Gideon - Turning From Fear

--- Welcome to week four of our women's Bible study on the book of Judges, which we call A Time of Turning. This week, we called Turning from Fear, and it's a story of Gideon. A lot of people know about Gideon. He's not a big mystery in the Bible. His life takes up three chapters. We're just going to do the first two, chapters six and seven. Gideon managed to personally turn from one aspect of fear that had permeated his society, and then he also led Israel to turn from another aspect of fear, two kinds of fears that we're going to talk about this morning. So do I have your curiosity peaked on that? Let's start Judges chapter six, verse one.

Now, we'll remember last week in the story of Deborah, when they were cruelly oppressed by Jabin king of Hazor. Remember, village life ceased. People were afraid. They stayed in their homes. They were quarantined in their homes. They were afraid to move about. Well, now it's almost worse now than just staying in their homes. They went out to the mountains and they made caves to hide, and it was another level of fear, I think, now with Midian overpowering Israel. And you read that Midian would come in with all their people, all their flocks, all their tents, and they would wait for the harvest to be ripe. And then they would come in and just take everything with them when they left. And so they laid waste to Israel. Verse six says, and Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. It seems that when we read this, that the problem is Midian. But Midian wasn't the real problem in their life. So getting rid of Midian wasn't going to be the ultimate solution either, not the ultimate solution. God was using Midian for their sanctification. Midian made their life very uncomfortable. And you know what? God uses uncomfortable things in our lives for our sanctification. And we sometimes are tempted to think, if we could just get rid of Midian, all would be well. But getting rid of, in this case, whatever is making us uncomfortable, but getting rid of whatever is uncomfortable in our lives isn't the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution is God is using these things sometimes to sanctify us and to draw us closer to him. But certainly they were thinking, if we could just get rid of the Midianites, where God wanted to say to them, if you could just get rid of the idols, in fact, he does say that to them. He used a prophet to tell them that very thing. Verse 8,

And in this case, you shall not fear. You know how we say the fear of the Lord, the honor, the reverence? You shall not fear, give honor to, revere, give a special place of prominence to the gods of the Amorites. But you have not obeyed my voice. And so the prophet tells them where they went wrong. It was their failure to fear the Lord that caused them to keep rather than destroy the people and the gods of Canaan, and which perpetuated another type of fear, being afraid. I don't know if I can live without this now. And that is the problem when you become entangled, when idols become entangled in your heart, is we often get to the point where we say, well, it is what it is. I don't think I can live without it. I'm afraid to live without it. So God brings to Israel, he brings in our life what we've called moments of grace. When we are able to see, in this time, Israel is able to see that their idols have disappointed them, that their idols have turned on them. They say to themselves, they're in control, we're not in control. And so they cried out to the Lord for rescue. So God begins the rescue. Look at verse 11.

It's a very sad commentary on the state of what's going on, the hiding that is going on in Israel as they have been overpowered. If you didn't know about threshing before this lesson, you read it in the lesson, that threshing wheat is something that needs to be done out in the open where there's a breeze, like Mount Tabor from last week's lesson would be a great place to thresh wheat. You want to be high, you want to catch the breeze. But Gideon was down in a winepress because he was afraid. They all were. They were afraid of Midian seeing that they had anything of value. And so the Midianites perpetuated a sense of fear. Fear in people's lives kills productivity. Fear kills productivity. Fear paralyzes us. I'm sure you have felt that way, that strange paralysis. You're afraid if you do this, afraid if you do that, and you feel sort of paralyzed. So what does the angel of the Lord say in verse 12?

And every indication is that the angel is speaking directly to Gideon. Yet Gideon responds as though the angel is talking to his whole society. Look at in verse 13,

I think that Gideon kind of missed the point that the angel of the Lord had singled him out and was talking to him and had called him for a specific task, a specific purpose. Instead, all he can do is complain about the state of his country. And he says to him, if it really was God that brought us up from Egypt, where is he now? You know, where are all of these wonderful deeds? Because that hasn't been my experience in life. And when we have kind of a rotten experience in life, we tend to have the wrong perspective of history. And we think that everything happened before us was a fraud just because our life hasn't been good. You know that phrase, looking at life through rose colored glasses. This is like looking through cloud colored glasses. It colors everything. But yet the angel is unmoved. Look at verse 14.

