Encouragement

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After the great and amazing exploits of the only woman judge and prophetess Deborah, Israel once again turned to her evil ways. For seven years the LORD gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. This was a period of tribulation when the chosen ones were living as aliens in their own land.

Imagine what the power of evil can do to a nation whereby you are forced to abandon your own homes and live in unusual places. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 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.

Thus far Israel would hide at harvest time and try by all means to save the crops that they could. The enemy invaded the land and ruined the crops and did not leave a living thing in sight. The mission of the enemy was just to ravage the land. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help Judges 6:6. God responded by sending them a prophet who had a message for the nation reminding them of all He had done for them and how they had turned from Him.

God was fair enough to remind them that it was their own fault that issues had turned out as was and that something had to be done to redress the situation. God was preparing to show His awesome power to a nation that consistently turned its back on Him. With such a situation at hand all eyes were on God to see how He would react and deal with them.

One day a certain young man with a very low self-esteem was doing his chores in an undesignated place, he was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. Normally wine was pressed in that area, but because the enemy was intent on destroying all food, this job had to be done in hidden places. An angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “the LORD is with you mighty warrior/ man of valour” Judges 6:12. What a greeting to a man who never imagined himself mighty in any way!

This was an unusual greeting seeing the kind of mess Israel was in and this must have shocked the life out of Gideon. What did this mean that one would be called a mighty man of valour in a situation and place in the Israel of that time? Gideon had a natural inclination to doubt God. After all, Gideon was doing his job and he was hiding. “But sir,” Gideon replied, “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us in the hand of Midian” Judges 6:13.

To a certain extent he was right. If God were God then why did He abandon His own at a time they would have needed him most? But little did Gideon know that it was their sin that had separated them from God. Even his own family was caught up in sin. His father was a Baal worshipper as well as an Asherah worshipper.

God was now interested in responding to their call and He had chosen Gideon to be that mighty man of valour. The need was for a man who could stand up against this ravaging enemy and he needed to be a mighty man. Gideon was that man but short sighted was he that he could not see the potential that lay deep inside of him. All he could see was the fear and the enemy and he could never see in himself the ability of being a strong man.

You may be in the same mould as Gideon, whereby you figure yourself as that useless fear smelling character that can do nothing but hide in a winepress while threshing wheat. You need to step out for a minute and see the angel who has just called you a mighty man and listen more closely to the message rather than mouth useless ‘help me I’m weak’ statements.

You are mighty because God has seen the potential in your life and He alone knows how best to develop it to its fullness. You have more potential than a whole Midianite army put together. It’s good to ask God where He’s been but it’s even better to listen to the message that follows thereafter because it will bring a stunning revelation of His plan for the situation you find yourself in.

The angel of God was not rough on the young man but took his time to explain the important message that he bore. 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?” Judges 6:14 Was that not a message that would upset the apple cart for you? The LORD had just the perfect reply for a doubting Thomas of Gideon’s day. He was God after all, and He knew the best time to intervene and cause the status quo to be changed.

God understood that the strength that Gideon had was enough for him, a no body, to go and save Israel out of an oppressive hand. Isn’t it marvellous how God would throw all your doubts about Him out with the refuse? God is a stunning God especially when we want to question His authenticity. He knew what He was doing and He knew that He wanted to use a man who thought he had no strength.

He wants to use you too today in the position that you are in. He doesn’t care what you think about Him because once He has chosen you He knows you are the best man for the job at hand. Gideon was told in plain man’s language to go out in his strength at that time. No other strength was needed it was that which he had that mattered. To cap it off the LORD asked him, “Am I not sending you?” Is not the LORD sending you on the mission He has just assigned an angel to come and tell you about?

The LORD does not tolerate any nonsense especially when it comes to His work. He wants you to understand the urgency of the job at hand. Israel had cried out to the LORD because of the enemy that had ravished their land and He responded by choosing one of their own to come and save them out of the troubles besetting them. Now the chosen one decided to use excuses to get out of the assignment.
“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. He used an all too familiar excuse with God. After all, He had heard Moses say it once and it was irrelevant to the situation at hand. Barak had also used it on Deborah. But on all occasions it didn’t work. So there was no way it was going to work on God in this case.

The LORD replied, “I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together” Judges 6:16. That was the same answer He had used on all the sons that wanted out of the assignments given them and He was to continue the trend in those days. When God calls He doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called. He was going to be responsible for the education of Gideon in the warfare tactics of this impending escapade.

There is no way that God will call you to do a job He feels you will be a failure at. Why not look at it from this perspective. If God felt that the task was too hard, why would He go to the smallest clan in Manasseh and choose the least man in the house? Don’t you suppose that God knew who the right man was? The men of other tribes were well known as warriors but God ignored these and went for Gideon.

In your case God has come to you because He well knows the plans He has for you and they are good plans to prosper you and not to harm you. If He felt you were irrelevant He would never have chosen you. But because He knows you are well able why not take Him at His word and cooperate with the declaration that has been made over your life.

