Judges 6:25-7:8
Gideon’s fears are seen even more in the second half of Judges 6. First, he is told to tear down the idols that are up in his father’s house. He was to make a bold stand against the false gods that his family was worshipping in order to show them the one true God of Israel. Because of his fear, Gideon was unable to complete this task during the day. Instead, he took a group of men with him in the middle of the night, but he did all that God had commanded. The next morning, he was confronted about his actions. The men of the city did not know how this had happened, and Gideon was placed on their list of suspects. When questioned, Gideon showed a sign of courage. Without fully admitting that he had done it, he questioned the authority of Baal. He simply asked the men of the city to allow Baal to clean up the mess himself if he truly was deity. Gideon said this knowing that it was not possible. Gideon was beginning to learn what it meant to stand up for the Lord, but he still had fears. As we saw in the first part of Judges 6, be careful not to judge him too quickly. At some point in life, we all deal with these fears. We all fail to stand up for God in a tough situation at some point. That does not make it right, nor does it take Gideon off the hook, but we must realize that we all do this. So instead of judging him too quickly, we should learn from his mistake (and our mistakes).
The end of Judges 6 holds the most famous story about Gideon, the fleece. This story proves the point above about our fear to follow God. You may have found yourself bargaining with God at some point in life? How many of us ask God if He will do just one thing then we will follow Him? That is what Gideon did in this passage. He used the signs of the dew and the fleece to know if he was the one called to lead Israel against the Midianites. His calling was confirmed, and he no longer had any excuse to disobey God. But there is something else that is interesting in this passage. Remember that Baal was unable to fix the mess that Gideon made, for he is not a god at all. Gideon called out this false religion in the midst of his town’s leaders. Then, in this next passage, we see God’s power. Who else but God could cover the ground with dew except for one small section where a piece of fleece lay? Although Baal has no power, God is all-powerful. He can perform miracles that our finite minds could never fathom. This is even more reason to follow Him when He has called us to do so.
As the battle draws close in Judges 7, Gideon finds himself with 32,000 men to go into battle with, but God finds that it is far too many. Not wanting Israel to think that they saved themselves, ignoring His strength, God cut the army down to 10,000 immediately. Seeing that it was still too many, God put the people through a test of drinking water. This cut the army down to just 300 men. Now immediately I want to ask why God would cut 32,000 men down to 300 knowing that Gideon has a problem with trusting God completely. Wouldn’t this feed into Gideon’s fear, possibly causing him to give up and go home as well? God probably knew that was a possibility, but His purpose in doing this was to get the glory. He had protected Israel time and time again, and every time they turned from Him. They would worship and thank Him for a time and then return to their sin. By using only 300 men, and allowing Israel to be severely outnumbered, God would show His children once again that their accomplishments did not come by their own strength, but by His. Of course, He could not force them to believe, but in this, God was continuing to draw His children back to Himself. We may question God’s purposes, but we must remember that He is in control. He knows what is best, and we should never neglect to glorify God in every situation in our lives.
Matt
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