And Gideon says, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh. I am the least in my father's house. And the angel says, I will be with you and you shall strike down the Midianites as one man. Gideon gives the excuse of weakness. And it was true, but the angel was having none of it. The angel kept saying things like in verse 14 and 16, do I not send you and I will be with you. That's what moments of grace are like. In a moment of grace that we see our idols have failed us, God reaches out and he calls and he opens our eyes and we say, I'm weak. And it's true. It's true. We are weak. But what God wants to say to us is, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Don't look at your weakness. Look at my strength. Look at the grace I am giving you in this moment. That's what's important. And so I want to bring for our thinking about what's going on in our life. I want to bring a New Testament passage to drill home this point. Ephesians chapter three, verse 20 from the apostle Paul, where he says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we. Ask or think according to the power at work within us. That is why the angel could say, go in this might that you have. The spirit of God was going to be with him. And we need to remember that too, that we can be strong. Why? Because we're strong? Absolutely not. In our moment of need, we can be strong because the spirit of God is with us. So in verse 17, Gideon says, well, if now I have found favor in your eyes, show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you. So Gideon asks for the first of three signs, three assurances that we read about in these two chapters. And this is the first one. And to summarize these next verses for you, Gideon goes and he goes and prepares a meal, a fellowship meal, and he gets it all ready and he comes back and the angel is waiting for him. And he sets it, he ranges it on the rock, just the way the angel said. And the angel takes his staff and he touches the rock with the tip of it and fire comes up from the rock and consumes it. And then the angel is gone. And Gideon says, all right, I know that you are with me. Thank you for that sign. And verse 24, Gideon built an altar there to the Lord. And he called it, the Lord is peace, Jehovah Shalom. To this day, it stands at Ofra, which belongs to the Abias Rites. All right, so this is the most information that we have collected yet in our study of the judges, the most robust amounts of inner information. And in this moment, it kind of seems to us that this is about Gideon, but it's never about Gideon. God's deliverance is never about his people. It is about him doing the work through people that he chooses to, calls out to and who are willing to obey him. The end goal for every single story in every judge of Israel is for God to show himself strong on behalf of his people. That's what God is about, to show himself strong on behalf of his people. Now, Gideon has flaws. He needs a lot of insurance, assurance and encouragement in these chapters. Most of the people that God ever calls to connect with kingdom work have flaws and they need a lot of assurance and they need a lot of encouragement. Guess what? You have flaws. We have failures. God calls us to do things. We need a lot of assurance. We need a lot of encouragement. And the beauty of it here is that God gives that to us. He doesn't lose patience with us. He gives us what we need. Now, Gideon got the assurance right here that God was with him. And so now God's like the pitcher and he throws him a grounder. It's like, okay, let's see if you're gonna play ball and hit this grounder back. So verse 25,

