Judges 6:11-12 "And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (12) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour."
I don't intend to write about every judge that was raised up in the book of
Judges, but there are a couple that stand out to me. One of them is this man,
Gideon. Gideon lived at a time in Israel when there was great opposition
against them from the Midianites. Each year just when the crops were ready to
be harvested, the Midianites would come in droves and go through the fields
like grasshoppers or locusts. They would devour everything that the people had
worked so hard to grow. This happened year after year. "And the children
of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years." (Judges 6:1) Yes, the Lord delivered His
people into the hand of Midian because they had gone after other gods of the
land.
God had sent a prophet to the people to remind them of all the blessings that
had been bestowed upon their fathers as they had been brought out of Egypt,
through the wilderness, and into this great land. After the prophet, Gideon was
in the winepress threshing wheat. This was not the usual place, but he was
desperate to feed his family. He hid from the enemy in order to do his work. He
may have hid from the enemy but he could not hide from God. The Lord sent an
angel to him to call him to service. Though Gideon would become a great
deliverer, at this point he was questioning God, the people of Israel, and even
was questioning himself. You can read this in more detail in the 6th Chapter of
Judges. But the point I want to make this morning is in the greeting to Gideon
from the angel: "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour."
It doesn't matter what we think of ourselves when God calls us into His
service. The only thing to consider is the manner in which God sees us. To
Gideon, he was a man hiding from the enemy in order to try to feed his family.
To God, Gideon was a "mighty man of valour." The difference between
the way Gideon saw himself and the way God saw him was in one great truth:
"The LORD is with thee." The same God who had delivered Israel was
once again going to deliver them. This time instead of Moses or Joshua, it
would be Gideon. As we think about these things, how do you see yourself? How
do I look at myself? Am I content to stay in the shadows and let others do the
work? Or am I a "mighty man of valour" because the Lord is with me?
How about you?
1 Am I a soldier of the Cross— A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?
2 Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?
4 Since I must fight if I would reign, Increase my courage, Lord!
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Thy Word.