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November, 2020 |
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Preached by Dr. Gene Scott on June 15, 1986 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Judges 6:16 WE ARE CONTINUING OUR STUDY OF GIDEON in the book of Judges. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to make a little bread when the Lord came along and interrupted him. The angel of the Lord sat down in the shade, looked at Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, the One mighty in valor.” Gideon argued with God, essentially saying, “If You are really with us, why am I having to work so hard and getting so little for it? Where are all the miracles we have heard about from our fathers, and why are we oppressed and so far from victory?” The Lord answered him, “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel . . . have not I sent thee?” We saw in our previous study that Gideon kept on arguing for a while. I can imagine him telling that angel, “You haven’t sent me anywhere! All You have done is show up in the middle of my misery and brag about being here!” The last time I preached on Gideon, I was on his side when I started; but by the time I finished preaching, God’s word had affected me and I saw that I was in the wrong. But during the week, I reflected on my circumstances and now I am back on Gideon’s side. I found myself arguing with God, saying, “Don’t lay that burden on me! I have other things to do!” There is only one conclusion: God is in the sending business, and when He sends you, there is no getting out of it. Gideon was just a man working hard for his grain. He had not graduated from any university with a degree in theology, and I don’t think he carried a Bible in his pocket. He wasn’t even praying when the Lord appeared. It is often the same for us when God shows up in our lives. We were out in the world working hard for our money when God intruded and said, “The Lord is with thee, the One mighty in valor.” It is hard not to wonder “If the Lord is with me, why am I struggling so much?” God is still saying to us today, “Go in this thy might!” I am inclined to ask Him, “Is that spelled m-i-g-h-t or m-i-t-e? You don’t have to convince me; I’ve been going in my ‘mite’ for some time now!” God’s calling of Gideon was not very spectacular. There were no lights shining down from heaven, and Gideon didn’t pray in tongues in the vineyard. When I listen to some people’s testimonies, I get the impression that the call of God is usually accompanied by miraculous signs. Yet here is God just sitting under a tree and delivering His word, saying, “Go, man, go! I am sending you, and that makes you something.” Gideon replied, “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? . . . I am the least in my father’s house. And LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” When I was 16 years old, I heard an army chaplain preach while I was at a youth camp in St. Helena, up in the California wine country. He had served in General Patton’s Third Army during World War II. I still remember him saying how it angered him when he would get newspapers from home and read that Patton’s army had moved ahead so many miles. It was true that Patton’s army covered amazing distances. But this chaplain said that anyone who read the newspapers would get the impression that some force had just picked up the entire army and vaulted it over to another place. He said, “That isn’t the way it happened. One soldier got the order: ‘Move!’ If that soldier had waited to see if the man on his right or on his left moved, or whether the planes would be on time or the shells on target, he never would have gone anywhere. That soldier had to get up and move as though the whole battle depended upon him acting alone.” Even though I was only 16, I decided then and there that for the rest of my life, whenever I felt there was something important enough to commit to, I would do so as though the whole war depended on me alone. I find the same principle here in Judges 6:16: “And LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Gideon would have never climbed out of the winepress had he not been willing to trust in the promises that he alone could do something for God, as long as God would be with him. Later, 32,000 soldiers would assemble under Gideon’s leadership, which God would quickly reduce down to 300 chosen men; but Gideon started out with only God’s promise, “I have sent you. You and I are enough!” Gideon had to act on the basis that he, just one man with God’s help, would accomplish what God wanted done. How can that be? You may never know in this life the impact your faith has had on the lives of others. Like a spark from smitten steel, your act of faith can ignite faith in someone else. The work of the ministry is done by every person acting like this promise of God to Gideon applies to them as well. Each of us has to make this decision individually, considering what is at stake. My Bible says that we are being trained in preparation for eternity, and we will rule and reign with Christ forever! Gideon finally stopped threshing wheat and decided to bring an offering. He might have thought, “I’d better straighten things up with God, just in case He is really here!” I believe that God wasn’t very impressed with Gideon’s offering. Gideon’s offering essentially typified an attempt to offer one’s own good works. It did little to improve his relationship with God because God is not interested in good works. God doesn’t want our works; He wants our faith. God wants people willing to hang their bodies on His word of promise. Gideon’s starting point of faith came when he stopped arguing, made his peace with God, and built an altar that he called Jehovah-shalom, “God is peace.” It may take some time for us to finally accept our responsibility, to stop looking at our circumstances and to stop arguing with God. You might say, “This doesn’t describe me. I never argue with God!” Well, it applies to me. In fact, I still feel like I am closer to Gideon’s point of view than to God’s. If I were