Judges 6
Judges Chapter 6 has so much meat and potatoes in this chapter. I want to start at verse eleven. It reads:
11 Then the Lord's angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him. 12 The Lord's angel appeared to him there and said, "The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!"
13 Gideon said to him, "If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."
14 Then the Lord ordered him, "Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you."
15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."
16 The Lord answered, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."
17 Gideon replied, "If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord. 18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food."
He said, "I will stay until you come back."
19 So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the Lord's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. 20 The angel told him, "Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them." Gideon did so. 21 Then the Lord's angel reached out and touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick he was holding. Fire came out of the rock and burned up the meat and the bread. Then the angel disappeared.
22 Gideon then realized that it was the Lord's angel he had seen, and he said in terror, "Sovereign Lord! I have seen your angel face-to-face!"
23 But the Lord told him, "Peace. Don't be afraid. You will not die." 24 Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it "The Lord is Peace." (It is still standing at Ophrah, which belongs to the clan of Abiezer.)
There are a few key things that stuck out to me from these verses. Starting with verse 13:
13 Gideon said to him, "If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the Lord used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The Lord has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."
Gideon asked why has all this happened to us if the Lord is with us? I sometimes think when we experience a setback or a heartbreak, we ask that question. Why did this happen if God is with me? Why did they get coronavirus if the Lord is with them? Why did they lose their job if the Lord is with them? This verse reminded me of what Jesus said in John 16:33. This Christian walk is amazing, but Jesus tells us that we will have hard times, and this life is not going to be perfect or easy. However, we do have God's Peace to get us through the hard times, and we know that we win anyway at the end of this life. We don't always understand why things happened, but we do have a heavenly father that is in total control and is walking with us as we go through life.
Verse 14:
14 Then the Lord ordered him, "Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you."
15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."
16 The Lord answered, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."
17 Gideon replied, "If you are pleased with me, give me some proof that you are really the Lord. 18 Please do not leave until I bring you an offering of food."
In the verses we read, we see that Gideon felt inadequate and wouldn't be able to do the task. But the Lord said that he could do it because he would help Gideon. I want to encourage you that no matter what job you have to do, God will help you, and you can do all things through Christ that gives you strength. It doesn't matter if you have a conference call tomorrow or have to go grocery shopping. You can do all things through Christ, and he will help you. He will give you the strength to get that task done or give you the right words to speak at that board meeting.
Going on to verse 17, Gideon asked God to prove that it was God who was speaking to him. I think we often do the same thing today. We may pray about something and ask God to give us a sign, and I think sometimes God does and can provide us with signs, but I also believe other times, it's not so much of a sign, but rather the Peace he gives us. For example, let's say you just started a new relationship and you're asking God for a sign if this is the right relationship for you, God may give you a sign by how the person treats you or he may provide you with Peace in your heart about that relationship. On a side note, I do want to interject that If you don't have peace about something that may not be from God. Also, keep in mind that God will not confuse you. If you are iffy about a relationship or a decision you have to make, you should seek God until you have his total Peace. God will give you an answer, even if it's not the one you want. Many of the situations we find ourselves in are because we didn't get God's Peace, and we went with what we wanted or how we felt at that moment. I want to encourage you to make sure you have peace about whatever you are praying about or whatever you are about to do before you do it. In the end, you will save yourself a lot of heartbreak.