You are a mighty man of valour and you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Don’t stop believing God because He has chosen you to redeem the generation that is crying out to Him on a daily basis because the situation has gone beyond their capabilities. Stand up man of God and save the nation of Israel. God has promised to be with you and YOU will strike down the Midianites together. Don’t worry about the strategy just go as you are being sent.

It is now a matter of you and God working together to get the work done. The cry has been heard, now take up your battle position and go for the job. It was after such a realisation that Gideon decided to do his own bit of research. If it was God speaking then he needed a sign to confirm that which he had seen and heard. He asked for a sign, which would be the norm with us in this day. Oh how we doubt God’s word and desire to see a sign like the Jews of Jesus’ day.

The sign was that Gideon was going to offer a sacrifice in the form of an offering. The LORD at the ready to prove that indeed it was He who had favoured Gideon promised to wait until the offering was made. Gideon went in and prepared his offering that included a young goat and bread made without yeast as well as some broth. Having taken this to the angel, Gideon was told to put the offering on a rock and pour out the broth. Gideon did as told and the angel with the tip of his staff touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock consuming the offering and the angel of the LORD disappeared.

That was beyond expectation. No one would have expected such a response from the LORD at any given time. It was just amazing and Gideon could almost have had a heart attack from this occasion. He was not expecting this and when it happened he was caught flat-footed. What was he to do? When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the LORD he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” But the LORD said to him, “peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it ‘The LORD is Peace’ Judges 6:22-24.

In the original Hebrew that altar is called Jehovah Shammah. Today we live on the legacy of Jehovah being our peace at all times and we can find comfort in that the Bible records that the altar stands to this day. The altar of a fear smelling and a no body became a permanent feature of the landscape and tourists from the world over must have been falling over each other to look at it. He started off at a slow pace but as the innings he was playing proceeded he was able to accelerate the scoring rate and must have reached a maiden century, that is, if he was playing a cricket game.

God will take you out of a place where you are feeling sorry for yourself and take you to a place where you will give Him a Name similar to the one that Gideon gave Him under the oak tree at Oprah. He is interested in getting to a place where you can get your confidence levels to a high. From there He will be able to use you because you will have understood your call and seen the place you must go to.

That same night the LORD told Gideon to get rid of the false-worship that was going on in his father’s house. The instruction was to tear down the altar of Baal and build a proper kind of altar to the LORD as well as to offer sacrifices on it. God was doing all this for a purpose. He was restoring Gideon’s confidence in Him and preparing him for the task up ahead.

The revelation on altars is that they act as aerials of the spirit, meaning they attract spirits to a particular place. They become centres of control and whoever controls an altar in a place controls the whole area. God knew the importance of breaking the grip of Baal in the house of Gideon and wanted an altar in His Name set up. What this meant was that God would be in control and this would facilitate the smooth flow of His work.

A sacrifice was to be made and it would mean the use of the implements used in Baal worship. In the process there was the elimination of Baal worship in that area. Being a fearful man Gideon chose to establish the domain of God by night, such that when morning came there was a great uproar from the men of the town. Having found out that it had been the work of Gideon they sought to take action against him.

It appears his father was a wise man because when things got tough he talked tough. “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for Baal shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” So that day they called Gideon “Jerub Baal,” saying, “Let Baal contend with him, because he broke down Baal’s altar” Judges 6:31-32.

From a fearsome someone, Gideon rose to be a contender of Baal himself to an extent that he got a name to that effect. His father had seen the Hand of God in all this and he was not prepared to stand in the way of God. If Baal were a god then he would have to fight his own battles. Now Gideon was seeing the very presence of God and was becoming comfortable as a messenger of God. This was a chapter in the life of Gideon closed and there was more to come in an unfurling career of a man who didn’t believe he was a mighty man of valour.

As a son that feels out of place in a territory dominated by the enemy, it is good to look to God and see what is stored up for you. At times it will go against the already established order. It will see many altars having to fall so that a proper kind of altar is built up for God. You will need to cut down the Asherah poles and tear down the Baal altars that are in your home and town. It will take you the least member of the smallest clan in your tribe doing wonders through God. And when they come asking you why you are doing or have done what you have, tell them to bring the Baal and see if he can stand the contest against the God you serve. After all,, mighty is He in you than he in the world. You too indeed are a mighty man of valour.

As the story of Gideon unfolds we have a detour or a sub plot in the story development, like any great movie would have. Since God was the writer as well as director of that movie, He knew when the sub plot would come in. In the mean time the enemy was building up its presence in the Valley of Jezreel. The army was composed of the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples.

The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon and he blew a trumpet, which symbolised the word of God, and summoned the Abiezrites to follow him. He was now working in the power of God’s anointing and the mighty warrior was raising an army from the cross section of Israelites to come and be ready for war. See what the power of God can do to a man. Gideon was not confident of his own capabilities but when the Spirit of the LORD was upon him, he could summon the men as far off as Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali to meet with him.

With this fighting army in place Gideon sought the LORD to find out if he would be successful on his quest. The sign or test to be used was termed the “fleece test.” Here Gideon was to put a fleece on the ground and if God had sent him to war the fleece would have to be dry by morning while the floor remained wet and vice versa for the next day’s test. God passed both tests and so Gideon was encouraged to go out and fight. At least he had received the go ahead.

