Yesterday, while I was trying to stay awake during prayer, I felt encouraged to reflect on the story of Gideon, which is found in Judges 6 & 7. I am pretty familiar with the story, but spent some time reading it again last evening. I definitely saw a few things that I thought were helpful.
Here are some excerpts from the beginning of the story - Judges 6:2,6,10-16,20-24 NIV:
[2] "Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds."
[6] "Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help."
[10] "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.”
[11] "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. [12] When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ”
[13] “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.”
[14] "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?”
[15] “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. ”
[16] "The Lord answered, “I will be with you , and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
[20] "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. [21] 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."
[22] "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!”
[23] But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
[24] 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."
I have spent quite a bit of time in the past reflecting on this story, and today it seems to relate even more, in our present situation. While we don't have an oppressor people, we are certainly all sheltering our selves from this new virus. While I haven't been significantly affected financially, there are many who have been. A good friend got laid off on Friday, one of my nephew's was furloughed with a start back date of August 1st, hospitals are laying off staff in droves, and many businesses large and small may never recover, and the world-side economy has certainly taken a major hit.
In this story, God is portrayed as the one who is allowing this to happen, as the Israelites were worshipping other God's, which they were warned against. In verse 6, it says they were so impoverished that they turned to the Lord, and cried out to Him. The unspoken here is that prior to that they had not turned to God, so they must have been turning to other gods or to their own works to try to stop the oppression.
Yesterday, I listened to a really good teaching by Bob Sorge on Facebook, where he walks through the book of Habakuk. One thing he said that really resonated was that satan doesn't have the power to shut the doors to all of the churches, that this has to be something the Father is doing, a form of judgment. We often associate judgment with something bad, but God never stops being good, loving, merciful and compassionate, even in His judgments. A doctor's diagnosis is a judgment against whatever disease, sickness of problem you might have. The doctors have looked at the facts and made a decision and prescribed a sentence of treatment to rid you of whatever sickness or problem you might have. While the treatment might be difficult, the end result is what we keep our eyes focused on, for the end result is healthiness. The other thing that the doctors judgment does is provide you an answer as to why you are suffering the effects that has caused you to seek out the doctor in the first place. Having a diagnosis brings peace.
I see the distinct possibility that the Lord is allowing us a time of difficulty to get our attention, to bring us to a point of seeing things clearer, to bring about a time of right judgment concerning our faith and following of Him. As I was writing this, I was reminded of the story of the man born blind that Jesus heals, after being questioned about the reason the man was blind. This story is found in John 9, and the following is the conversation between the disciples and Jesus - John 9:2-3 NIV:
[2] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
[3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
Its easy to read this line, as a person who has never dealt with blindness their whole life, and think, "yeah that makes sense." I would imagine the blind man, had a completely different experience and opinion, for he bore the affliction his whole life to that point. His life was not an easy one, and yet after His healing He is nothing but grateful, and defending Jesus' ministry, even though He didn't know who it was that healed Him. He ends up getting thrown out of the temple, and afterwards Jesus finds him again, as recorded here in John 9:35-39 NIV:
[35] Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
[36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
[37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
[38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
[39] Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Again we are confronted with the interesting statement Jesus makes after the man worships Him, saying that He has come into the world for judgment. This judgment will provide sight to those that are blind. Going back to Jesus' initial statement about the reason for the man's blindness we see that is was to result in God's works being displayed in him. Judgment requires truth, and the truth of who Jesus is, was revealed in this man, and to this man!
It is also safe to say that the man's condition was better following his healing by Jesus, even though he was thrown out of the religious meeting. In the same way, Israel was in a better place after Gideon was raised up. God demonstrated His power and authority by allowing Gideon to defeat the Midianites with just 300 men. He set Israel free from the oppression of the Midianites, and the end result was that Israel was better off.
Finally, going back to the story of Gideon we see that His personal situation was greatly improved through his interactions with the Lord. He sets his heart to worship the Lord, prior to his leading the defeat of the Midianites. He went from being the lowliest of his tribe to leading the nation. The people went from worshipping other gods, to worshiping the only God, Yahweh!
I find it interesting that Gideon didn't really realize that he had been talking to the Angel of the Lord, until the angel caused fire to flare up from the rock, and then disappeared. He sort of freaked out, and the Lord said to him "Peace! Do not be afraid, you are not going to die!" What a great message for us today! In fact that peace was so real, that Gideon built an altar there and called it "The Lord is Peace." One of Jesus' revealed names is the "Prince of Peace". The angels when they came to herald His birth cried out, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14 NIV)
In summary, if this virus is accomplishing judgment, God is still loving, merciful, compassionate and good! He means to leave us better than when we started. He means to bring us to a place of peace, of intimacy, and of recognition that He is our savior, and He is the only true God! Let us turn our eyes and hearts to Him, let us hear His voice, and follow Him, and let us worship Him in the midst of this time, realizing that the end result will be healthiness, wholeness and freedom from oppression!
Amen and Amen!
May the Lord establish His Peace in Your life, for the Lord is Peace!
Sam
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