It's almost like with the fellowship offering, Gideon wanted to know if the angel of the Lord was the real deal and he found out he was. And now it's kind of like God is wanting to know if Gideon is the real deal, if he's gonna follow through. And of course he does. But the first step, where did this grounder go? Home. The first thing that God told Gideon to do was something to deal with things at home, deal with the idols that were closest to him. This was his father's, okay? And the same is true for us. We wanna do something great for God and God will always throw us a grounder and say, all right, I want you to obey me at home. Obey me in what is the closest to you. Verse 27, Gideon took 10 men and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. He had been conditioned to hide. That had been his experience. We don't blame him. Plus there's something, if you're gonna do something that everybody else is gonna disagree with, to do it when there's fewer voices around probably is wisdom on top of the fear. But anyway, he got it done. Verse 28, when the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down and the Asherah beside it was cut down and the second bowl was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, who has done this thing? And after they had searched and inquired, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash has done this thing. And the men of the town said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die because he needs to be canceled in this culture for what he has done. For he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it. This was a bold and a brave move on Gideon's part. We shouldn't underestimate what it took for him to do this. What was this altar doing there? Such a sad commentary. What was an altar to Baal doing among the people of Yahweh? I'm guessing though that the whole village had bought into the fact that this altar was necessary. This altar was essential for them. They all wanted it. They feared Baal and so they honored him with a prominent place in their lives. But sometimes it just takes one person to stand up and say, enough is enough. God called him, God prepped him, God assured him. One person to say, this is bizarre. No, we are not doing this here. And that was Gideon. But the people, his obedience came with a risk. All the people around wanted him canceled. They didn't think he deserved to have a voice. They didn't think he deserved to be free. They didn't think he even deserved to live because Gideon had turned from fearing the God. He no longer feared the God in terms of honor. He no longer gave honor to the God of Baal. So verse 31, here comes dad, bless his heart. Joash said to all those who stood against him, well, will you contend for Baal or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by mourning. If he's a God, let him contend for himself because his altar has been broken down. And we just applaud the critical thinker here. We say, yes, that makes sense. You have given a place of honor to a God. If he's a God, certainly he can fend for himself, but he appears to have allowed his image to be broken down. So there is a problem there. And I see that Gideon's courage, his courage to obey the Lord stiffened the backs of others, even his dad to turn from fear. Verse 32, therefore on that day, Gideon was called Jerubbaal. That is to say, let Baal contend against him because he broke down his altar. So while this is going on in the village, the Midianites are starting to gather for their annual pillaging in the valley. And they start moving in. Verse 33, now all the Midianites and the Amalekites, the people of the East came together and they crossed the Jordan and they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel, but were reminded the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. That makes all the difference in his life and in our life. And he sounded the trumpet and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they went up to meet him. And now we come to this interesting passage about the fleece. There's probably no one in here who hasn't heard the phrase, laying a fleece before the Lord. Is that a good idea to lay a fleece before the Lord? Is it a bad idea? Was this good for Gideon? Was this a lack of faith for Gideon? Well, let's read it, okay? Verse 35, Gideon said to God, and here comes sign number two, assurance number two of the three that we read. So Gideon says, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I'm laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there's dew on the fleece alone and it's dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said. And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl of water. And Gideon said to God. but let not your anger burn against me. Let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night, and it was dry on the fleece only, and on the ground there was dew. And so Gideon got his second assurance from the Lord that the Spirit of God actually was with him. I think the main point of these verses is to remind us, God is gracious. God loves to uphold his word and give his kids the assurance that they need, that the Spirit of God actually is with him. He gives, and he gives, and he gives some more. He doesn't fuss with Gideon. He honors him, and he gives him that assurance. But something else here is that the nature of Gideon's request was in keeping with the nature, the supposed response of this fake god, Baal. Who was he the god of? What did they believe? They believed that he was the god of rain, dew, moisture, what they needed for, as we call, liquid gold in agricultural terms. And so his image is cut down, and Gideon says to God, I just, I wanna go through this one more time. You really are the god of moisture? Could you do this? I'm gonna put this fleece. Can you make it all wet and keep everything else dry? And God does it. And Gideon says, don't be frustrated with me, but can we do the other way? And God does it. But look it, his request was connected with what was going on right there. So I think for Gideon, that this was, yeah, he needed a lot of assurance. Gideon is a weak man. I am a weak woman. I need assurance. But his request was connected with his obedience and what God was telling him to do. Now, maybe you have dealt with, I just wanna tell you a story. When Paul and I were first saved, we were in our early 20s, just walking with the Lord, super excited about the things of the Lord. The people around us were super excited, and laying a fleece before the Lord was something that it seemed like everyone was doing every week, because they thought it was spiritual. And I remember this one young man, and he said to us, he goes, he was single. He said, I really want a stereo system. It was the 80s. I really want a stereo system for my apartment, because I can listen to Keith Green records and stuff, and it's really gonna build me up. And he said, so I've laid a fleece before the Lord. And if I go to the electronics store and apply for a loan for that, if they give me the loan, I will know that God wants me to have the stereo. And of course, in the early 80s, installment credit was all the rage, and everyone qualified for a loan at 27%, right? When you bought any piece of furniture or electronics. And even at the time, I remember thinking to myself, huh, but we can manipulate God in our requests. It's like, my mother-in-law had back surgery. Lord, if you want me to go help her for a couple days, I pray that when I wake up in the morning, there's gonna be cows eating the grass in my backyard. And then I'll know that you want me to go and do that. But if there's no cows, then you don't want me to go. I mean, it's ridiculous, but we actually did have cow eating grass in our backyard one time. But we have to be careful today, because we tend to want to manipulate God with these things. So anyway, God loves to put his power on display in our life. Judges 7,

