March 9, 2014 - Sunday

Start Time: 6:57 A.M.

End Time: 7:33 A.M.

Title: Gideon

Scripture: Judges 6:1 – 40

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.  They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.  They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.  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.”

NOTES:

Ø Despite of our stubbornness, God continues to delivers us when we call upon Him!  God’s love for us is amazing!  He does not allow anger, bitterness, revenge, or anything else that will cripple Him in loving us.  So despite of our continued sinfulness or our imperfect and incorrect decisions, God hears our every cry when we call upon Him.  His love is greater than anything evil that we did against Him.  He ensures made sure that His love covers all of our imperfections and our flawlessness.  Praise Jesus!

→ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”  “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 ancestors 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.”  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?”  “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”  The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

NOTES:

Ø God sees us differently from how we see ourselves!  We are God’s masterpiece and He has fashioned us in the perfect form of our purpose yet many times we see ourselves as weak, imperfect and limited but God knows us more than we know ourselves.  God sees us far differently from what our mind can conceive of our being.  So we should see ourselves in the eyes of God and know that we are more than conqueror for He is with us! 

→ Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.  Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”  Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah^[a] of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.  The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 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.  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!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”  So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

NOTES:

Ø God is patience with our unbelief and even indulge our requests to confirm or deny our doubts!  Who else is like God? Who else will tolerate our doubts upon ourselves and upon what our eyes see.  Who else endures our questions and requests?  No one!  Only God!  We are the ones in need yet when God helps and we are in doubt, He gives us time to believe by responding to our requests and questions.  What a great God we serve!  Thank You Lord for Your patience with me!

→ That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.^[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole^[c] beside it.  Then build a proper kind of^[d] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second^[e] bull as a burnt offering.”  So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.  In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!  They asked each other, “Who did this?” When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”  The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”  So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal^[f] that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

NOTES:

Ø God uses the people we never expect to defend us in times of trouble to show us that it is Him who save us!  Our unbelief can sometimes cause us to do God’s commands half-heartedly and when this happens we get into trouble.  To clear our unbelief, God uses people that we do not expect to help us to show us that in God nothing is impossible!  Know that Joash was Gideon’s father yet the altar that Gideon destroyed was his father’s, so in truth, if we see it in the people’s perception, what Gideon did was a sign of disrespect to his father and his father should be the first one to get angry and seek punishment for what Gideon did, yet in the passage, we see that it was Gideon’s father who defended him – it was an unexpected outcome and God did that so Gideon will trust in Him completely for He can do what is impossible for men.

→Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.  Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them. 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, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.”  That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

NOTES:

Ø God does what is needed to take away our unbelief, not because He needs us but because we need Him!  Wow!  What a great God!  He does the things we asked for not because He needs to do so but because He knows that we need Him.  Yet even in our stubbornness, He is patient and even in our doubts and questions, He is willing to provide answers!  Thank You Lord for Your everlasting love, grace and favor upon us!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Great and Mighty God!  Lord of all and King of Kings!  You are truly marvelous and amazing!  Thank You for Your love that covers and conquers all.  Thank You because despite of my unbelief and doubts, You are patient with me and ensures that I have all the answers I need to cast away my doubts and fully trust You.  Lord thank You because everything that happens in us as we obey Your command is allowed in the maturity and growth of our relationship with You.  Thank You Jesus for Your loving words and assurance that continues to be poured upon me that every day I will live life confidence in You.  Lord thank You because You allowed unexpected things to happen in our lives so that we will know that it is You who made it possible!  Thank You because even when our vision of ourselves is so weak, You allow us to see ourselves in Your sight so we may gain confidence in You.  Lord, continue to show us Your love, grace and favor everyday that we may live in complete trust and belief in You alone.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!