I have a very long list of favorite Bible characters. Gideon ranks high on that list. I think it is because I identify with him in some way. His story begins in Judges Chapter six and goes through chapter eight. I will summarize it here for you, but please read it yourself when you get a chance.
The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, so He allowed the Midianite mobs to terrorize them; looting their crops and animals; leaving them to hide and starve. (Sound familiar?) After seven years of this worsening situation, the Israelites finally turned back to God and asked Him for relief. God sent an angel to the weakest of the Israelite tribes; to the weakest family of that tribe; and found the weakest man of that family, Gideon, threshing wheat at the bottom of a wine press to hide it from the Midianites. The angel said to him, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (God doesn’t choose the qualified. He chooses the willing and then He qualifies them.) Gideon was skeptical. He asked the angel three times for a sign he was from the Lord. Once he was satisfied, the angel clothed him with power and Gideon used a ram’s horn to sound a battle cry for an army of 32,000 men to gather. Although they were still outnumbered by the Midianite hoard, God, through the angel, told Gideon he had too many men, so the army was pared down to 10,000. Then God reduced the “army” to only 300 men “armed” only with ram’s horns and torches in clay pots. This was done to make sure the Israelites would know it was God and not their own might that gave them victory over the Midianites. The 300 circled the huge Midianite camp just after midnight and when they blew their horns and broke the clay pots exposing the torches, the panicking Midianites began fighting each other and the ones who did not die fled.
Was Gideon a hero, as the angel said he was? Kevin Heath once wrote, “A true hero is not someone who thinks about doing what is right, but one that simply does what is right without thinking!” The best way to do what is right without thinking is to obey God. Once he was sure the instructions were coming from God, Gideon did just that.
Have you ever felt a calling from God that was way above your pay grade? I have! I questioned if it really was coming from God. I quickly discovered that God didn’t choose me because I was fully equipped for the job. He chose me because I was willing and obedient; then He equipped me. My hero brother or sister, never be afraid to step out and do what God, through His Holy Spirit, prompts you to do. God will always do the heavy lifting for you. He just needs you to be willing and obedient; then testify to His power.
I pray that our nation will turn back to God and ask Him for forgiveness and relief. It is up to us as sons and daughters of God to be like Gideon; following God’s instructions for victory over the enemy.