himself, I take notice!

What does it matter that God is “with us?”

If my mom “sends” me to the store, it is because she is not going and needs me to go without her.  The nature of human “sending” is that someone goes and someone stays.

Not so with God.  God does not send us into a tough situation while He sits back in some safe, quiet, peaceful place – leaving us to work it out on our own. 

I think I so often act like the student who, after receiving the assignment, goes off to work it out on her own and later comes back to the teacher presenting the finished assignment and hoping to get the “A.”  That is not how our spiritual lives work.  God doesn’t send us off on our own to do our work.  He is with us, working out the details: equipping, empowering, guiding, and comforting.

When God sends us, He goes with us.

“The Lord answered [Gideon], ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.’”  (Judges 6:16 NIV)

So, friends, what difference can it make today as we step out to obey God, if we know that what He calls us to do He empowers us to do (see last week) and He comes along as we do it?

 How can we become more aware of God’s presence, God with us, as we go through our days?

From The Great God of Gideon series.  (This is a long one, but so worth it!)

It might be helpful to read Judges 6:1-15 (click here) before you go on.

The angel of the Lord has come to Gideon -- who is hiding, afraid and alone --and has met him with a declaration that Gideon is a “mighty warrior” and that “The Lord is with [him].” (Judges 6:12 NIV)  Gideon protests and asking if God is with us, why are things so bad?  Why are there people oppressing us and winning?  But we don't find the messenger engaging with Gideon in any such discussion.  Instead he says:
“… go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.  Am I not sending you?”  (Judges 6:14 NIV)

God calls Gideon to action.  Remember, He has called Gideon a mighty warrior.  He has declared that God is with him.  Now God tells Gideon that He is sending him to save Israel from its enemies.

Again, Gideon protests:
“But Lord,’ Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Judges 6:15 NIV)

Again Gideon is resisting the declaration that he is a mighty warrior… He offers evidence that he is definitely not a mighty warrior.  He is from the weakest people in his tribe and if that were not enough, he is the least among his family members.  I wonder what he felt like growing up.  I imagine he has felt these labels on him a long time.

Weak.  Least. 

What labels do we have on us?  Maybe since we were very young? 

Silly.  Insignificant.  Stupid.  Worthless.  Invisible.

Gideon believes he is weak, the least of the people, and so he has no faith that he can do what God is calling him to do.

But I ask you, would God call us to do something He would not empower us to do?  Does that make any sense?

What had the Lord said again?  He began the call with the answer to Gideon’s protests.  “Go in the strength YOU HAVE…”  (Judges 6:14 NIV)

And to emphasize that God is confident He has not chosen the wrong guy, He follows it up with “AM I NOT SENDING YOU?”  (Judges 6:14 NIV)

God is well aware of Gideon’s strengths and weaknesses.  He knows each of us better than we know ourselves.  He isn’t asking Gideon to be his big brother or the guy down the street.  He is asking Gideon to go be Gideon.  Strengths, weaknesses…everything.   Go as you.  Go be yourself.  Go in the strength YOU have.  I am sending YOU.  On purpose.  God is choosing and sending Gideon.

So often we disqualify ourselves for what God has called us to do.  At the root is a misunderstanding of God’s character.   We argue with God just like Gideon.  But the truth is:

• God knows us.
• He knows what He is doing when He chooses to “send” us. 
• He knows that he can enable us to do more than we imagine we can through His power at work within us! (Ephesians 3:20)

We don’t have to make ourselves into something we are not.  God never works through deception or hypocrisy – only through authenticity, honesty and wholeheartedness!   

God is sending Gideon to save his people.   
                                                                         Will Gideon go?

And if he does, will God be faithful to work through him… despite his weaknesses?

Tune in next time!

But what about us?
What is God sending us to do?  Will we trust He knows what He is doing… and respond?

From The Great God of Gideon series.

It might be helpful to read Judges 6:1-13 (click here) before you go on.

The angel of the Lord has come to Gideon who is hiding, afraid and alone, and has met him with a declaration that Gideon is a “mighty warrior” and that “The Lord is with you.” (Judges 6:12 NIV)

Gideon protests:

“But, sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us why has all this happened to us?...” (Judges 6:13 NIV)

Gideon feels like God left.  When things go wrong, I often feel abandoned too.  But does that mean God has abandoned me? 

