October 20, 2024
Gideon is one of the more popular judges because of the symbols and stories that are attached to his time as a judge. We remember the fleece, the shrinking of his army, and how he goes from scared stiff guy to a conquering warrior. Gideon’s name means “great warrior,” and when we come to chapter 11 of Hebrews, we see his name mentoined as one who had great faith. The story of Gideon is actually less about his faith and more about the One who gave him his faith. God is the giver of faith, Ephesians 2:9-10 reminds us of that. In Gideon’s story, God takes a man who is beat down, weak, scared, and ultimately a coward and uses him to accomplish His purposes by instilling in him a faith that is rooted in God. At the end of the story, we see Gideon desiring a part of the glory for what was accomplished for himself. The reality is, you can’t look at Gideon’s story and say how great he was, but instead, you see, through Gideon’s story, how great the LORD is. The same is true in our own lives. We too are weak, fragile, and, at moments, act and live out of a fear that everything is bad. The Lord meets us at our weakest moments and gives us His faith to believe in Him and His power to rescue and redeem. Our role is to remember that it was the Lord who rescued us from death, that our “work” is to be busy killing sin in our lives through the power of the Spirit, and to run away when we are tempted to think t`hat we have arrived in any way.
Judges 6:1-8:28