Title: God Calls Gideon
Contents
* Judges 6:11-24 God calls Gideon
God does not stop rebuking Is, but calls Gideon as a judge to save Is. (11) While suffering from the oppression of the Midianites, an angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon (a wood or stone cutter, coal miner). However, the place and time of the appearance of the angel of God is very significant. He sat under an oak and appeared as Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress.
Here the oak tree was the place where idolatry was practiced (Isaiah 57:5). Therefore, the reason why the angel of God appeared there by deliberately choosing that place is to prove that the Aquarius, where idols were worshiped, is also under God's sovereignty. This means that there cannot be any place specially reserved for idols.
On the other hand, wheat threshing was generally performed when a breeze blew from a wide open area, a threshing floor. But because of the invasion of the Midianites, in order not to be noticed by them, Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, covered in dust.
This place was a testament to the miserable reality of the children of Is living under the oppression of the Midianites. Gideon was also suffering because of the Midianites. The angel of God appeared at a time and place where oppression and frustration, anger and injustice, and idolatry were mixed.
(12) It is incomprehensible to Gideon, who is in a miserable reality, that the angel of the Lord calls Gideon, 'Great warrior,' and declares, 'The Lord is with you,' to Gideon, who is threshing wheat in a winepress for fear of the Midianites. It may not be a word Moreover, God directly tells him, “Go in this thy strength” (14).
But Gideon asked a question to the angel of the Lord who said that God was with you (13). If God is with us, why is the Midianite oppression possible? And where is the God who performed miracles of old? that is. If God were with us even now, this would be impossible. This is a testament to God's departure from the children of Is, so he asks if there are no more miracles like the time of the Exodus.
Gideon thinks that God 'forsaken them (Natash, depart, throw away, reject, reject)' and 'deliver' them into the hands of ferocious Midian (Nathan, hand over, hand over, sell). that this is certain This wasn't just Gideon's question, it must have been a question that all Is people at the time had.
Of course, there are practical difficulties, but nothing can drive the children of Is to despair more than the resignation that God has abandoned them. Now they see themselves as orphans without God and despair that no one will care for them.
Dear all! Before we can grumble against God and question Him for not responding to our will, we must realize our own weakness and ignorance. And we should be able to look first at our unbelief, our transgressions, and our shameful sins before the Lord. We should pray, ‘Lord, forgive my unbelief, and if I have misunderstood the will of the Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me.’ But God is a faithful God who will never forsake His chosen people.
(14) In response to Gideon’s question, ‘Jehovah is’ reveals the identity of ‘the angel of the Lord’. The Lord commands Gideon, “In your strength, go and save Is from the hand of Midian.” What is interesting here is the expression ‘rely on your strength’.
In the text, it is clear that Gideon's strength is given by the Lord from the words, 'Did I not send you?', 'I will be with you' (12:16), and 'You will strike the Midianites as one strikes one.' . Nevertheless, the word 'your strength' refers to a head-to-head confrontation between Gideon and Baal in the future.
It suggests that Gideon's strength is enough to defeat Baal. The contrast between Jehovah and Baal seems to be intended to avoid elevating Baal's position as nothing more than an idol.
Dear all! What we can learn from these words is that we believe that the Lord has already given us the strength and power to overcome the world, the authority to defeat idols, and the power to cast out all kinds of demons and diseases. The question is, have I been caught by the Holy Spirit? It is not that the Lord has not given us that we do not have power, that we do not have miracles, it is that we do not have faith, and that we have many iniquity within us. I pray in the name of Jesus that all of you and I may be captured by the Holy Spirit from now on and become full servants with the power and authority to overcome the world.
Gideon asserts his weakness in response to the Lord's call (15). He also claims that his family is the weakest among Manasseh, and that he is the least in his father's household. However, as the truth will be revealed later, it turns out that Gideon has the strength to have ten servants, the means to prepare a gift for a young goat despite the Midianite attack, and his father to be an influential man in the city.
However, regardless of Gideon's actual ability or financial resources, Jehovah shows that he can fulfill his mission only with Jehovah's 'strength', not Gideon's 'strength'.
Gentlemen, believe that all our abilities are a gift from the Lord. And I earnestly be able to confess by faith that it is not my ability or my wisdom that we can do anything for Jehovah, but the power and wisdom that Jehovah has given us.
(17) Gideon demands a “sign” of his calling. So he prepares a gift and brings it under the oak tree. In order to confirm that the messenger Gideon has communicated to him is truly a messenger from God, he chooses the method of worship (sacrifice).
Gentlemen, truly, worship is the best way to confirm that God is God. In the place where idols were worshiped, the Lord accepts the gift and Gideon gives the necessary sign (21).
Finally, the place of worshiping idols is changed to a place of worshiping the Lord, and Gideon becomes a worshiper of the Lord by building an altar. Ladies and gentlemen, the places where we stand should always be places where we can serve the Lord. Your home, your workplace, and the place where we worship should be the altar of Jehovah.
Then (see verse 22), Gideon, who confirmed that God is God through worship and that the words delivered to him through the sacrifice were the true words of God, suddenly felt a great fear. It was because he knew that if he did not receive the messenger of God properly, and if he met his face directly, he would be killed. But God promised that he would not punish him (23).
So Gideon was determined to carry out the mission entrusted to him, and he built an altar to Jehovah God, who came to save Is, and called it 'Jehovah Shalom', that is, 'Peace to God'. It was because he was moved by the mercy and grace of God who wanted to give Is liberation and peace through him.
Dear all! One important fact is that worshipers experience God's work and existence even though the problem has not yet been resolved. For those who worship us, it is the fact that we find a greater and greater God than any problems we face, and rather experience shalom and the God of peace.
Gentlemen, our God delights in worshipers. Looking for worshipers If you succeed in worship, you can overcome all problems. The power of the believer starts right from worship. Spirit and true worship are power. Hallelujah!