Trusting

Trusting in the Faithfulness of God when Faced with Challenges (Judges 6:11-16, 7:1-3, 20-21) The Midianites organized a coalition of nations to invade the land. All that Israel could do was flee to the hills and hide from the enemy. The invasion came every year just as the harvest was ready to be gathered, so it was compared to a plague of locusts. When the Jews returned to their homes, they found only devastation; and they had to face another year without adequate food. (Judges 6:2-5) The Lord comes to us out of love, seeking to assure us and encourage us by His presence. The first statement of the angel of the Lord is, "The Lord is with you, …." He doesn't start listing the sins of Gideon and itemizing his failures. (Judges 6:12) (see also Joshua 1:5) God knows our hearts and sees our potential. Gideon was chosen by God, and called a "valiant/mighty warrior." (Judges 6:12) Gideon knew he was no such thing, but God saw in Gideon great potential based on Gideon’s willingness to trust in Him. God has already given us everything we need to succeed in accomplishing His intended work. All we have to do is trust in His faithfulness and act! (Judges 6:14) (2 Corinthians 9:8) God often sets His plans in motion by first touching the hearts and minds of individuals. Moses, Gideon, Paul, etc. Gideon's first steps of faith began a process of renewal in God's people. This set the stage for God’s decisive intervention. We need to get “our own house in order” through confession & repentance before God will hand us victories. Gideon first had to deal with the sin/compromise in his own home, with the worship of false gods, and with the loss of integrity that had overtaken his own family (Joash, his father, was the priest of Baal worship for Abiezer). Gideon’s new name, Jerub-baal, meant, "Let Baal contend against him," because he had torn down his altar. Later it meant the one who conquered Baal! (Judges 6:25-32) Our “adequacy/sufficiency” to be victorious comes from the strength and the grace of God. Gideon overlooking the valley of Jezreel, with his mere 300 men must have felt a terrible sense of inadequacy. But then that is what God wants. He wants us to come to the place where we are bankrupt within ourselves. He wants us to come to the place where we say with Paul, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." (2 Corinthians 3:5, 12:9) Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, we have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) After the victory, Gideon declined a call to be king and reminded the people that God was their king. (Judges 8:22-23) To God be the glory!