We read in Judges 6:1-10 that Israel had turned away from the Lord to worship the gods of the Amorites, in fact the Lord had said to them: “…you have not listened to me.”  (Judges 6:10 NIV)

Someone had left, but it wasn’t God.  The Israelites had turned away from Him toward false gods and had stopped listening to Him.

If we feel like the Lord is not with us, is it because we have chosen to stop worshiping the Lord, that we have stopped listening to Him and turned to other things?

I am encouraged that though the Israelites had turned away from God, He did not walk away.  Here we see Him initiating contact with Gideon.  God pursues relationship with us, and not because we’ve somehow been good enough or earned it.  He does it just because He is that generous, loving and forgiving. 

There have been times in my life I’ve turned to my own strength or intellect, or I’ve run to relationships or entertainment instead of to God.  He’s always pursued me, bringing me back again and again.  He promises He will never leave us.  (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Years after this interaction between the angel and Gideon, God sent his only Son into the world and gave Him a name to ring in our ears, the Truth about Him, Immanuel: God with Us. (Matthew 1:23 NIV)

Praise the God who never leaves us, not when things get hard… not even when we stop listening for a time... Praise the God who is “With Us.”

From The Great God of Gideon series.

It might be helpful to read Judges 6:1-12 (click here) before you go on.

Last time we paraphrased this passage this way:

God sends one of his angels down to meet Gideon when he is overwhelmed and afraid.  He meets Gideon right where he is – hiding in a winepress as he tries to harvest some food.  His people are starving because a rival nation is oppressing them.

And we praised the God who meets us not when we have it all together, or we have things all figured out… but when we are alone, afraid, overwhelmed, and weak.

Today I am struck by just one phrase in one verse…

12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12 (NIV)

Did Gideon seem mighty to you?

Even when Gideon protests the angel does not change his message.  Is it possible that where we see weakness and failure, God sees a “mighty warrior?”

And who is right?  Am I right when I look at Gideon and see, gulp, a “loser?”  Or is God right when He calls him a mighty warrior?

When I take a moment to reflect about why I called Gideon a loser, I discover one reason is because when I am afraid, lonely, overwhelmed and weak I feel like a loser.  I feel like nothing is possible.  I feel worthless.

But when God meets Gideon in this moment, He sees beyond the present Gideon.  He sees what Gideon is capable of.  If we remember, God formed Gideon.  He knew him before he was born.  He ordained all Gideon’s days before one of them came to be.  (Psalm 139)

God knows us, too.  We were each his idea.  He knows the truth about us… the real truth.  The truth yet to be revealed to us as we are healed, transformed and empowered by His spirit. 

What is the truth about us?  What does God call you and me?

·  More than Conquerors (Romans 8:37)

·  Overcomers  (1 John 2:13-14, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 5:1-5)

·  Dearly Loved (Ephesians 5:1-2, Colossians 3:12)

·  Ministers of the New Covenant that HE has made competent (2 Corinthians 3:6)

·  Chosen (Ephesians 1:4)

I’m excited as we continue in this passage to see if Gideon remains hiding, weak, and afraid – or if He grows into the mighty warrior God has said He is.

Praise the God who sees the truth about us, even when we can’t see it--especially when we can’t see it--  and calls it out.

Have you ever had anyone in your life that spoke out the encouraging truth when you were in a moment you just couldn’t see it?

 

 

From The Great God of Gideon series.

It would be helpful to read Judges 6:1-12 (click here) before you go on.

I had mentioned that I used to think of Gideon as a bit of a “loser” (I know, harsh!) and an example of “what not to do.”  In that frame of mind I would have summarized the main points of this passage this way:

Gideon is hiding from some bullies that are oppressing his people by trying to harvest wheat where they will not find him – below ground level in a winepress.  There an angel of the Lord appears to Him and tells Him that it’s time to stop hiding and go fight the bullies.

But that’s if my focus is on Gideon, if I look instead of what God is doing I might see this…

God sends one of his angels down to meet Gideon when he is overwhelmed and afraid.  He meets Gideon right where he is – hiding in a winepress as he tries to harvest some food.  His people are starving because a rival nation is oppressing them.

God meets Gideon right where he is at.

Hiding.  Afraid.  Weak.

Hmmm.  That’s probably enough for me to think on for today.

Praise the God who meets us not when we have it all together, or we have things all figured out… but when we are alone, afraid, overwhelmed, and weak.