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This week Ben Tomas shares a powerful a message about Gideon. At first glance, it’s easy to think that Gideon made a lot of bad choices and that we would never do such things. However, we often fall into the same sin patterns that Gideon did. Through the account of Gideon, we see how God is gracious and how He meets us where we are at. Furthermore, Gideon’s account forces us to examine our own lives and our connection with God.
Get Rid of Idols
“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.’” Judges 6:7-10
The Israelites were attacked and they cried out to God. Gideon’s view of the situation was that God had turned away from Israelites, but in reality, the Israelites had turned their backs on God! Even though they were instructed to have no idols, Gideon’s own father had an idol in his house. What idols do you have in your life? Family, providing for your family, popularity, career, home???
God Meets us where we are at
After Gideon cried out to God, God sent an angel to speak with Gideon. At the end of this encounter, God miraculously engulfed Gideon’s offering in fire (Judges 6:26). Later on the account, God again gave Gideon two miraculous signs with the fleece on the ground (Judges 6:36-40). God didn’t need to give Gideon one sign, much less three signs! Yet God was gracious and met Gideon where he was at. God extends that same grace to us and meets us where we are at.
Check your Connection
Ben is an electrician. He was helping a friend who in the midst of building project that had problems with the electric wiring of the house. Ben spent a day troubleshooting and fixing problems throughout the house. When he inspected the main panel, it LOOKED perfect. Every wire was perfectly set-up. Ben didn’t look any closer at the panel box because it looked good. However, a few days later he received a call that the building inspector failed the house because of an electrical problem. The problem was outside of the box with the grounding bar. This is a major problem because the power would still work, however it might damage appliances or injure someone. The power looked good on the outside but it wasn’t good on the inside.
This was the same case with the Israelites and Gideon. Things looked good on the outside, but they were not ok on the inside. They cried out to God, when they got their answer, they turned to idols (AGAIN!).
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
It’s easy to find fault in Gideon and the Israelites. However, we do the same things! We need to evaluate our hearts. Are we depending on ourselves or on God? We will always fail when depend on ourselves.