Prayer: Lord, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea! Don't turn away from me in this time of my distress. Bend down your ear and give me speedy answers, for my days disappear like smoke. My health is broken, and my heart is sick; it is trampled like grass and is withered. My food is tasteless, and I have lost my appetite (Psalms 102:1-4, TLB). In Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen.
Main Scripture: Read Hebrews 1:32.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon…who through faith conquered kingdoms.
Associated Scriptures:
Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 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." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water. 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. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew (Judges 6:36-40).
During that night the Lord said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God (Judges 7:9-15).
Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years (Judges 8:28).
Correlative Quotes:
It is noteworthy, however, that Gideon was not using the fleece to discover God's will, for he already knew from divine revelation what God wanted him to do (v. 14). The sign related to a confirmation or assurance of God's presence or empowerment for the task at hand (Judges 6:36-40).[1] – John Walvoord
It took courage for Gideon and his servant to move into enemy territory and get close enough to the Midianite camp to overhear the conversation of two soldiers. God had given one of the soldiers a dream, and that dream told Gideon that God would deliver the Midianites into his hand. The Lord had already told Gideon this fact, but now Gideon heard it from the lips of the enemy (Judges 7:10-14)! [2] – Warren W. Wiersbe
"Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more." And how was this accomplished? The remarkable victory God wrought for Gideon, without any effort on his part, may be regarded as a type of that greater, better victory which, without any effort on ours, God's Son wrought for us when He took our nature and our sins upon Him -- dying, the just for the unjust, that we might be saved (Judges 8:22-35).[3] – Joseph Excell
Study:
We must remember when reading the account of Gideon, that faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “the assurance in things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”. Gideon reflects this definition as he struggles to discover the truth about what he is hearing from God. He is trying to ascertain whether it is God’s voice or a bad piece of goat sausage that he had for dinner.
Gideon wants clarification. He knows what the God of past miracles has accomplished, he just wants to make sure that this is the same God. Remember he has been brought up in a society that has left the One True God to worship idols. God has been silent while Israel has been practicing unrighteousness by breaking His first commandment.
As a result, Israel has been paying a huge price for their disobedience. It is easy for the believers to look backward and say, “How could Israel be so blind that they would worship things that were made by their own hands.” Then, they turn around and do the same thing. They take credit for their successes. They buy big expensive cars and treat them like their children. They buy luxurious homes and say, in essence, look at what I have accomplished. They Idolize movie stars or music successes and even politicians and put them on a pedestal. Idol worship takes many forms.
Once Gideon realized that his direction was coming from the Only God, he acted quickly and completely in faith. Would we lead a charge into a camp of thousands of soldiers shouting at the top of our lungs with only flairs, just because God told us to? That takes real faith; extraordinary faith.
I have heard people say in the past, “I wish I had listened to God when He said…” Even when we have clear direction from God, there are times when we fail to act. Remember that faith without works is dead faith (James 2:17).
Faith and trust go hand in hand. However, there is a slight difference between the two. Faith is the belief in something we have not yet seen. Trust is reliance the character of the one who says they will follow through. Gideon acted in faith because he trusted that God would keep his word as He had done in the past.
My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus name[4].
Summary Statement:
Gideon teaches us the importance of having our faith strengthened. Any means Gideon possessed for accomplishing the work he had undertaken were, humanly speaking, altogether inadequate. He had not a chance of success, if it could be said with truth, "There is no hope for him in God." Faith being then, as faith is still, the medium of connection between human weakness and Divine power, it was his mainstay. He was thrown entirely on its strength (Judges 8:22-35).[5] – Joseph Excell
[1] John F. Walvoord, Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.
[2] John F. Walvoord, Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.
[3] Joseph Excell, The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.
[4] Edward Mote, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh370.htm
[5] Ibid, Joseph Ecell