May I tell you a story? It’s a true story. And it shows what can happen when God sees courage in you that you do not see.
Here’s the story, as found in Judges 6.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.
Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 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.
They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.
Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. (vv. 1-6)
Reading about the Israelites’ plight, we might lament, “It took them seven long years to cry out to the Lord.”
But then we might pause, and reflect further, and say, “It took seven years, but at least they did cry out to the Lord.”
When the Israelites cried out to the LORD because of Midian, 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. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
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. (vv. 7-10)
And still, the people who were God’s people answered only with … silence. After that, the Lord did not send any further messages to them all. Instead, he spoke directly to one.
Who, me?
The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said,
“The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” (vv. 11-12)
What a greeting!
- It introduced God by his covenant Name. (In English Bible translations, this Name is often rendered LORD, in all caps).
- It told Gideon how the Lord saw him.
- And it gave Gideon the key to becoming the person God knew him to be.
In answer, Gideon was not silent.
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
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?”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites.”
Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.” (vv. 13-17)
In this Old Testament story, Gideon’s visitor is first called “the angel of the LORD,” and then, “the LORD.” In the New Testament, Jesus was the man sent from God, who is God. Gideon’s visitor was likely the pre-incarnate Christ.
He announced Gideon’s true identity, and called him to live from it. But Gideon wasn’t convinced. His questions told the Lord:
- I have no clue whether you’re who you say you are.
- If you are, I’m upset with you.
- And I know I’m not who you think I am.
Gideon didn’t try to hide what he knew about himself. He knew God had found him threshing wheat in a winepress, in order to hide from the Midianites. He knew he did not have the courage, or the clout, or any of the other credentials his people would expect in a military leader. He knew “his place” in his family and his society was an invisible one.
Gideon also did not try to hide his disappointment and anger with God. Gideon cared about his people’s suffering, and it seemed to him that God had wronged them.
Gideon still needed to grow in discernment and faith. Yet he was refreshingly honest and genuinely humble. What’s more, he truly cared about other people. And he wanted to know the truth, about himself and about God.
In response to Gideon’s accusation, “You’ve abandoned us to our oppressors,” God asked, “Am I not sending you?”
In answer to Gideon’s cry, “How can I do that?” God repeated, “I will be with you.”
When Gideon asked, “So how do I know you’re really God?” the Lord confirmed his identity in the same way he showed himself on Mt. Carmel to the people of Elijah’s day: Gideon prepared a sacrifice. God sent fire to consume it.
When Gideon knew he had seen God face to face, he felt even more afraid.
But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” (v. 23)
And so the LORD revealed himself to Gideon by a new name, that includes his covenant Name: YHVH Shalom, the LORD Is Peace.
Do what?
As Gideon responded to the Lord with more honesty and humility, and with true worship and growing trust, he found his courage in his God.
The Lord told Gideon to lead 300 men against a vast army
Gideon did it. He believed the Lord’s strong assurances of victory. And he carried out a wild plan designed to show that God had delivered his people:
One night, at the Lord’s command, Gideon and his men crept up to the enemy camp. Their weapons? Trumpets. And torches hidden inside empty jars.
Under cover of darkness, they took up strategic positions around the camp and, on Gideon’s signal, blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. With 300 torches blazing, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
And then they stood and watched as their enemies fought each other, and fled.
But first, the Lord gave Gideon an assignment much closer to home
It was just as frightening, maybe even more so. The Lord said:
Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God. (vv. 25-26)
Whoa.
First, Gideon was to tear down the idol-worship structures his own dad had built. Then, he was to erect an altar to the true Lord (who was supposedly Gideon’s father’s Lord, in spite of his behavior to the contrary). And on that new altar, Gideon was to sacrifice to God one of his dad’s bulls.
And do you know what? A person who didn’t think he had it in him … did.
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
Turns out, Gideon had good reason to be afraid of his family and his community.
In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” (vv. 27-30)
Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? … If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself.” (v. 31)
Hostile
These people were God’s people, but they had prostituted themselves.
Their divided hearts had opened them to much prolonged pain.
Finally, they had begun to cry for God’s help.
Yet still they closed their eyes and hardened their hearts. They clung to other gods besides the Lord. They worshiped the works of their hands.
Violently, they rejected anyone among them who sought to honor the Lord and trashed the idols they had made.
Remarkable
The Lord knew all that. He agonized over it. He kept trying to get them to see it, to own it, to turn from it. To turn with all their hearts to him.
He had acted justly in letting them experience the consequences of their unfaithfulness. Now, in his mercy, he made a way to help them, through one person who cared about them and who chose to worship him.
Gideon! Someone who did not think himself brave at all made a stunning renunciation of those things that had usurped God’s place in the hearts of his family and community. And he made a courageous choice to worship the Lord alone.
Joash! The one person who might have been most furious over what his son had done took a surprising and courageous stand.
GOD! He valued and honored one frightened person whose heart cried yes. He delivered Gideon from his own people. And as Gideon continued to obey, God rallied the faithful and delivered them all.
Yes, way!
The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.
The God who keeps covenant knows his own. He gives to everyone who is willing a heart to worship him alone.
And he does not abandon them. He will not abandon you. He comes to stay, to be in relationship, to make himself known. And also, he comes to call up, to send out, to go before and with.
He comes as LORD. He comes to be Lord in you every moment of every day.
He welcomes refreshing honesty. He seeks genuine humility. He calls forth faith where you may see only fear.
His battle cry?
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. (1 Tim. 6:11-12)
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Cor. 10:3)
Still today, in Christ, the Lord’s mighty warriors are works in progress. Ah, but their hearts cry:
- To treat him as the holy God he is, and so to bring honor to his holy name.
- To seek first his kingdom, a kingdom not of this world.
- To walk in his ways by his Spirit, and so to reflect his love for the world.
When he calls you “mighty warrior,” you may feel certain he is wrong.
What he tells you to do may seem foolish. What he puts in your hands may seem useless.
And if you dare to step out, even in mustard-seed faith, people for whom you deeply care may be deeply offended, and may vehemently oppose your attempt to follow the Lord.
Again and again, you may wonder, “Lord, was that you? Did I really hear from you?”
But if you will look to him with a heart willing to wait for him, willing to go with him and willing to see what is true, you will know in your inmost being the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Be strong and courageous.
– Joshua 1:9
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God
will be with you
wherever you go.
His grace is sufficient for you. His power is made perfect in weakness. And when you say, “No way!” he will assure you deep within: “Yes, way.”
The original version of this post was published October 14, 2011. It was one of the first posts on this blog, and it quoted verbatim from pages 231-232 in the book I had just written, We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church. Ten years later, I’ve revised and expanded “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” into the current post.
Image by Danny See Chuan Seng from Pixabay
See also
Discover more from Key Truths
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