FROM THOUSANDS TO THREE HUNDREDS

The story we meet up with in chapter seven of Judges is just phenomenal. 32 000 men had gathered at the spring of Harod in anticipation of combat, so as to fight on the side of the LORD. But God decided to defy logic and told Gideon that he had too many men to go and face the coalition of armies at the ready to destroy Israel for the last time.

What God had said would not go down with the military strategists of our day. To them numbers mean a lot. But God said there were just too many men to fight because they were bound to claim glory for themselves. Where in the world would a man reduce the size of his army? It was to happen at that spring that very day at God’s command.

Gideon had no option but to carry out the command. The first tool of separation was to get rid of all the men who were afraid. Remember the Bible says that God did not give us the spirit of fear but of love, power and self-control. An amazing thing happened. 22 000 fear smelling, trembling men packed their bags and went home. Had he disobeyed, Gideon could have gone to war with 22 000 liabilities that were going to be detrimental in the strategies to be carried out. For the time being he thought the remainder of his army was made up of brave-hearts.

But God was still not happy. Another test had to be carried out and this time the men were to be taken down to the water to see what their drinking patterns or habits said of their military prowess. Wasn’t that just another amazing and unusual turn around by God? But there was a purpose to be achieved. After all, God does the unexpected. 9 700 men were found to be men who were primarily concerned with their thirst and personal ambition without being focused on what was going on around them.

These men had to go because they were not concerned with the vision God had given to His son. They were dangerous to the vision. It is important in life to hang out with a people who are focused on the work that has been given to you. If they cannot abandon their personal ambition and thirsts, it means then that they are unfit for the task given to you.

Only 300 men passed the test and from these Gideon was to share his vision and God given victory. Imagine the set up that Gideon was faced with. God had called him to save Israel out of the hand of Midian. At first it had been quite a job convincing him that he could do it. Now he had 32 000 of what he thought were the best fighting men of the day.

The next thing was that 22 000 were cowards, then 9 700 were egoistic men who thought nothing but water than the war up ahead. He must have almost had a stroke when God finally told him that the army was well set and adequate for the task. Ahead was a coalition of the world’s best forces and all he had to face them with were 300 men double loaded and probably unsure whether the victory was guaranteed.

So the journey had to begin and no one including the commander himself was sure to speak of the outcome. He must have been meditating on what God was intending to do and little did he know that the best was yet to come. After all, they say dynamite comes in small packages. How powerful would the blast be was the question on everyone’s mind?

You too can be wondering why God intends to work with only a few people in your life when you would rather have the whole lot. He knows that bad association corrupts good character and since you are a new creation God wants all things about you to be new. He doesn’t want you defiled by cowards and egoists. He wants you to be surrounded by men and women who can sacrifice their personal pursuits for the sake of that which has been given to you.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During the night God said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I Am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down into the camp…and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp” Judges 7: 9-11a.

He took with him his servant and went down into the camp where he heard one man relate his dream to another with regards an imminent fall of the enemy that very night at the hand of Gideon, “this can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands” Judges 7:13-14. This was all the encouragement he needed and it was the fuel to energize his move back to his own camp.

Having gathered his army together he told them of the impending victory and gave clear instructions of what was to follow. Dividing his army into three groups of a hundred each they went in to attack the enemy. The victory was unique in that his troops went into battle with nothing but trumpets and empty jars with torches inside and the command, “for the LORD, for Gideon” Judges 7:18. 300 men went in against the enemy shouting victory even though they didn’t have it yet and the enemy fleeing in all directions turning their swords on each other in the process.
Their confession of victory turned out true. It had been important from the start to have a people of positive confession on the team so that at times as these their confession would lead to their salvation. You too need a team of positive confessors who will blow the trumpet of God’s word at the enemy and see Him watch over it so as to fulfil it.

What a great victory it was for 300 sons in an epic battle scene, led by one mighty man of valour. Their victory continued over Zebah and Zalmunna even though the army was overcome with fatigue and had faced opposition even from its own people. At one time the men of Ephraim complained at their exclusion from the fight against Israel, yet it was the LORD’s design to have a small and dedicated fighting machine at the helm of the operation. It took 300 tired but loyal and committed fighters to capture an entire army or rather coalition of the best armed best trained and most feared army of the world in that period.

Judges 8:28 reads like the Oscar winning line from an epic like the blockbuster Titanic. Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace for forty years. Prior to this, Gideon had refused the offer to become Israel’s king because he knew that only God was capable of leading them. After the war was won Gideon retired to his home to enjoy his retirement package in peace and he died at a good old age when his time to be with the LORD came.

God raised up the least member of a family least in its clan to crush a ravaging force called Midian. In the process He used the smallest fighting machine led by a commander whose title simply put would read, “Mighty Man of Valour.” If He were able to raise Gideon what would stop Him from doing the same with you. There is no situation that God cannot turn over. The promise is there in His word, that He has exalted above all things that all things work out together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His Purposes. Here ends the story of a man who was willing to answer the call of God while hiding away from the enemy. Are you challenged? If so why not act on that challenge?

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