A young boy sat in church and watched as the offering plate was being passed. Wanting to give something, he reached inside his pocket for something to put in. To his dismay, he had nothing inside. As the plate was passed down the row and came to him, he put the plate on the ground and stepped inside. He had nothing monetary to give, but he gave the most important thing he had—himself.

Judges 6-7

To begin, we must understand the overall theme of the book of Judges. It can be summarized by the last verse in the book: Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Question, is the problem that Israel doesn’t have a king? Yes. Answer: King Saul in 1 Samuel 9, right? Wrong. Their King was supposed to be God and God alone. The people of Israel finally inherit the promise of their forefathers, the land flowing with milk and honey. A land of plenty, a successful campaign led by Joshua. So what do they do? Serve other gods and did what was right in their own eyes. 

I love that the Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus. On page 1, of this entire Bible, what does Eve do? What is right in her own eyes. When we are tempted to sin, what is the enemy trying to get us to do? What is right in our own eyes. 

Today, we look at a man who gets a lot of credit but really shouldn’t. Unfortunately, to the error of many, some even will emulate what this man did and call it godliness. Gideon. A judge raised up by God to relieve the Israelites from the Midianites. And like most of the characters in the Bible, he has a lot of flaws we can learn from.

Fear and doubt will plague your call

So Gideon experiences an amazing encounter and powerful call into a ministry moment for the nation of Israel. He is called “O mighty man of valor”. Question, did Gideon do anything? He is threshing wheat with a winepress. Now, you don’t have to be a scholar to know, the winepress is used for making… wine. Wheat, is used for many… bread. 

He is hiding. That is why he is using a winepress. He is afraid. Typically you threw the wheat into the air, preferably on the top of a mountain so that the wind would blow away the chaff and the good wheat would fall to the floor. Gideon, is afraid. But God calls him up to who he is supposed to be. How many have been blessed by God before to be called up from a position of lowliness? All of us in Christ! Amen. 

Then, he is afraid of this angel of the Lord. So afraid, he almost doesn’t even get the call on his life. We will get into him doubting this angel in the next point, but what does the Lord ask him to do? Destroy an altar to Baal. When does he do it? 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. 

“My clan is the weakest.” Is Gideon thinking in physical terms or spiritual ones? When it comes to your life and your circumstances are you thinking in spiritual terms or physical ones?

2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. If God hasn’t given you a Spirit of fear, where does it come from? 

Fear will keep you from God’s call on your life. It will paralyze you, cause you not to take the risks God has called you to, doubt your God and yourself, and more. Later in this story Gideon lets all of those who are afraid to leave. 22,000 men left. 22,000 men walked out on their calling and missed God moving mightily in them because of fear. Don’t be one of the 22,000.

We are often our biggest enemy

6:13, “pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has all of this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about?” Have you heard a more arrogant statement in your life? You pushed him away with your actions Israel! Guess what friends, we do the same exact thing with our sin today. “God seems so far from me!” Well you put him there when you decided to live in sin and put him last. We firstly inhibit God, with our sin.

We often inhibit God with our own expectations. So, this fleece, is it the first time that Gideon asked for a sign? No, it is the second. In fact, he gets four signs in order to actually do what God had asked him to do. The first sign, easy enough right? Well, Gideon had doubts, he needed a far more difficult sign to believe.

I see a very unfortunate trend today from folks seeking the Lord’s will. They will “throw out a fleece” and then come up with some sort of terms. Question, is God bound by your boundaries and your terms? Nope. There are portions of scripture that are prescriptive and descriptive, this portion is undoubtedly descriptive. Just because fear ridden Gideon did it doesn’t mean you should too. 

In Luke 1:18 Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist doubts the words of Gabriel and is struck silent until the child is born. This is a case of God moving in spite of Gideon’s fleece, not because of it. Don’t inhibit God with fleeces. Is God trying to actively hide his will from you? No. Trust him to show you in his way and his timing, don’t manipulate the situation to know the information you want on your terms. God isn’t your butler. 

Matthew 16:4, “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.” We have to have the humility to allow God to speak to us his way and in his timing. Imagine someone saying, “sleep with me, then I’ll know you love me.” Well, we all know of course this is manipulation. Saying how God should speak and demanding when is never right. 

God’s Victory is Found in Our Weakness

Question, did God make a mistake in picking Gideon? No. Did God make a mistake in picking you? No. Gideon’s weakness was God’s strength. It was in his fear that God pressed and made him into the vessel that was needed for this amazing move of God. Not an amazing move of Gideon, an amazing move of God. 

We make movies like 300 and celebrate the valiant men who marched daringly on a larger group of soldiers. But who is the real victor here in this story? It’s God! God moves in spite of Gideon’s weakness and proves his strength to be mighty. It isn’t the dazzling military tactics of Gideon or the muscles of his soldiers, it is by the sheer will and strength of God in heaven that victory is found. 

And so now we come to the most important part, the gospel. Was it Christ’s weakness on the cross or your strength that delivered salvation to you? Was it your ability to muscle up some good behavior and performance that yanked you over the line into great victory? Of course not! It is in your weakness that the gospel saved you. It is when you came to the end of yourself and humility ruled the day that you turned and trusted in Jesus. 

So now, as you follow him, as you are in the place of great promise by being in relationship with God, and the enemy is assailing you, like the Midianites the enemy feels like an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore: “how can I be victorious in this generation of wickedness and sin?” 

2 Corinthians 12:8-10, 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Gideon’s thorn was fear and doubt. You might identify with that or have another, or have multiple thorns, but what is the message from Paul, the greatest Christian to ever live? When I am weak, then He is strong. Don’t waste your time pleading with the Lord to just take it away, spend your time becoming more like Jesus and allow him to change you into the man or woman that God has called you to be. Our God is so good that he uses that thorn that the enemy placed there for his good! 

Conclusion

JI Packer: “God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away. To live with your ‘thorn’ uncomplainingly—that is, sweet, patient, and free in heart to love and help others, even though every day you feel weak—is true sanctification. It is true healing for the spirit. It is a supreme victory of grace.”

You might think weakness has eliminated you from being used of God, but can I remind you that Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who are persecuted and who struggle. Are you being battered and run in on every side? Good! Count yourself blessed for being worthy of being attacked by an enemy who hates God. I often worry about those who aren’t attacked when they follow Jesus. 

Fear and doubt will always lurk, no matter who you are. But when we walk in our identity in Christ, we will overcome. Identify that voice, remind yourself today, “that isn’t my Jesus speaking fear and doubt into my heart.” 

Secondly, we need to have the wisdom to realize that we are oftentimes the greatest inhibitor to God’s work in our lives. It sounds a lot more spiritual and honestly feels a lot better to say, “the devil is attacking me!” and maybe so, but most of the time I find that it is our own flesh crying out and tugging us towards the world. That’s what the flesh does, just read Romans 7. 

Lastly, your true victory is found in Christ. Not in your white knuckled effort to become good. You are as helpless as Gideon. But God calls you up to who you are supposed to be: “The Lord is with you, O mighty man or woman of valor.” Jesus sees who you really can be, do you? Listen to his voice, and step up and step out into the person God has called you to be. We can, listen to me, we can be victorious in Christ. But we have to walk in that and believe in faith.