And 22,000 people left, and I can imagine Gideon in that moment saying, oh, no, I didn't really mean it that way. But he has 10,000, and what had just happened in the last chapter? Well, Deborah and Barak had 10,000, and that went pretty well. So it's okay. Like, I didn't mean for y'all to go home, but okay, we got 10,000 until we get to verse four. And God says, still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And God devised this plan to sift them, depending on whether they lapped the water or whether they knelt down to drink. And the end result is that Gideon has 300 men. If you did the math assignment in your study guide, you know that's 1% of what you started off with. It's like you head to Costco with $1,000, and you are stocking up. You're buying all the shampoo and all the toilet paper and all the food, and you get there with $10. You have 1% of what you started off with. I think you can buy a chicken. But he didn't have much. Now, the theme for this week is turning from fear. And this is the other type of fear, the fear of being afraid. I'm afraid I don't have enough. I'm afraid I'm overwhelmed. I'm afraid I don't have what it takes to do the job that is set before me. That's a real thing, isn't it? Have you ever felt that way? God had already told Gideon he would be with him. God had already given him success in tearing down the idols. God had saved him, spared him from the people that were coming to cancel him. And God had already given him assurance with the fleece. But sometimes in our life, we need almost daily assurance. Like I know I've gotten two assurances from you, but I need more encouragement than that. And God gives, and he gives, and he gives some more. Verse nine, that same night the Lord said to him, arise, go down against the camp, for I have given into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant. And now Purah seems to be a helper here for Gideon, just like we studied last week. Two are better than one. Verse 11, and you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hands will be strengthened to go down against the camp. And then they went with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and Amalekites all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. And as Gideon is looking at this, he is reminded he's got 300 compared to this horde that he is looking at. And when Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, behold, I dreamed a dream, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. They came to the tent and struck it down so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat. And his comrade answered, interpreted his dream, and he said, well, this is none other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the man of Israel. God has given the hand of Midian into, God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. And I think about Deborah and Barak positioned up on Mount Tabor, and they saw the storm approaching from the south, and they were assured that the spirit of God was with them and that they were going to experience the deliverance of the Lord. And now I think of Gideon and Purah down outside this tent, and they overhear what to them is prophetic. Did you hear what I heard? Yeah, that's what he said. And they are assured that the spirit of God is with him and that God, the deliverance will be their experience. See, God gives us, he gives and he gives. Deborah wrote a song, but what does Gideon do? Gideon worships the Lord. And that's what is appropriate at times like this when God has given you assurance, is worship. There's 15. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped and he returned. That built him up and he returned to the camp of Israel, and he said, arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And he divided the 300 men into three companies, put trumpets in the hands of all of them and empty jars with torches inside the jars. And of course, they stationed themselves around the army. We'll drop down to verse 20.

Every man stood in his place around the camp and all of the army ran and they cried out and they fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And then, of course, all the rest of the army of Israel that had previously gone home, either because they didn't know how to drink water right or because they were afraid, now they come in verse 24, Gideon says, "'Come down against the Midianites 'and capture the waters against them 'as far as Beth Barah and also the Jordan.'" And they did that. And they captured the two princes, the Midian, Oreb, and Zeb, and they killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, and Zeb they killed at the winepress of Zeb, and they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon across the Jordan. And so we see that there was a great success. God, in fact, showed himself strong on behalf of Israel and began the deliverance to them. But what do we learn about Gideon? I have four things that are definite applications for us that we can learn from the story of Gideon. And the first one is that God wants us to turn from fear. He wants us to fear the Lord first and only. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He wants for us to honor, to revere him only. And if we have honored or given a place of prominence to anything else in our lives, we need to turn from fear, turn from honor, turn from revering that thing. God would always instruct us to tear down idols. Second thing we learn is that God will give us the strength that we need to accomplish the tasks that he has given us to do. We are, by nature, weak. We have failures, we have flaws, we need reassurance in God's strength. And so we need to turn from the fear from being afraid of taking action, being afraid of being obedient, being afraid of being over our head, not strong enough, being afraid of our culture, being afraid of our family, being afraid of our friends, and trust that God will give us the strength to face the risk involved in being obedient to him. It is God who works in us to will and to act. His strength is made perfect in weakness. And if we are afraid, point number three, God is gracious to give us assurance and give us encouragement. He uses all kinds of things to remind us that the Spirit of the Lord is with us. Jesus told his disciples he was gonna go away, but in John 14, he said,

He's not gonna come and go with you forever. This is our New Testament experience that the Spirit of God is with us, and that is the assurance that the Lord gives us. He gives, and he gives some more. And the last thing that we learn from Gideon is that when God calls us to obedience, usually the first place it starts is at home, right at home. We wanna do great things for the Lord, and God says, okay, well, there's an altar in your house, so number one, let's go tear that down, and then we'll move to the next thing. That was what he asked Gideon to do, and that is often our experience. God wants us to be faithful, to assess and tear down the idols right at home, right in our hearts, and to be faithfully to obey what the Lord calls us to do. Good lesson? Good stuff. Father, I pray that you would help us to put those things into practice in our life. Oh, how easy it is to look at Israel and their idols and not for a moment think about what you might call us to do or to change in our own lives. And so as we are discussing this, I pray that you would reveal those things to us, and Lord, give us courage. Help us to turn from fear that if we take action and get rid of something, that others will turn against us. Lord, we need to have courage in these days, and I pray that you would give us that courage, Lord. Thank you for these chapters, and I pray that you would bless the ladies that discuss. In Jesus' name, amen. ---