YOU
MIGHTY WARRIOR
(
Judges 6: 7-18 )
By
Ps Nelson Koh
Introduction
The story of Gideon is a story of how God used an
ordinary person to do extraordinary things. In Gideon we see strength in
weakness. In Gideon, we see transformation under God’s hand, of a coward to a
Mighty Man of God. The bible states that God chooses the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise and the weak things to shame the strong. He chooses the
lowly things, the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the
things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Cor 1:27, 28). Gideon
exemplified these characteristics of a weak, tentative and lack of
self-confidence man whom God chose and used for His purposes.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he was
found in a winepress, threshing wheat. What would a guy be doing in a winepress
when threshing wheat is always done in the open fields? Now that’s like washing
your car in a garage or drying clothes in the laundry! He was probably cowering
with fear just like the Israelites who were hiding in mountain crags, caves and
strongholds from the Midianites, the Amalekites and their allies.
Tell story of mummy, who insisted but Johnny resisted.
“Go get a can of tomato soup from the storeroom” she said. Johnny resisted and
kept going back and forth from the storeroom. Finally mummy said “Don’t be
afraid – Jesus is in the storeroom!” Johnny finally went, knocked at the
storeroom door and said “Jesus, if you’re there, please pass me a can of tomato
soup!” Folks - That’s Gideon for you!
From a victorious period of re-establishment into the
land of Canaan under Joshua, the people of God had again entered into a new and
repeated cycle of apostasy, disobedience, immorality and idolatry. We read in
Judges 17:4, “In those days, Israel had
no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” So God, being a loving but righteous
God that He is, decided to give them over into the hands of the Midianites for
7 years. But because the oppression was so great, the Hebrews cried out in
desperation and like always, and up to a point, God relented and sent a
deliverer, a prophet, a judge to deliver his people from bondage.
So, the angel of the Lord went up to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” I
wonder how you would react if the same thing had happened to you? You would
probably have said “Couldn’t be, not me or why me?!” And that was exactly how
Gideon reacted. Couldn’t be! If the Lord had been with us, why has all this
happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers spoke about? Did he
not bring us out of Egypt? Why has the Lord abandoned us? Questions, questions,
questions!
And when the Lord said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I
not sending you?” Gideon again asked “How
can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my
family.” Excuses, excuses, excuses! But the Lord simply replied “I will be with you, and you will strike
down all the Midianites together”.
Am I not sending you? And “I will be with you… But as
though that wasn’t enough, Gideon asked for a sign! As we look at Gideon, with
all his incessant questioning, excuses and doubts, one wonders if God had made
a mistake? No, God had not made a mistake – in fact God never makes mistakes!
Why then was Gideon called a MIGHTY MAN or a MIGHTY MAN OF VALOUR (NKJV)?
There are several reasons for it, as follows:
1.
He was
Available
God often looks, not so much at ability
as he does availability. Ability may be in the form of sociability,
compatibility, adaptability, reliability, giftedness, talent etc. But without
availability, one can become a liability – I mean not just church availability
but Kingdom availability. To be available is to place oneself totally and
completely at God’s disposal – for him to do anything and everything with us as
he chooses – not as we choose of ourselves. Often, we’d like to do what we like
to do. The test comes when we’re asked to do something which we don’t
necessarily like to do. But because we are willing to subject ourselves to
Godly authority, we are willing to give it a go.
On the other hand, you may think of
yourself as unqualified to serve God – but the only way of being unqualified is
to be unavailable. Gideon, for all his questions, excuses and doubts, in the
end, proved to be AVAILABLE.
Story – a one-legged teacher came to J.
Hudson Taylor to offer himself for service to China. Taylor asked “Why do you
with one leg think of going as a missionary? The answer was “I do not see those
with 2 legs going.” He was accepted – and his name was George Scott.
The lesson we learn is that when God
sends he will enable and provide – ours is to trust and obey. Remember God is
not just a God of the possible but more so, a God of the impossible! Ro 8: 31b
says “…If God is for us, who can be
against us?” Your little strength plus God’s immeasurable might will be far
more than any power this world could ever imagine! So go in the strength you
have ( see Moses’ staff, the widow’s oil and the 5 loaves and 2 fish) though it
may not be much and His promise to us is that he will do it together with us –
if only we’ll BE AVAILABLE!
2.
