Gideon

(Audio: English)

SUMMARY: The Book of Judges is about a time when the people of Israel were living in the land, but were surrounded by pagan nations who worshiped idols and demons. They would often adopt the idols of their neighbors and stray from the living God, and God would allow their enemies to oppress them until they cried out for help. God would then send a judge to deliver them, and this cycle would repeat. One of the judges God sent was Gideon. However, despite being known as a great warrior, Gideon started out as a worrier, or a worry wart, and was not initially confident. When God appeared to him in the form of an angel, Gideon questioned why God had allowed such oppression to happen to them. But God saw potential in Gideon, and chose to use him to save Israel from the Midianites.

The story of Gideon in the Bible highlights three types of fear that we can relate to – fear of an overwhelming enemy, fear based on insecurity about God being behind us, and fear of feeling small and insignificant. God sees us in a certain way and sees who he has made us to be, even if we don't see it ourselves. Like Gideon, we need to go through a process of learning to view the world differently and internalize the vision of our own potential. Having someone who believes in us can help us see ourselves in a more positive light and achieve greatness.

The story of Gideon in Judges 6-7 shows how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Gideon starts out as a fearful, doubting man, but through God's guidance and signs, he becomes a strong leader who defeats a much larger enemy army with only 300 soldiers. God wants to show that it's not about the person, but about his power working through them. The story teaches us to trust in God's strength rather than our own and to know that he can use anyone for his purposes.

The story of Gideon shows us that God is with us and wants to use us to defeat our enemies. Gideon finally realized this and became a mighty warrior with God's help. We too need to realize that God is with us and has a calling for us. We should worship and trust Him, and He will do amazing things through us. We are part of a small group that God has called to bring down strongholds in the region. We need to become who God wants us to be and build an altar before Him, declaring "Jehovah shalom", the Lord is our peace.

The ‘Book of Judges’ is about a time in the people of Israel when they were living in the land, but they were surrounded by pagan nations who worshiped idols and demons, and on a regular basis they would adopt the idols of their neighbors and worship them, and stray from the living God and to God would then bring their enemies to oppress them intentionally, God would make it happen until they got good and sick of their sin. And then they would say ‘God, help us!’.

Then God would send a deliverer called the judge and he would raise up an army and then God would deliver them. And so that was a pattern, but then sure enough after a while they would go through the cycle again. And they would back slide again, they would get into messes again, they’d call out to God again and God would save them again and then they’d be good for a while and it was a cycle that kept going and going and going.