Gideon
Key: Blue=Bible, Red= Author notes
Hebrews 11:32-34 (NIV)
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
Hello World,
The author did not have time to tell about Gideon and the rest of those who were named. But it is in the bible, and I have the time! I pray we can enjoy finishing up the Hall of Faith! Today we will talk about Gideon! His story can be read in Judges 6-8. As always, I always recommend you read the story for yourself, but I will do a short summary here.
The book of Judges contains stories how the Israelites would rebel against God multiple times leading God to turn his face away from them. When God isn’t protecting them, other enemies come attack and enslave the Israelites. The Israelites then turn back to God, calling on him to take them out of their oppression. God then forgives their transgressions and sends people (Judges) to rescue the Israelites out of the oppression…but then the cycle starts all over again and the Israelites rebel against God. And there were 12 Judges…so its clear that they don’t learn from past mistakes (a lot like we do today)…and not all of them were male (a little fun fact).
Gideon was the 5th Judge. He was called by God to rescue the Israelites out of the hand of the Midianites. Now please read and learn about him, I’m only going to highlight a two key features that we can learn from in our daily walk. When the angel of God came and told him he is going to help save the Israelites, Gideon asked for a sign.
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
When he went and brought his offering, he followed the orders of the angel and watched it burn up from fire from a rock. This proved to him that he was speaking to an angel from the Lord. However he also asked God for two more signs, which God has answered.
1. Asking God for a Sign
There are multiple times in the Bible where people ask for a sign from God to prove that they are really talking to God. But there are also places in the Bible where we are punished when we ask God for a sign. Sounds contradictory, but if we look into it deeper, we may be able to understand why.
My opinion goes with what we see here (and back in Moses), God knows the hearts of all men. So he knows whether we truly believe in who he is or not. There were times I have asked for a sign and received one, but there were also times that I was not given a sign. I feel that God knows when we truly need a sign or when we are stubborn and a sign will not help us. In fact it may even harm us. As for Gideon, he asked for 3 signs in total, but God knew that Gideon may not have acted if he didn’t see these miracles.
Has there been a time where you asked God for a sign, but one wasn’t enough? How about when you asked God for another sign, but two wasn’t enough? I feel that this is at the root of all humans. But Gideon had the correct faith to ask God for a sign, he knew that he was speaking to an angel of the Lord from the first sign. Yet he kept asking. At first glance, one can think he is stubborn and needs more proof…but what I see is God allowing Gideon’s faith to grow to the point he can become a Judge of Israel.
How many times have we ignored a sign from God? How many times have we actually listened and followed what he said? We see here, that the signs allowed Gideon to trust God especially in an environment where all seem to have run away from him.
The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”
Have you ever heard of the movie 300? “THIS IS SPARTA!” This is an action movie about how 300 Spartans went against the entire Persian army of about 300,000 soldiers. However this is a fictional story based on a real battle (where it was about 7000 Spartans). We do have another biblical account of 300 …and that is seen with Gideon.
So after Gideon received the signs, he began preparing and army to go out against the Midianites. He had an army of about 30,000 soldiers, but God thought it was too many and had it reduced to 300. The Lord did all this to ensure that the Israelites know that there is a God behind whose working for them.
‘The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ ‘
2. God’s strength will save you.
Have you ever wondered why things started getting harder all of a sudden. Like perhaps, you had this plan, but now it looks likes things ain’t working out? I plan to do a post about my MD Match story, and my Medical School Journey, and you and I can both see where God’s strength came and saved me.
I am a firm believer that God wants as much glory as possible, mainly because he deserves as much glory as possible. But it is a temptation to believe that we made it because of our own skills/ work ethic and take what belongs to God and keep them for ourselves.
The story of Gideon shows just how much God wants the Israelites to believe in him. The Judges served as servants of God, but it seemed that they were worshiped more than God was. Dear brothers and sisters, we must be careful not to fall into this temptation. Our God is supreme over all, life and death, good and evil. And as we see in this story, HE allowed Israel to be taken over, HE allowed Gideon to be made a Judge, HE allowed the Israelites to receive their freedom from slavery (again), and as it looks like at the end of the story, HE allowed them to make their decision to continue following him or turning away from him. Unfortunately they chose the latter.
But this is also a lesson for us. Gideon’s own father rebelled against the LORD and worshiped other Gods. God deserves all the glory, he is the one true creator of everything. He will do whatever it takes to make you see that, but he won’t force it. His love supersedes all that he does. In this story, God allowed Gideon to trust in him, and Gideon went on to do great things in his name.
In the same way, God loves us. Let us put all our hope in him as we walk this walk he has called us on. Let us trust in God’s strength. (And if you are interested in what God’s strength should look like in your life…click HERE!)
Thanks for reading!
With love,
Ayodeji Alaketu