He
was a Worshipful Man
Just like King David, Gideon was a man
of worship. Remember the time when David over-heard that his son from his
adulterous relationship with Bathsheba? He simply arose, washed himself, put on
lotion, dressed and went to worship at the house of the Lord.
Likewise, Gideon said to the Lord in v18
“Please do not go away until I come back
and bring my offering and set it before you.” He wanted a sign from the
Lord but not until he had brought an offering before him. Then in v24, Gideon
built an altar to the Lord and called it The Lord is Peace.
Later, in Jdg. 7:15 we read that when
Gideon overheard a dream and its interpretation that God had given the whole of
Midian’s camp to him, he immediately worshipped God.
God loves a worshipful heart. Gideon had
in mind an offering to God even before receiving a sign. Make no mistake about
it – there’s nothing wrong with asking for a sign although it can be stretching
God’s patience somewhat. Gideon asked questions, he asked for signs, he tested
God but in the end it was all about a very patient God.
3.
He
was an Obedient Man
Gideon may have asked lots
of questions and shown his doubts but each time he obeyed God.
Once again we quote from 1
Samuel 15: 22, 23
“Does
the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as
much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
To
obey is better than sacrifice,
and
to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For
rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and
arrogance like the evil of idolatry…”
When the angel of the Lord asked Gideon
to place meat, unleavened bread and broth on the rock, he did just that. When
the Lord told him to tear down his father’s altar to Baal, cut down the Asherah
pole and offer a second bull on a new altar to the Lord – he did that too –
though he was still fearful and did it at night instead of daylight.
As a result, he got the sign he wanted
from the Lord and he was able to win small battles – against the fear of man
and of his family. It was a case of one small victory – one giant step for
Israel! Lk 16:10a says “Whoever can be
trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is
dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much.”
Gideon was now ready for the big time.
Obedience can bring out the very best of us into the realm of faith. Was Gideon
still lacking in confidence? Indeed he was. Did small victories remove all fear
– indeed no, but God was with him and was about to remove all fear and doubt
and transform him into a truly Mighty Man of God!
4.
He
was a man of Great Faith and Courage
Because of the assurance that God would
stand by him and fight together with him, Gideon developed into a man of great
faith and courage. In Heb 11:32, Gideon is listed in the Great Hall of Faith,
together with people like Samson, David, Samuel and the prophets. He is
described as among those who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered
justice and gained what was promised…whose weakness was turned to strength, and
who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
Man sees the outward appearance but God
sees our potential. When the angel appeared to Gideon, what he saw was not the
‘present’ Gideon but the ‘future’ Gideon. God sees into the future and his
desire was to see Gideon come out of his doubts and fears into the realm of
faith and courage.
As a result, Gideon achieved many
successes and victories because God was with him and against all odds he
achieved final victory against the Midianites in Chapter 7, not with 32k men,
not with 10k but with a mere 300 men, armed with little more than trumpets,
empty jars and torches! Indeed God is a God of the seemingly impossible!
The way we serve with faith and courage
can encourage others to do likewise, and more. On 06 May 1954, a runner by the
name of Roger Bannister did the seemingly impossible by breaking the 4 minute
mile. In the following year some 300 other runners did exactly the same thing.
Small steps of obedience and
faith can help others do likewise. Gideon was transformed from a coward to a
high achiever, a Mighty Man of God!
Close
God wants us to be more than
conquerors (Ro 8:37). When one learns to trust and obey, the Lord can do
amazing things through us. If a coward who took small steps of obedience can be
used of God to achieve great victories to his glory, he can even use you and me.
We need to look not so much
at what great things we can do for God but what great things God can do through
us.
Today, you may feel like
Gideon – the least of the least – quite ordinary – but God is a Master of the
impossible. He doesn’t use those who think they have arrived but those who feel
they have a long way to go. He loves to use the ordinary, the mediocre even. He
is able to change you from the ordinary into the extraordinary. In 2 Cor 12:9
we read of what God told the Apostle Paul, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Indeed,
only when we are totally submitted and surrendered to God, can his power be
made perfect in us.
God might well be saying to
you this morning, “if you’re feeling weak and ordinary, I love to work with the
ordinary – are you willing to put your lives in the Potter’s hands and say, mould me, use me and make me after thy
will…for I’m waiting and yielded still.”
Amen.
