Gideon’s Call to Action

Copyright © 2005 by Ralph Williams. All rights reserved.

I can see him, hiding in a little hole on the side of a hill. He has grown a little grain here and there, perhaps gleened a few heads of wild grain. He is hiding in a wine press, quietly threshing out a tiny bit, hoping that the enemy soldiers on patrol in the area won't notice. A hero? Hardly. A coward? Maybe. At the very least, an ordinary joe trying not to make waves while he gets by in a difficult situation.

The situation? The Midianites, who were enemies of Israel, had overrun the land. They and their allies would periodically raid the land, destroying crops and animal fodder. The idea was to run the Israelites off the land, or to starve them to the point that they weren't a threat. The Israelites were hiding in caves and building strongholds in the mountains, but feeding themselves was a problem.

Gideon is just a poor schmuck trying to get along. He's hiding along with the rest of the folks, trying to scrounge out a living without drawing any attention to himself. Some of us feel the same way. Sometimes we wish someone would notice us. Other days, we hope they won't. Only, things are about to change for Gideon.

Gideon is about to meet an angel, one with a sense of humor. “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor!” Gideon, hiding in a winepress, trying not to be noticed? A man of valor? Hardly!

You know Gideon’s reaction. “Who, me?” That’s not exactly what he says, but that’s what he means. “If the Lord is with me, why is this happening to me? Where are all those great miracles that we keep hearing about? Why isn’t the Lord doing anything for us?”

Poor Gideon! Things are so bad for him. Things could be so much better, if only the Lord would do something about it. Sound familiar?

Poor Gideon! If he only knew! The Lord is about to do something for him. Gideon is about to get what he’s asking for.

The Lord is about to do something for the people of Israel, and he’s about to use Gideon. The angel, hands Gideon his marching orders: “Go in your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites! Haven’t I sent you?”

Again, Gideon’s response is that he isn’t the person God is looking for: “Look Lord, I’m the weakest man in the smallest family in the weakest tribe of Israel.”

Gideon doesn’t know it, but the Lord has him right where he wants him. Pay close attention, because it’s exactly where God wants all of us.

Change scenes. A young man is looking for his father’s donkeys. About to give up, he visits Samuel, the man of God. He borrows a quarter of a sheckel of silver from his servant to pay Samuel, so he might prophecy where the donkeys are.

Samuel has other ideas. The Lord has been speaking to Samuel, and he is watching for the man who will become king. He begins to speak of this to Saul, and we hear Saul’s reaction: “Am I not a Benjaminite, and my family the smallest in the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me like this?”

Saul doesn’t know it, but the Lord has him exactly where he wants him.

Again we see the prophet. The man of God goes visiting in the hill country of Judea on a pretext. He goes to make a sacrifice, and to anoint a new king. He is afraid of that Saul will have him killed if he hears what Samuel is doing.

He goes to the house of Jesse, looking for the new king, and when he sees Eliab, he sees what a promising young man he is, and how handsome he is, and he says, “Surely this is the one!” But God has other ideas. “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him.”

Samuel has Jesse present each of his sons, and each one is rejected. Finally, Samuel asks, “Is that all? Are these all the young men here?”

I can almost see Jesse’s embarrassment. The “Aw, shucks” attitude. “Well, there’s David. He’s off in the south 40 tending the sheep.” David, the least of his family. The last one anyone would have chosen. When Samuel was looking for a king, David’s family didn’t even bring him in for the presentation. His brothers ridicule him when he wants to fight Goliath. His king tries to kill him when he becomes popular. God has David exactly where he wants him.

We could go on. The Bible is full of examples. If you were choosing heroes for God’s people, what sort of folks would you choose? Would you have chosen Gideon, hiding in a wine press?

Would you have chosen David? His own family didn’t.

Which of the early Christians saw the potential in Saul, the persecuter of Christians?

If you look at the roster of the apostles, which of them would you have chosen? The sons of thunder with their terrible tempers? The tax collector, or the terrorist? One of those uneducated fishermen?

Isn’t it wonderful that God chose these people? Losers, the whole lot of them. Show me a hero in the Bible, and almost without exception, I’ll show you a man (or woman) that we would be proud not to know, until God takes hold of their lives. And that’s the point.

Paul has a problem and when he prays for relief, he gets his answer “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

“...for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

How many times do we need to hear it? I don’t know, but it is a message that is delivered over and over in the scriptures. “...for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

•     Gideon, the weakest man in the smallest family in the weakest tribe, by the power of God becomes a hero.

•     Saul, who hides on the day when he is supposed to be annointed, becomes a mighty leader of God’s people, and then when he forgets where the power is, he is cast down.

•     David, whose own family presented him last, by the power of God becomes the greatest king the Israelites ever had.

•     The man who would have called down fire from heaven to demonstrate God’s wrath becomes, by the power of God, the man who proclaims God’s love.

•     The greatest of sinners becomes, by God’s power, the greatest missionary.

I know what you’re thinking. I know it because people say it to me all the time. “Yes, that’s the way God worked, ’way back then. We don’t have God’s miraculous power, to know which ones are going to work out. We have to use good judgement today.”

I heard it in Ukraine. I would tell the stories out of the Bible, and the people were horrified when I talked about the shortcomings and weaknesses of the saints. “They were saints! They weren’t like us! God touched their lives!”

Yes, God touched their lives. That’s what took a poor schmuck hiding on a hillside and made him into one of God’s mighty men. Why then, did he return to idolatry? What destroyed his family? Was that God touching his life?

Yes, God touched their lives. That’s what took Saul, hiding from the crowd on the day of his presentation to being king over Israel What was it that turned him away from God?

Yes, God touched their lives. God went to work in David’s life and made him the greatest king Israel ever had, with the possible exception of Solomon, his son. David showed his appreciation for all God had done for him by stealing another man’s wife and then arranging his murder. Even after that, Christ said that David was a man after God’s own heart. Why?

I have a question. I think I know what the answer is, but I’ll never be sure, until I get to stand in front of the great white throne and ask my question.

What makes a great hero of faith? Were there other heroes of faith, whose story isn’t told in the Bible? Did God call other people?

How many people did the angel have to ask, before he got to Gideon?

How many other people did the Lord call to speak his message, before he settled on the sheepherder and dresser of sycamore figs?

I don’t know those answers, but I know how many people he has called today.

All of us.

Every one of us.

Without exception.

You. Me. Losers included. Poor schmucks who are just trying to get along without being noticed by the wrong people. Weaklings. Even spiritual weaklings. And God touches our lives.

Shall I tell you about a tough kid whose father was the town drunk? When God touched his life, he became a great preacher.

Shall I tell you about a gang in Toronto? God touched their lives, and they became a “gang” of preachers. One of them has been a missionary in Japan, Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Belarus and Ukraine. Two more faithfully served the Lord in Canada

What’s the difference? Why does God make these people into heroes of faith, and not others? Does God look for some tiny spark of greatness that we can’t see?

I don’t think so. Remember, His strength is made perfect in weakness.

God calls all of us. He wants all of us to be His heroes of faith.

When we read about “Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets....” we’re missing the point if we marvel at their greatness.

They were great for one reason.

Because they allowed God to work in their lives.

God called them, just like he calls each of us.

God worked to do great things through their lives. Listen to what Paul says: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God, and not to us.”

Are you just a poor schmuck, just trying to get by? Remember, His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Are you tired of being a loser? Remember, His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Would you like to do great things for God? Remember, His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Be careful! If you let him, God will answer your prayers.