Judges 6 - Send Me a Sign(s)
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
How much proof do you need that God is calling you?
Judges 6 (NIV)
6 The Israelites 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.
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7 When the Israelites cried out 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 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. 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.”
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah... 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “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 fathers 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.”
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?”
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17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.
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19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and... he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
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21 Then the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
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36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Gideon goes on to rout the mighty Midianites with an army that God had reduced down to 300 men. Sadly, rather than giving all the glory to God, Gideon elevates himself, and in many ways sets himself up as a de-facto king over Israel. His dysfunctional son Abimelek goes on to a reign of terror, killing his seventy brothers.
Canons of Dordt
Article 8: The Certainty of Our Preservation
It is not by their own merits or strength but by God’s undeserved mercy
that we neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in our downfalls
to the end and are lost. With respect to ourselves, this not only easily could
happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God it
cannot possibly happen, since his plan cannot be changed, his promise cannot fail, the calling according to his purpose cannot be revoked, the merit of
Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified, and the
sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out.
Summary
The sad cycle once again repeats itself as today's chapter opens: The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. So, as He has in the past, and will again in the future, the LORD gave them in the hands of their enemies. This time the Midianites raid Israel each harvest season and loot the entire crop as the Israelites cowered in mountain caves.
This time it only takes seven years for the Israelites to come to their senses and cry to the LORD for relief, but rather than immediately raising up a judge to save His people, this time He sent them a prophet. The unnamed prophet's message from God is quite simple: "I told you so."
Although He would have been justified in doing so, the LORD doesn't leave His people in the misery they brought upon themselves. This time, the Angel of the LORD Himself shows up while the cowardly Gideon was threshing his wheat while hiding out, ironically greeting him as a mighty warrior.
Gideon's response is anything but faith filled humility. He begins by rejecting the Angel's announcement that the LORD was with them, because, as Gideon puts it, all this happened to us. Gideon wants to know what happened to all the LORD's wonders that our fathers told us about. Three times, Gideon demands proof of the Angel's veracity, and each sign that he's provided never seems quite good enough.
Dig Deeper
The men God raises up in the Old Testament to lead His people are a miserable lot. Though they all demonstrate faith in one way or another - oftentimes quite profoundly - they also all have significant character flaws. Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses - just to name a few - all make huge mistakes, especially when they detach themselves from the LORD and rely only on their own strength.
Now we can add Gideon to this club of misfits. Perhaps he's the most dysfunctional of them all. We won't have time to dig into the stories of all the judges as we keep pushing forward, but we'd see the same pattern emerge time after time. These 'heroes' of the Bible are all massively broken people who had often got tripped up by their own mistakes.
But the story really isn't about these men. It's about the God who always comes to save His people. It's about how God raised them up and used them despite their faults. It's about the morsels of faith that they do demonstrate which enabled them to do amazing things as God poured out His saving power through them. That's why men like Gideon are mentioned in the 'Hall of Faith' passage in Hebrews 11.
So the practical take away today is certainly not 'be like Gideon.' The take away is that you can always count on your covenant God to save you, despite your continual sin. And be reminded also that God can and will use you, just like He used a less than stellar guy like Gideon, to help proclaim that salvation to those around you who need it so badly.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sends salvation for His people;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would recognize and trust in what God has called you to do without talking back and continually asking for more proof;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
