07/16/2009
Lessons from Gideon’s life
1) Is the Lord with you?
Judges 6: 12 -And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage
Israel had sinned against the Lord and therefore God had given them into the hands of the Midianites. As a result they were robbed of their produce and cattle by the Midianites and the Amalekites. Israel lived in extreme poverty. It was amidst such trying conditions Gideon was threshing wheat at the winepress, hiding from the Midianites; when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel then assured Gideon that God is on his side.
In real life situations when faced with a crisis or when there is turmoil, the first question that needs to be asked is; where is the Lord? If we are preparing for a battle with the forces of darkness against us, we need to make sure that the Lord is on our side. For if the Lord is with us we will overcome the situation no matter how bad in the natural it might seem. For if He is for us nobody can be against us.
A lot of the times we strive for victory or try to overcome our trials without the Lord. As a result we keep trying without much result and frustration and delusions sets in. It’s important to first seek the Lord in a particular situation before seeking His hand of blessing on it. Several times Israel lost its battles against its enemies because the Lord did not go with them.
From the story of Gideon we learn that the Lord who was absent from Israel for seven years chose to make His face shine on His people again. As a result of that they received a great deliverance that season.
2) Faith
Judges 6: 13, 17, 37 And Gideon said to him, O sir, if the Lord is with us, why is all this befallen us?
Gideon said to Him, if now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You Who talks with me.
Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor…
In Gideon’s situation even though the Lord had assured him in the beginning that He was with him, it took him some time to see that. Once he was assured that the Lord was with him, he strengthened himself and won the battle.
Even in our lives, in regards to many situations God has given us His promises. He has told us that He is with us and will help us through, but do we see it with our spiritual eyes. Unless we start seeing with the eyes of faith we may never inherit the promises or the victory God has for us in that situation. For seeing by faith is what gives us the courage and strength to do what God requires of us in that particular situation. This produces the breakthrough or victory.
Out of the twelve spies that returned from Canaan, only two saw in the natural and in the spiritual realm. The others saw only in the natural and therefore failed to step forward by faith.
The promise was for everyone and God was amidst them but only two saw it by faith. While Israel’s continual disobedience and not just that one failure kept them from entering the Promised Land, the lesson to see and walk by faith is very important.
In regards to Gideon he asked God for a lot of confirmation and God didn’t mind answering his supplications which greatly strengthened his faith. However, each situation and circumstance is different. There is a place to ask God to strengthen our faith and there is a place to move forward with the little faith we have.
