Gideon

Today I want us to go to the book of Judges which deals with the story of Gideon's defeat over the Midianites. Gideon was just a farmer and unlike some farmers he had no desire to be anything more then a farmer. He never had any political ambitions, he never dreamt of being a military leader and yet God had a different plan for his life. God is so great.

Let us begin by singing; How Great Thou Art

Scripture Reading Judges Ch7:7-14

Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes’. So he took the jars of the troops from their hands and their trumpets and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below them in the valley. That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Get up, attack the camp for I have given it into your hand but if you fear to attack go down to the camp with your servant Purah and you shall hear what they say and afterwards your hand shall be strengthened to attack the camp’. And he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp. The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore. When Gideon arrived there was a man telling a dream to his comrade and he said, ‘I had a dream and in it a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell. It turned upside down and the tent collapsed.’ And his comrade said, ‘This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has given Median and all the army’. When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation he worshipped and he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Get up for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hand’.

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As we enter into a time of prayer let us sing: As The Deer

Time of prayer.

Thank You Lord, that You are my refuge and my strength in hard times and an ever present helper in times of trouble. Help me to cling to You and the truths found in scripture

I know that You are the only all-powerful God and that there is nothing that is too difficult in my life for You to deal with, nor is there any obstacle in my path that is so insurmountable that I cannot cross, knowing that You are by my side.

Please give me Your strength to face today’s hard and troubled times, with the confidence of knowing that Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Thank You that my strength comes from You, and that Your grace is sufficient for all the tasks and duties that will cross my daily path, not only for today but for the rest of my journey through life.

Thank You, Father, that Your grace is sufficient. Help me to meditate on this truth every day

Amen.

Please take a few moments to pray for your family loved ones and friend's, not forgetting yourself.

Please share with me the Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

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Just before we go to the word let us sing a favourite of mine.

Light of the World.

The chorus says: Here I am to Worship. Here I am to bow down. Hear I am to say that you are my God. And he is.

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Gideon’s 300

Doesn’t matter how strong we think we are, when we’re faced with impossible odds, our heart wavers. The problems (which are so close – right in front of our eyes) seem so much bigger than God – who right now seems a million miles away. We want to believe in God in the middle of this mess.

In our scripture that we had earlier, we see how Gideon, at Gods command, assembled an army to fight against the armies of the Midianites and the Amalekites. Even with all the men in Gideon’s army, this battle would be a David and Goliath affair. I mean Gideon had a a very small army of 32.000, against 135.000 Midianites and Amalekites. I mean crazy. But then God does something strange, he keeps reducing the number of men in Gideon’s army until there are only 300. God wanted Israel to understand that it was by His power that they would be delivered in this battle, not through their own strength.

I often wonder what Gideon was thinking and feeling in those days and weeks as God reduced his numbers and sent him on what was almost certainly a Kamikaze mission, a suicide mission. Surely no one could win this battle and from a human standpoint that’s often how it feels.

Things in our lives seem to be going from bad to worse. Instead of our prayer making things better, things seem to spiral downwards and we’re left wondering, “God, what are you up to?” Now, I’m sure Gideon was made of sterner stuff than me but even so he needed to be certain that God was in this. So God, by His grace, gave Gideon an insight how He had already gone before this tiny rag tag band of three hundred to a sure victory against this mighty army. Do you see what’s going on here? God is about to move in Israel’s favour with incredible power through this tiny band of no more than three hundred men. God is about to beat 135,000 Midianites and Amalekites, with only 300 men. Just stop and think about that. The sheer and utter impossibility of that situation. I mean its crazy right? And so, Gideon’s heart, is wavering, why? Because what he’s been asked to do by God is just completely unnatural.

We humans have a strong sense of self preservation and so when God asks us to do something that from where we sit looks completely mad, well our hearts are going to waver. Its just not natural for us to be in a dangerous place and wait for God to move in power.

It simply isn’t natural for us to rely on the fact that God has already gone ahead of us to ensure victory because through our sense of saving our own skin we look at the problem and the risks and the danger that looms so hugely, so ominously before our very eyes and we’re afraid.

Do you see how this isn’t just some myth from the past? It’s a true story, it’s an historical account of the power of God and I wonder if sometimes we miss out on seeing Gods power because we just run away from the impossible way too early. Gideon did not, because he asked God for signs as his heart was wavering as any man’s heart would do facing almost certain death.

Gideon asked God for a sign, and fire came down from heaven and then not once, but twice, Gideon throws out the fleece; God, tonight put dew on the fleece, but not on the ground, then I’ll know it’s from you. So, God does that and the next night Gideon says, ‘Well don’t get angry with me God but just to make sure could you do this the other way round? Could you put the dew on the ground and not on the fleece?’ So, God does that. Then the Lord said to him:

Get up, attack the camp for I have given into your hand. But if you fear to attack go down to the camp with your servant Purah and you shall hear what they say and afterwards your hand shall be strengthened to attack the camp.

Don’t you just love that? God knows our frailties; He understands our fears and so by His grace He leads us through the difficult times. But you and I we are so often afraid, we are dejected, we’re busy panicking, running around in circles, flapping, running this way and that. Sometimes we are so busy worrying that at times, I don’t think we would hear God if He shouted. We want to see God move in power in our lives, we want to understand what He’s up to, we want to be encouraged by God and yet we run away and then wonder why we didn’t experience the power of God.

Please listen, by definition if we’re going to see God’s power in our lives then it’s going to be in an absolutely impossible situation against impossible odds and that place, for a time, perhaps for a short time maybe even for a long time, that place is going to be uncomfortable, dark and scary. That’s the place where God does things through His power. And its done that way so we can be in absolutely no doubt that it came from Him and not through us.

I’ve been through some difficulty times as I know you have as well. Its only as I look back on those times that I can truly see and really comprehend just how amazing God’s power is. Just because you and I or Gideon are afraid does not mean that God has lost His power or that God’s not going to show up. Fear is natural and I believe, what God is saying to us today is just, get still and listen, and let Him lead us and show us what He wants to show us, and then like Gideon our hand will be strengthened to the battle and to be victorious. Amen.

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As we drawer to the close of our worship, come to God with all your worries and concerns and give them all to Him. Surrender all that you are to the one who brings victory.

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.