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Towards the end of the study we are doing in the book of Judges, I am planning to have a discussion about the violence on behalf of God – or by God – that we see in the Old Testament. This is a hugely debated subject and there are lots of good thoughts about it. I just need to do some more study before we talk about it. If there are enough people interested, I’d be willing to host a “Zoom” discussion on this.
So, now that we have entered the part of the book where some might say we begin to see a scary pattern emerge regarding the Judges. You see as we read through we find out that these people God works through are not necessarily good people. You would think that a judge sent by God would be someone of noble character. But almost every judge was terribly flawed. Kind of like all of us here on earth. As the story progresses we will see that as Israel devolves more and more into chaos and violence, so do her leaders.
The judges look less and less like saviors towards the end of the book and more and more like mobsters. Today we will look at one of the more famous judges, Gideon. And we’re not going to look at his entire story today. Just part of it.
Judges 6:11-16 (NIV) 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. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
“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.”
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?”
“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.”
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
The book of Judges is not kid-friendly, this isn’t My Little Pony, full of unicorns and rainbows. But Gideon is probably someone you would remember from Sunday School, Children’s Church, or VBS. And truly when I remember this story told to children I have to say we have cleaned it up. We talk about his battle to save Israel from the oppression of the Midianites, and we forget to tell the rest of how horrible Gideon is when he operates on his own strength.
If we remember from our childhood, Gideon is famous for setting out fleeces and leading Israel in a successful battle with only 300 men, some torches, and some trumpets (horns).
I want to note here, that just like others throughout the Bible, Gideon starts out great. He’s humble, understands his weaknesses and he realizes there are limitations to what he can do on his own. Oh – if he could have just stayed right there. Oh – if we could operate out of that frame of mind.
And that’s where I want to stop today. I want us to know that this is not the entire story of Gideon. But it’s a good place to stop, look at ourselves and ask ourselves some important questions.
Do we seek God in humility, do we tell God about our weaknesses and limitations? Or do we simply try to do God’s work in our own strength. I say that because we are all ministers – we, the Body of Christ, the Church, are all ministering to someone – or we should be. The Bible tells me that my job as a pastor is to equip the saints – that’s all of you – to go and do the good works of the kingdom.
The only way we do this is to tap into the power of God – the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to those around us. And God’s power doesn’t come from His military might, it comes from the power Christ has through His death and resurrection. We need to tap into the power of His love for us – that changes lives.