Go And Know

I was reading a story in Judges chapter 6 about a man named Gideon. I'm going to give you the Gena translation and as always I suggest you read the book for yourself.
Before we meet Gideon we see the nation of Israel worshiping other gods and basically being disobedient to the commands of God. God leaves them to their evilness and eventually they are being persecuted and oppressed by other tribes. When they can't take any more they cry out to God to save them. He of course does, again, by sending them a deliverer.
The problem is they only stay obedient for a short time and then once again go back to their own selfish and futile desires and become disobedient and so the cycle continues.
It amazes me that the cycle continues today. We try and walk in obedience and truly honor God with our lives and then gradually the line moves and we become more and more disobedient. The next thing you know we are crying out to God because all of a sudden our lives are out of control.
The thing is Gems it wasn't all of a sudden. It was a process of one bad decision after another and we somehow think God is going to continue to bless our disobedience. Guess what? He's not.
Back to our story. The children of Israel are once again totally oppressed this time by the Midianites and they are crying out to God for help.
Judges 6;1 Again the Israelite s did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
The Lord responds to their plea with a reminder of how they got there.
7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, 'I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me."
The bottom line then is the same bottom line we have today. We do not listen. God gives us instructions in the Bible on how to live and most of us don't read it never less obey it. Again, we can't expect to have power over our enemies (greed, anger, selfishness, loneliness, finances, etc.) if we are not listening to God.
God sends an angel to Gideon who calls him a mighty warrior and reminds him that God is with him.
I love this part because it's just like us humans, you have to butter us up first so we'll pay attention. The angel didn't just call him a warrior, he called him a mighty warrior. Now you know this got Gideon's ear. Can you just hear his thoughts “yea, I'm not just a warrior I'm a mighty warrior.”
It didn't take long though before he came back to reality. He responds to the angel. What do you mean God is with u? Are you new in town? We are starving and hiding in caves. These Midianites are killing us and in case you haven't heard they are like a swarm of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels.
What happened to our mighty warrior?
Pay attention to the next verse.
14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
A couple of things jumped out here to me.
The go in the strength you have and am I not with you.
Sometimes we have to go in our strength and know the Lord is with us.
15 "But Lord , " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
Here our mighty warrior starts telling God why it won't work instead of focusing on the “am I not with you.”
How many times has the Lord asked us to do something and the first thing we do is start listing all the reasons we can't do it instead of focusing on the “am I not with you.”
One of the many things I love about God is He allows us to whine for a moment but then He gives us the final pep talk . He reminded Gideon it was God that called him a mighty warrior so not only could he start the task he could finish it.
This is the Lord's response.
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
God doesn't just say strike them down but that they will go down all together.
King James Bible says as one man.
Basically he wasn't going to have to fight one man at at a time but they were going down all together.
The last part of this story I want to share with you is the best part.
Right before the battle Gideon gets really nervous because remember there are more Midianites than can be counted and God tells him he can only have 300 men in his army! You do the math.
You seriously need to read the story to learn how all that happens, it's amazing.
OK so let's recap. God tells Gideon he's a mighty warrior, not to worry the Lord is with him and he will defeat all the Midianites with only 300 men.
God tells him all this but the Bible says Gideon is afraid.
There are many times I know the Lord tells me to do something and I know the Holy Spirit will give me strength but I still get afraid.
Check out what happens next.
Judges 7:10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed."
14 His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands."
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands."
Isn't it sad that Gideon didn't totally believe God until he heard what the people said?
He put more faith in what man said than what God said.
I'm not throwing stones from a glass house because there have been many times in my life when God has told me something and the first thing I did was go to my friends to see what they would say.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you shouldn't seek counsel from wise friends but the bottom line is we need to believe what God says.
The danger in seeking man is sometimes we will keep asking one person after another until we get the answer we want instead of the truth, especially if the truth is scary.
The story ends with a miraculous battle. The odds were stacked against the Israelites by God's design so there was no question as to who won the battle. The story of Gideon is an amazing one but I want to remind you, you have an amazing story too.
I pray you will listen to what God says about you, that you will stay in the word and be obedient to God's instructions on how your to live.
I pray that when God calls you a mighty warrior you'll believe Him. Remember wherever He sends you it's your strength that's needed to say yes and move forward but it's His strength that will make the plan successful.