Gideon, I would have said, “Okay, Lord, I’ve finally accepted it: You’re here, You’ve called me and sent me, and I am able to do whatever You want me to do as long as You are with me. Now, demonstrate Your power! Deliver me with thunder and lightning! Give me everything I need in advance and then I will rejoice beyond anyone You have ever chosen. I will declare, ‘You did it, God! You get all the credit!’” There are many Christians who think that once they have dedicated themselves to God, it is now God’s turn to do everything else. God didn’t even give Gideon time to go testify to his friends and neighbors about what a great commitment he had made. Verse 25 says, “And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it.” He essentially told him to take the best thing his father had and make a burnt offering out of it, using his father’s altar of Baal for firewood. I can imagine Gideon pleading, “Couldn’t I use someone else’s bullock? Do I have to take it from my father? Why should a member of my family have to suffer because I’ve responded to Your call on my life?” I once heard a TV evangelist say, “If I have to choose between my family and my ministry, my family comes first.” He would not have made it through Gideon’s first test. It is impossible for your commitments not to affect those who are close to you. Jesus told His disciples that He came not to bring peace to the world, but a sword; and that a man’s foes would be those of his own household. Isn’t it interesting that Gideon’s father had an altar to Baal? Many Christians get themselves involved with people who have their own figurative “altars of Baal.” God didn’t ask Gideon to do something he could not do; He asked him to start with what he could do. The problem with some Christians is that they are still sitting on what they have, waiting for God to give them something they don’t have, so they can give Him the credit. God doesn’t need your credit. He wants you to commit to do what you can do and make the first move, so He can get out from under the tree and start showing you what He can do. The Lord told Gideon to destroy the altar to Baal and cut down the grove that was beside it. Then He told Gideon to build another altar. God said, “Build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.” Gideon took ten men and did what God had told him to do. In biblical symbolism, the number ten represents human responsibility. Gideon did it by night because he was afraid. Isn’t that wonderful? That means it is okay to be afraid. Where did the idea come from that fear necessarily cancels out faith? Faith is 90 percent courage! Faith is the courage to act on God’s promises in spite of your fears. When you think about it, Gideon’s decision to do his assignment by night was rather foolish. Was God any less able to deliver him in the daylight than He was at night? Then why go at night? Because Gideon was not sure God would be there, and in case He was not, Gideon could run away and hide easier in the nighttime than in the daytime. A mixture of human, self-preservative ingenuity is always inside us even as we learn to take our fist faltering steps of faith. The church world has been crippled down through the ages by super-mystical preachers who have never had to face the reality of life where we live it. They want us to believe that we can pray ourselves into such a state of spiritual perfection that we can go out and fight Goliaths; and they never entertain the thought that we might get the stuffing beaten out of us. They try to make us think that enough prayer will eliminate the caution that common sense demands, and that if we would simply believe God, we need not fear anything. Nonsense! God might just pull back from you a little to see if you mean business. There is nothing wrong with being afraid. Gideon likely thought to himself, “Well, just in case I imagined all those things that happened in the vineyard and God wasn’t really calling me, I have ten others with me. If God lets me down, at least it’s dark enough so we can run away and hide.” Give Gideon credit for his courage: even though he did it at night because he was afraid, he still did it! if the devil cannot stop you from stepping out in faith, he will criticize you for refusing to leap from a pinnacle. The devil even said to Jesus, “Didn’t God say He would give His angels charge over You? Leap off this pinnacle, and see if He will keep His word.” But Jesus replied, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” I am teaching you to have an intelligent faith. You don’t have to park your brain at the church doors to be a Christian. You might fight the fight of faith as though you alone will bring the victory; but at the same time, don’t be foolish. It is okay to take intelligent steps to stack the odds in your favor! As long as you are working by faith to succeed in what God has called you to do, you are going in the right direction. Let’s continue reading, starting at verse 28: “And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing?” When they learned it was Gideon, they said to his father Joash, “Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.” Joash then renamed his son “Jerubbal,” meaning “Let Baal contend.” Joash found his courage! What is the lesson? When you step out in faith, others will stand by your side. God will not fail to provide what is needed at the right time. Joash came to his son’s defense. Joash said, in essence, “After what I’ve seen, I want to be involved! Let Baal fight for himself! And anyone who tries to kill Gideon has to get by me first!” Notice that Joash had not been talking to God as his son had; there was no reason for Joash to have been softened by any spiritual experience. He was inspired by what he saw. Joash represents to me what an ideal father should be. I would like to tell fathers, “Find something worth living and worth dying for, better than making money or other temporal things, and communicate it to your children. And when your children make a commitment, in God’s name stand up and applaud their heroism!” Here they are, father and son together, ready