This is the fourth installment of Mike’s series on Bible Characters.
Gideon, a perfectly insignificant character in the Bible, was simply minding his own business, threshing wheat, when God called him to service.
“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.
Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14)
But Gideon doesn’t really see the wisdom in God’s choice:
“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.” (Judges 6:15)
The story of Gideon is one that has one purpose: to remind us that God is always present, and that his presence — not our efforts — is what provides victory.
And when we recognize the power of God — the working of His mighty hands in our lives — do we respond as Gideon responded?
His friend responded [about a man’s dream], “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 bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
God IS with you. Just like Gideon.
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.”
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.”
Judges 6:1-12 (NIV)