to do battle for the things of God! After all these things happened, you might think that God would have let Gideon enjoy some peace and quiet for a while. But God had bigger plans for Gideon than just tearing down an altar. Now if I had written this chapter, I might have staged it differently. The story was pretty good up until now: Gideon was threshing wheat when God called him. God showed Gideon that he had no interest in his holy works but just wanted his faith. Gideon finally made his peace and accepted his assignment. And although he was afraid, he still did what God had told him to do. But if I had written this, the next verse would say, “Then all the angels of the Lord gathered together and encamped around Gideon!” That would make for a more satisfying story. But instead, verse 33 says, “Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.” The enemy came like a flood: there were hordes of Midianites and Amalekites. I can imagine Gideon saying, “God, I knew these enemies were out there, but at least I was hidden when I was still in the winepress. You came down and ruined my life! I did what You told me to do and cut down those damned idols. My father even stood up for me. Now, when are You going to do something?” Most of us would like to rewrite the script of our own circumstances too. We think that if we could only experience some kind of miraculous intervention, then we would know that God is on His throne. But instead, as soon as we make a commitment to God, everything goes wrong. All the enemies encamp around us in the form of car repair bills, hospital bills, tax bills and every other kind of pressure or problem. We thought it was bad when we were still hidden, like Gideon threshing grain to survive. Now we have come this far and our circumstances are worse than when we started. We knew that all those enemies of God’s people were out there, but now they have united against us. The next verse gives us hope. We read in verse 34, “But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon.” Some Bibles have an alternative translation in the margin: “The Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.” The lesson is that we must act in faith on God’s promises, without expecting God to first remove all the opposing circumstances. We are to act in faith with the certainty that whom God calls, He enables. We have the gift of His Spirit and are more than conquerors in Christ! Nothing that Gideon had done up to this point required anything miraculous. God’s Spirit didn’t clothe Himself with Gideon when he made his altar of peace or when he stopped arguing and took his first steps of faith. God’s Spirit didn’t clothe Himself with Gideon when he cut down those idols or when it appeared that the townsmen were going to take his life: Joash handled that. But when the circumstances demanded it, when Gideon’s continued progress in faith brought him to a place where only an infusion of God’s power could win the victory, God did what only He could do. God is never on time, as I view things. Frankly, if I were Gideon, I would have wanted God to have done something more dramatic. I think it would have made a far better story if the angel had taken a sword in hand and had gotten on a horse with me. Then we could have ridden out together on a mission to cut down all the altars to Baal. God misses every opportunity to show off! I have given Him plenty of opportunities to demonstrate His power. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted God to deliver you with a spectacular display of power, but He missed the opportunity? The lesson is this: when we are faithful, God is always on time, in His time. We cannot, on our own, do things that are beyond us, but we can act in faith, believing that God will enter in and fight the battle with us, even if it looks as though we must do it alone. We must never relax our grip. We must keep on fighting the fight of faith as hard as we can, knowing that God backs His promises. When it is His time, He will enter in to our circumstances with His power. If I didn’t believe that, I would stop preaching today. If I didn’t believe that, I would have never started. It is a principal repeated throughout God’s book: whom the Lord calls, He enables! No matter how close to failing it seems you are, God can still work a miracle in your circumstances. You might think, “It’s getting harder for me to believe that.” We are in many ways like Gideon. When we have plenty of time to deal with a problem, we can get into a mindset where we say that we expect God to do something, while deep inside, we still think that we are the ones who have to solve the problem. I want us to see that when there was no place for Gideon to go, when there were too many enemies to hide from, that is when the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon. God is always on time. Will you say this with me? “We made it through!” Let’s go out and give it all we’ve got, because if God be for us, who can be against us? Reprinted with permission from Pastor Melissa Scott | December, 2020 Wingspread | November, 2020 Wingspread | October, 2020 Wingspread | September, 2020 Wingspread | August, 2020 Wingspread | July, 2020 Wingspread | June, 2020 Wingspread | May, 2020 Wingspread | April, 2020 Wingspread | March, 2020 Wingspread | February, 2020 Wingspread | January, 2020 Wingspread | | Year 2019 Wingspreads | August, 2016 Wingspread | 2016 Wingspreads | 2014 Wingspreads | 2013 Wingspreads | 2012 Wingspreads | 2011 Wingspreads | 2010 Wingspreads | 2009 Wingspreads | 2008 Wingspreads | 2007 Wingspreads | 2006 Wingspreads | 2005 Wingspreads | 2004 Wingspreads | 2003 Wingspreads | 2002 Wingspreads | 2001 Wingspreads | August, 2001 Wingspread | November, 2001 Wingspread | December, 2001 Wingspread | 2000 Wingspreads | 1999 Wingspreads | 2015 Wingspreads | Year 2017 Wingspreads | 2018 Wingspreads | Year 2020 Wingspreads | Year 2021 Wingspreads | Year 2022 Wingspreads | Year 2023 Wingspreads | | Return Home | Current Wingspread | Wingspread Archives | Contact Us | |
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